I have made a commitment on getting healthier which means changing my eating habits, exercising and taking care of my body. I am on a journey for a Fresh Start in Life. Let the Journey Begin!!
Good Morning All. I have decided to start new on my fresh start journey. It is always good to come back to the beginning and cleanse your body - flushing out the toxins that have accumulated since I stopped juicing. So, I am committing myself to a fresh start, starting today, Monday, 11/21/11.
Since I last blogged, both my daughters are into juicing. My oldest daughter joined us and she is doing really good. She loves it now. We all went to the Farmers Market today and bought most of the vegetables in bulk. This was my first time there and it was like walking into a candy store. I will definitely return. When you want to juice, it takes alot of vegetables and fruits to make juice for all 3 meals so it is best to buy in bulk if you can. A good thing about buying in bulk, we can divide it into 3 parts and we all save money.
I will not be able to post all the ingredients I am using because lack of time. I have to be out of the house early, but I will take a picture of the juice prepared and will list ingredients later. I will weight myself in the morning as I did before. So for the next 10 days, I will be juicing, morning, lunch and a drink and salad in the evening. This is going to be hard, since Thanksgiving is this Thursday. I know, you must be wondering why I am starting. Well, for 3 days I will get a good start with juicing. I will not feel guilty and drool over the turkey that will make its debut at the dinner table by my nieces house. Cravings will be less and I can still eat and enjoy myself. I am also going to the 5k Turkey Trot with my daughter early in the morning. I will need to be fit for it. I am blogging this to keep myself accountable to what I am saying. So here it goes. I am starting out with a 6 oz glass green drink
My first time on the scale in a while. No numbers will be posted here as I didn't post it before but I will say how many lbs I lost. Yep!!..I gained 3 lbs from my last blog. Not what I like to admit but that is it. Thank goodness it isn't more than 3 lbs.!!!.
Hi everyone!!..I know I have not written a blog in a while. That is because I am getting pretty busy and revamping my business site Sodie's Inc. since I am getting calls for catering. That is good since the economy has hit me hard with less calls for almost a year.
So, here I am, still juicing but I also added regular meals to my juicing. I want to add that I have lost another 4 lbs since my Day 40 blog. I have now lost 29 lbs and do I feel great...You betcha I do. I still have alot more to lose and I will get there eventually along with improving my health. This morning I had a half of a cantaloupe and for lunch I had a 6" veggie sandwich. It was good!!. Now for dinner we had a delicious stuffed acorn squash..oh yes!!..I can say it was heaven divine! This is very filling!
Acorn Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice
Ingredients
1 acorn squash
1/2 cup of Wild Rice
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 green pepper
3-4 Shiitake Mushrooms
Serves 2
Cut the Acorn Squash and scoop out only the seeds. Place 2 halves facing down on a plate and microwave it for about 10-12 minutes depending on the size of the squash. Check with a fork to see if squash is tender. In a separate pan saute chopped onion, chopped green peppers and chopped Shiitake Mushrooms. Stir all together with a little bit of olive oil, a pinch of Herbamare salt and black pepper to taste. Let this cook for a while and add the cooked Wild Rice to the mixture and then spoon it into the squash shell. And there you have it..did I say it tastes scrumptious??!!! ENJOY!
Nutritional Information
A medium-sized acorn squash has approximately 172 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 13 mg sodium, 45 grams carbohydrate and 3 grams protein. Acorn squash are rich in Vitamin A, and are also a good source of vitamins C and B6.
Acorn squash is rich in phytonutrients, which help the body get rid of toxins and may help prevent cancer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture notes that "it appears that an effective strategy for reducing riskofcancer and heart disease is to increase consumption of phytonutrient-rich foods."
Fiber & Potassium
Acorn squash are also rich in dietaryfiber, folate, beta-carotene and potassium. One cup of cooked acorn squash has 9 grams of fiber, 895 mg of potassium and almost 2 mg iron.
Thanks for coming here to check out my blog. I will be posting more delicious recipes here. Have a blessed day!!
God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and provided what we`d need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We are such slow learners!!
God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!...We call this God's Pharmacy!!
A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don`t have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body..
Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today`s research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries
Oranges, Grapefruits , and other Citrus fruits look just l ike the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions look like the body`s cells. Today`s research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.
How much healthier would we be if we were to pay a little more attention to the foods we are consuming. If we want to be at our absolute best in body, mind and spirit, check out God's pharmacy...there are no food coloring or preservatives added..everything is fresh!
It has been 10 days since my last blog..(Day 30) and today is Day 40. I have lost another 2 lbs which brings me up to 25 lbs. I am eating more and juicing morning and lunch and in the meantime I am gaining strength and feeling better on the inside. It is a huge improvement from where I was before I started this diet.
WOW!!..I made it to day 30 and I am walking on a regular basis and I am feeling GREAT!!. I lost another pound today so now I lost 23 lbs. I am on cloud 9..I have accomplished what I thought I could not do and I proved myself wrong. Isn't it great when we are challenged and we feel we can't accomplish the task and it shows us how we are capable of completing that challenge and even go beyond it. If we only change our thinking to a positive reaction, we can accomplish more than we expected to.
So, here is a vegetable I have not had yet...Collard Greens. What you see on the picture is a whole bunch of it which I juiced and here is the recipe
1 bunch of collard greens
l lb abt. spinach leaves
1 bunch of celery stalks w. leaves
8 carrots
2 cucumbers
1 apple
Wash all the vegetables and if not organic..peel the skin. Enjoy!
When you juice vegetables together to make a green drink..it all looks green..but the taste is not the same. This has a mild taste to it. I thought the collard greens would make it bitter but it didn't.
Here is a recipe for collard greens
Health Benefits Of Collard Greens
Collard Greens help lower cholesterol, collards have proven cancer prevention properties. Collards contain more vitamin A than any other vegetable. It is only over matched by the amounts of Vitamin K found in collard greens.
Vitamin A
Collard greens contain more than 20 percent of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin A. One small cup of raw collard greens contains 2400 IU of Vitamin A. If the collards are cooked, then 15,000 - 30,000 IU of vitamin A is released. Amazing!
Vitamin A plays an important role in promoting healthy eyes, skin and a great boost to the immunity system to help fight disease.
Vitamin C
Collard greens are rich in Vitamin C, 3/4 of a cup of semi-cooked collard greens contain up to 60% percent of the daily recommended allowance of Vitamin C.
Vitamin C is important to maintaining healthy, bone, blood vessels, and healthy skin condition.
Any of the Collard Greens antioxidant phytochemical or sometimes referred to as phytonutrients such as zinc are plentiful in collards as well.
Vitamin K
Vitamin K helps form healthy bones and is essential to prevent blood clotting.
Conclusion
Collard Greens is an important food in the diet of any serious diabetes prevention program. Make it a routine to consume collard greens several times a week. Add collar greens to that favorite green smoothie, yummy:)
Collard Greens Nutritional Rating?
Collard Greens receive a rating of excellent and very good in all twenty two of the vitamins and nutrients found in collard greens.
Thank you for stopping by and being part of my journey. Have a blessed day!!
Today is Day 29 in my Fresh Start Journey and I lost another pound which brings it up to 22 lbs in 29 days. Not bad. I could not walk since I was not feeling so good. I think the change of weather brought a slight cold that made me a bit tired. Now I feel energetic again and went for my walk this morning. So I decided to juice me some watermelon. I cut one in half and this is how much juice it gave me. I am surprised but then watermelon is mainly water. It's really a treat to find information on food that I am consuming. The watermelon is just one of the ones I an surprised to learn about.
Watermelon is everyone’s favorite summer fruit, or is it? Did you know that the Watermelon isn’t even a fruit? Yep!!, neither did I. Here are ten other interesting facts about Watermelon.
The Facts:
Not only does it quench your thirst, it can also quench inflammation that contributes to conditions like asthma, atherosclerosis, diabetes, colon cancer, and arthritis.
Over 1,200 varieties of watermelon are grown worldwide.
Watermelon is an ideal health food because it doesn’t contain any fat or cholesterol, is high in fiber and vitamins A & C and is a good source of potassium.
Pink watermelon is also a source of the potent carotenoid antioxidant, lycopene. These powerful antioxidants travel through the body neutralizing free radicals.
Watermelon is a vegetable! It is related to cucumbers, pumpkins and squash.
Early explorers used watermelons as canteens.
Watermelon is grown in over 96 countries worldwide.
In China and Japan watermelon is a popular gift to bring a host.
In Israel and Egypt, the sweet taste of watermelon is often paired with the salty taste of feta cheese.
Every part of a watermelon is edible, even the seeds and rinds.\
For more information on Watermelon's history and nutritional and health benefits..click here
Thanks for stopping by..Have a blessed day and please leave a comment.
When I finally decided to start juicing, I was low on cash and I did not want to buy a cheap juicer. I had almost forgotten the juicer that I had bought so many years ago, actually in 1997, called the Juiceman ll, a product from Jack Lalanne. It was in my cabinet stored away in the back. It needed to be cleaned and the next day I went shopping for some vegetables to juice. It worked great but the motor is noisy. That's ok...I had a juicer and did not have to spend money. I will save some money in order to buy the juicer I really want which is very powerful and the motor is not that noisy.
My daughter has the Breville JE98XL and it juices very fast. Infact, the pulp that is left is nice and dry. My juicer leaves my pulp wet and that means there is more juice to be had but my juicer is not powerful enough to extract all the juice. That means I am not getting my moneys worth as I am looking for bargains when I shop for vegetables and fruits. Here is a video showing you atleast 10 different juicers.
Breville Juice Fountain Elite vs Omega VRT350HD Juicer Review
The 2nd video he shows us the difference of each juicer. The Brevel comes with a cup that has a divider to catch the foam that comes out with the juice. I have not made up my mind yet. I like the Brevel but I also want to look into the Omega. Not the one that they used to demonstrate with but a better model that will be able to juice green vegetables like spinach much better.
I hope this helped you if you are looking for a juicer. There are many juicers in the market. It all depends what your need is, what you expect it to do for the juicing you want.
Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I would love to hear about your search for a juicer and what you discovered. If you already have a juicer, let us know your experiences with it, your likes and dislikes about your juicer. Have a blessed day!
Here is my refrigerator filled with 2 bags of 3lbs each of spinach, a 25 lb bag of carrots and other various vegetables and fruits. I must be out of my mind...yep!!,,but this will all be gone in about a week. Not bad though when you consider there is no meat and I purchased enough for two weeks under $100. Is this what it's called "GOING GREEN"?.
I have not been blogging for the last two days except posting a recipe. I had so many things to do that I needed to focus on them since I had a long weekend. It is no wonder that I have stayed the same in weight since Friday morning. My daughter and I went to Orlando for the a fundraiser for a little girl named "Izzy" who has leukemia and there was alot of snackie foods. White chocolate covered strawberry. I could not resist, but I must admit, it did not taste the way I remember. My taste buds are changing and that is really on the plus side. Plus I did not juice except for breakfast which makes it a little hard. I woke up late this morning since it is my day off and can do that..LOL!!. I rarely sleep in so this was a treat. BUT, now to business!!
I had a nice large class of apple juice this morning made from golden delicious apples this time.
Here is the recipe for the lunch and dinner I just juiced
3-4 large handful of fresh spinach
2 cucumbers
1 bunch parsley
12 carrots
Wash the spinach, carrots, parley and cucumber if they are not organic. Then juice all together..ENJOY!! It has a sweet taste because of the carrots.
I posted about the Health Benefits of Spinach and nutritional value here. Although I eat my spinach mostly raw in a salad, now I am using them for juicing. If you are more into cooking spinach, here is a suggestion.
The Healthiest Way of Cooking Spinach Spinach is only one of three vegetables we recommend boiling to free up acids and allow them to leach into the boiling water; this brings out a sweeter taste from the spinach. Discard the boiling water after cooking; do not drink it or use it for stock because of its acid content.
Use a large pot (3 quart) with lots of water and bring to a rapid boil. Add spinach to the boiling water and boil for 1 minute. Begin timing as soon as you place the spinach in the pot if you are using 1 pound or less of spinach. If you are cooking larger quantities of spinach bring the water back to a boil before beginning timing the 1 minute. Do not cover the pot when cooking spinach. Leaving the pot uncovered helps to release more of the acids with the rising steam. Research has shown that the boiling of spinach in large amounts of water helps decrease the oxalic acid content by as much as 50%.
Remove spinach from pot, press out liquid with a fork, place in a bowl, toss with our Mediterranean Dressing, and top with your favorite optional ingredients.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Let me know what your favorite juicing is or even your favorite recipe that you would like for me to post. Have a wonderful Labor Day everyone!!
I lost another lb which brings it up to 19 lbs lost in 23 days. I feel really good and energetic. I have been walking every day and today I will be dancing to the Wii Dance 1. Today I will be blogging about the treadmill. I don't own a treadmill but I have gone to the gym a few times and have used the treadmill. I liked using it and if I had the room to have it set up all the time, I would purchase one. There are many benefits of using a treadmill and here are some of them.
Everyone wants to get healthy and stay in shape. This goal can sometimes seem quite elusive. There are never enough hours in the day to do everything we want to do, and our fitness regimen often falls by the wayside. However, to fully enjoy life and get the most out of it, we NEED to be in shape. Exercise is the lifeblood of our existence. It gives us energy, stamina, and even happiness. It’s time we all started exercising daily, even if it’s only for a little bit at a time.
The easiest way to do this is with a treadmill at home. But treadmills aren’t only good for reminding you to exercise and making it convenient, there are plenty of wonderful health benefits that come with using this kind of home fitness machine.
Here are the top 5 health benefits of daily treadmill workouts:
1. Treadmills improve cardiovascular health.
This means using them makes your heart stronger. A strong heart will, in turn increase the blood flow throughout your body, revitalizing every part of you. This includes helping you breathe better, heal faster, and even think more clearly. 2. Treadmill walking easily burns calories, helping you to lose weight.
The longer you stay on it, the more calories you burn, and the leaner you can become. As you get more fit and can endure more, you can even pump up the intensity of your workouts to lose even more weight. If you workout regularly, you can be sleek and slim, just like you’ve always wanted.[ReviewAZON asin="B000BGMFHO" display="inlinepost"] 3. Treadmill workouts can help you sleep better.
It’s a proven fact that lack of exercise will keep you up at night. A good workout on the treadmill during the day will put your body in the right state to sleep deeply that night, and can be wonderful for curing insomnia. Just remember to not exercise within 2 hours of going to bed because that can keep you up as well. 4. A treadmill workout relieves stress and helps eliminate depression.
In fact, exercise is one of the best stress relievers on the planet, and many doctors say it’s more effective than any medication for mild to moderate depression and anxiety. A little bit of time on the treadmill each day can really boost your mood and improve your outlook in a profound way. 5. Workouts help ease the symptoms of diabetes.
Regular walking, including walking on a treadmill, regulates blood sugar levels and increases insulin sensitivity in your muscles. Many people who use a treadmill regularly have been able to reduce their diabetes medications with the help of their doctor.
You should try it, too!
Benefits to Diabetics
Treadmills are a great way to encourage people to exercise regularly, and regular exercise is a very important factor in controlling insulin levels in type 2 diabetics. According to a study published in the Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistryregular exercise decreases blood sugar levels in diabetic patients. The combination of diet and exercise is the best way to control diabetes symptoms in patients that are not insulin dependent. Each patient should consult their doctor before starting their exercise routine because exercise that is too intense can actually raise blood sugar levels.
Exercising for less than 20 minutes at a time usually causes the liver to release stored glucose for fuel, but a session of at least 20 minutes is more beneficial because it causes the muscles to take in glucose for fuel and lowers overall blood glucose levels. Using a treadmill for regular exercise often allows patients to lower their blood glucose levels enough that their medication levels can be adjusted down or eliminated. Working out regularly also helps to regulate the hormones that induce sleep and allows the patient to sleep better. Regular sleep cycles are another factor that helps keep blood sugar levels in the body stable.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your exercising in whatever you choose to use to help you with your weight loss or maintenance. Have a wonderful and blessed day.
Instead of talking about juicing today, I will be posting an exercise that is very easy for anyone to do which is walking.Walking stretches your mind and your soul. It is dynamic mind & body process which creates a sense of rhythm. As you listen to your own silent rhythm, the pulse of life, your own heartbeat - you become whole, a complete man - fit in Mind, Body and Soul.
For the majority of people seeking to improve their health and fitness, walking is the safest, simplest, best form of exercise. Walking has a variety of valuable physical benefits such as assisting in making the heart and lungs perform more efficiently, keeping blood pressure properly regulated, decreasing the level of artery-clogging blood fats while increasing the level of high-density lipoproteins (the "good" HDL cholesterol), reducing the odds of developing heart disease, firming and shaping up muscles, relieving tension and raising one's energy level. Walking also aids in weight loss, strengthening bones, and may serve to halt or lessen the degree of severity of osteoporosis (the bone-thinning disease that commonly occurs in older, inactive women but sometimes strikes younger women and, to a lesser extent, men). Walking is an activity that one can do practically anywhere at anytime, alone or with a companion.
Walking has become the exercise of choice for millions of Americans trying to get and stay fit. Throughout the U.S., walkers attired in various styles of workout apparel, many wearing fanny packs around their waists, can be seen daily dotting the landscape as they energetically move back and forth.
Even the dog is taken in a fanny bag
When compared with that other popular aerobic exercise, jogging, walking causes less shock to the lower back, the hips, the knees, the ankles and the feet. The force of jogging can subject joints to impacts three to five times a person's body weight each step. With walking, however, one foot always remains on the ground, thus the shifting of body weight is more fluid. For this reason, a walker lands with only one to one point five times the force of his body weight each step.
Walking does take a little longer to do than jogging. But you can burn nearly as many calories (e.g., walking at a 15-minute-a-mile pace you can burn approximately 100 calories per mile, whereas jogging at a 10-minute-a-mile pace you burn roughly 20 calories more) and get nearly as good a workout by walking that mile as you can by jogging, bicycling or swimming at a moderate pace. The heart doesn't make a distinction between any of these activities; its job is solely to deliver the blood and oxygen needed to the working muscles.
The heart muscle, like all the other muscles of one's frame, needs to be challenged with exercise to keep it strong enough to receive and pump blood through the arteries and veins to the rest of the body. A heart that has developed strength and endurance through an aerobic undertaking such as walking has not only a lower resting and working rate of speed (i.e., performs its function using fewer beats) but also sends out more blood with each beat.
Walking enables a person to see the world in which he or she lives in greater detail. Scenery such as buildings, houses, trees, flowers and lawns become more noticeable when one is on a walk. Walking also frees the mind for creative thought and complex problem solving.
Nevertheless, although walking is a low-impact exercise that's less strenuous and less harmful than jogging, beginning walkers still should pay attention to taking those precautionary measures that will help protect them from injury.
Avoid Injury
Along with putting on comfortable, unbinding clothes, they should wear lightweight, properly fitting walking shoes with enough support and cushioning in the heel and arch to minimize the pressure on their joints; being mindful of the calf muscles as well as the muscles at the front and the back of the thighs, they should do about 10 minutes of warm-up exercises and 10 minutes of cool-down exercises consisting of static (no bouncing) stretches holding each stretch for 20 to 30 seconds, before and after walking to prevent damage to their muscles and tendons; and, they should attempt to walk on a flat cushioned surface to reduce the strain on their legs and feet. By following these precautionary measures, beginning walkers are less likely to get injured and require days or weeks of non-participation in exercise in order to recuperate.
Concerning form and technique, it's best when walking to keep the body erect, the head up, the eyes looking straight ahead, the shoulders down, the buttocks tucked in and the arms at waist level. Specifically, you should bend the arms at the elbows (at a right angle), with the elbows held out a bit from the sides and the arms pumping alternately from front to back with the stride. Try not to swing the hips from side to side as you walk. Each foot should land under the torso, almost flat and toward the heel. A short, heel-toe stride is recommended for walking by most authorities.
Perhaps more importantly, your walking pace should be one in which you are able to talk without becoming winded, without panting and gasping for air. This especially applies to those people just getting back into exercise after a two or three decades lay off.
Walking is so natural, so automatic that a lot of people tend to overlook its potential as exercise. One can walk at a brisk stroll, a rapid gait, or anywhere in between. Any of these speeds can aid walkers in reaping many of the benefits that come from working out.
To take a single instance, one of these benefits is: a delaying of the aging process. Recent medical research reports that millions of us cease to engage in activities that are physically demanding as we grow older; however, this same study says that involvement in such a rejuvenating activity as exercise can help to preserve our ability to carry out daily chores with relative ease as well as help to stave off the degenerative effects of aging. Even a moderate exercise program that's done on a regular basis can promote better physical and mental health.
Even though walking at a tortoise-like pace will get you from point A to point B without shattering your laid-back image and producing sweat, to elevate your heart rate to a cardiovascular fitness level you're going to have to expend some energy in your walking motion. Yet, with no more than a spirited arm swing and an accelerated stride, you can attain a significantly higher heart rate. In fact, to make a walking program an effective one, many doctors and trainers recommend that walkers walk for at least 30-minutes a minimum of three times a week while maintaining a certain target heart rate.
However, if your heart rate overly exceeds the pre-determined target heart rate, it could mean that too much stress is being placed on the body. Conversely, if your heart rate falls well below the pre-determined target heart rate, your pace won't be sufficient for a good aerobic workout. Consequently, it is very important that walkers are knowledgeable about and are able to correctly estimate their exercising heart rates.
Target Heart Rate
A simple way to figure out your target heart rate is to take the number 220 and subtract your age. The remainder represents your maximum heart rate. Your goal now is to begin exercising at some percentage of this number. Typically, for people who haven't taken part in vigorous exercise for a while, the percentage of your maximum heart rate will be around 55 to 65 percent; and for people who are hale and hearty, the percentage of your maximum heart rate will be around 70 to 80 percent.
As an example, if you're 40 years old, you would subtract that from 220 and find your maximum heart rate is 180. Assuming you're one of the hale and hearty people, you would then multiply 180 by .70 and get 126.00. Thus, you should be walking at a pace that will cause your heart to beat at a rate of 125 to 135 beats a minute.
For a person having difficulty taking his or her exercising heart rate, the easiest places to count it are the radial artery on the wrist and the carotid artery on the side of the neck. Use the first and second fingers of the hand and place them on the thumb side of your wrist or place these same two fingers on the opposite side of your neck. Take your pulse for 15 seconds, then multiply by four. After successfully completing at least eight weeks of diligent, progressively vigorous, injury-free walking, you may now consider making your training regimen a little tougher.
Through walking, you have made your leg muscles stronger, yet to this point your upper body has been virtually ignored. By carrying one to five pound hand weights while walking, you will not only tone up your arms but heighten the intensity of your workout as well. Furthermore, walking up and down hills, walking in sand at the beach, and ascending and descending flights of stairs are some other ways to challenge and strengthen the muscles of the feet and legs as well as the heart and lungs. Additionally, you will be pleased to know that by increasing your efforts you'll also be able to burn up more of those fat grams that produce a large number of calories and, as a result, extra body weight.
Later on, when you've become really fit, "speed walking" (i.e., walking at a 12-minute-a-mile pace) can be the next mountain to climb in your ambulatory adventure. Though speed walkers may look peculiar as they move, speed-walking is actually a much greater challenge than jogging at the same speed because the muscles must work harder to hold the fast-walking pace without breaking into a jog.
Nonetheless, since one's target heart rate and the duration and intensity of a walking program varies according to age, weight, hereditary background and other factors, you first should go to a medical professional for a checkup and more detailed information regarding the most appropriate walking program for you.
Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonderful and blessed day!!
Here it is another day and another 1 lbs. I have now lost 18 lbs in 21 days. Not bad at all. I am really learning about each vegetable and their health benefits. These are food items I had been consuming but only as a side dish. I knew vegetables are good for you especially carrots, but I never realized how beneficial they are until I started reading more about it. If you have noticed I have not included potatoes. I love potatoes!! I will be reading more on their health benefits before I include them in my daily diet. I know that potatoes has alot of starch and I did not want to add them to my food groups I have now.
I started out with green apple juice. Boy, it is so delicious having it in the morning to begin my day!
Here is the recipe for my Bok Choy juice. I made this for lunch and dinner.
8 leaves of Bok Choy
1 cucumber
5 carrots
3 celery stalks
1 large tomato
It made a delicious green drink. Dark green vegetables are very good for us. Read on the health benefits of Bok Choy.
In structure, bok choy resembles collards and could be described as a non-heading cabbage (Acephala group). It is basically a small plant which grows upright from the ground with smooth white romaine lettuce like stalks which spread in the end to fine, glossy green oval or round leaves. Fully grown up plant may reach about 12-18 inches in length.
Brassica campestris group can be further categorized according to the color of the petiole in its leaves. White petiole varieties include joi choi, pak-choy white, prize choi, lei choi, taisai, canton pak choi…etc. Green petiole types are chinese pak choi green, mei qing choi…etc.
Health benefits of bok choy
It is one of the rare vegetable that is very low in calories. However, it is very rich source of many vital phyto-nutrients, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.
100 g of bok choy provides just 13 cal. It is one of the recommended vegetable in the zero calorie or negative calorie category of foods which when eaten would add no extra weight to the body but in-turn facilitate calorie burns and reduction of weight.
Like other brasisca family vegetables, bok choy contains certain anti oxidant plant chemicals like thiocyanates, indole-3-carbinol, lutein, zeaxanthin, sulforaphane and isothiocyanates. Along with dietary fiber, vitamins these compounds help to protect against breast, colon and prostate cancers and help reduce LDL or "bad cholesterol" levels in the blood.
Fresh pak choi is an excellent source of water soluble antioxidant, vitaminC (ascorbic acid). 100 g provides 45 mg or 75 % of daily requirements of vitamin C. Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.
It has more vitamin A, carotenes, and other flavonoid polyphenolic anti-oxidants than cabbage, cauliflower...etc. Just 100 g of fresh bok choy provides 4468 IU or 149% of daily required levels vitamin A.
Pak choi is very good source of vitamin K, provides about 38% of RDA levels. Vitamin-K has potential role in bone metabolism by promoting osteotrophic activity in bone cells. Therefore, enough vitamin K in the diet makes your bone stronger, healthier and delay osteoporosis. Further, vitamin-K also has established role in curing Alzheimer's disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in their brain.
Fresh bok choy has many vital B-complex vitamins such as pyridoxine (vitamin B6), riboflavin, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that our body requires them from external sources to replenish.
It also contains good amount of minerals like calcium, phosphorous, potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzymesuperoxide dismutase. Iron is required for the red blood cell formation.
Thanks for stopping by and being part of my Fresh Start Journey program. Have a blessed day!!
What do I mean by the title today. Well, this is my 20th day on my Fresh Start Journey juice detox/diet. My last blog was on Saturday. Sunday and Monday I was totally busy but kept to my diet. I juiced only in the morning by having apple juice and apple/orange juice. Even though I did not blog and did not juice the rest of the day, I made sure that if I reached for anything I wanted to eat, I would have vegetables already made up to snack. Sunday after church, we went out to eat and I had a vegetable platter. I kept off the egg and jack cheese..yummy!!..but my stomach and my acid reflex would not have liked it much and neither would my diet.
I lost 1 lbs so in total I lost 17 lbs in 20 days. I am finding out that the weight comes off slower when you eat solid foods than when you juice. Today I started off with a green apple juice and made this delicious vegetable juice for lunch and dinner.
Tomato Lettuce Cucumber Detox Juicer Recipe
3 large, ripe tomatoes
6 leaves leafy lettuce (I prefer romaine or kale)
Cucumber (about a 2-inch piece)
Handful of fresh cilantro or parsley
Small wedge of lemon or lime
Juice all ingredients
This combination of vegetables and fruits is so very delicious with just a twist of lemon added.
Cucumber is a fruit that came from the same family as pumpkin, zucchini and other squashes. It has a dark green rind and white succulent flesh. There are 2 types of cucumbers the pickling varieties and the slicing varieties. The pickling variety is relatively small (2 - 4 inches long).
Health benefits of Cucumber
Very low in calories; provides just 15 calories per 100 g. Contains no saturated fats or cholesterol. Cucumber peel is a good source of dietary fiber that helps reduce constipation and offers some protection against colon cancers.
It is a very good source of potassium, an important intra-cellular electrolyte. Potassium is a heart friendly electrolyte; helps reduce blood pressure and heart rates by countering effects of sodium.
It contains unique anti-oxidants in good ratios such as ß-carotene and a-carotene, vitamin-C, vitamin-A, zea-xanthin and lutein. These compounds help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease process.
Cucumbers have mild diuretic property probably due to their high water content, which helps in checking weight gain and high blood pressure.
Cucumbers surprisingly have high amount of vitamin K, provides about 17 mcg of this vitamin per 100 g. Vitamin-K has been found to have potential role in bone strength by promoting osteotrophic (bone mass building) activity. It also has established role in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in their brain.
Thanks for stopping by to read my blog. Have a blessed day!!
