National Walking Day

The National Heart Association has declared April 6 as National Walking Day!

Pop on your walking shoes or sneakers, and if the weather is good, head outside for a while. If it's not where you live, pop a Leslie Sansone video on! You cal always find some of her walks on YouTube if you don't own any.

It doesn't matter how fast or how far - just go!

Richard Simmons' Publisher Endorsed Dr. McDougall

While working on clearing out piles of papers that had gathered around the computer table since we moved into this apartment nearly 14 years ago, I came across an envelope with this letter in it:

Postmarked April 2001

I had been receiving the Richard Simmons newsletter since its inception, and had already been getting the McDougall newsletter when the Simmons one folded, so after writing back to them they just extended my subscription to that one.

I didn't even realize I still had this letter after all these years!

Nice to know that non-veg health gurus recognize Dr. McDougall and his food plan as being superior. Too bad Richard Simmons himself dropped his own vegetarian diet and went back to calorie-restricted SAD.

Now for Some Gentle Exercise

With my degenerative disc disease and cervical neuritis, as well as plantar fasciitis and a multitude of other musculo-skeletal problems, I really can't do full impact aerobics. Both my primary care doc and podiatrist said exercise like qigong and tai chi are perfect for me, and I have a number of DVD's from Lee Holden and his mother Karen and Robert Bates, DC that I enjoy doing.

This one is one of my favorites from Lee: Qi Gong for Weight Loss:
 

from his mother Karen: Exercise to Heal: Get Stronger:


and this is the first video from Dr. Bates: Fun With Qigong: The Five Flows


Sometimes even those are too much for my back and I have to do yoga, instead. This video from Sally Pugh, Expanding into Fullness, Yoga for Large Women, does quite nicely in stretching the body without doing any more damage:



And when things are going well and I have no back or foot pains, I can then return to my favorite exercise instructors,  Leslie Sansone



and my first exercise love, Richard Simmons.



And Richard has announced he's releasing 10 new videos any day now - I can't wait! I may not be able to do all the steps with this 59 year old body, but I do try. The results are usually  more hysterical than Richard's get-ups!

Soup Weather

I've been making a lot of soup lately. This week alone I've made the Roasted Butternut Squash Soup from Vegan With A Vengeance, and today the Mary McDougall Quick and Easy Minestrone. To go with yesterday's soup I made the Roasted Butternut Squash bread that was mentioned in this Knead for Bread blog post and the recipe can be found here. For tonight's bread I'll make Focaccia Bread with Sun-dried Tomatoes, a Lora Brody recipe. Instead of all that oil I'll use jarred water-packed minced garlic, and use white whole wheat flour.

I wrote in detail about the recipes on my Richard Simmons and 100-Plus lists on Yahoogorups.

Richard Simmons even did a whole Message of the Day today about soup, but of course he insisted on using chicken broth and adding a cut up chicken breast for protein instead of veg broth and non-meat protein sources, like beans. Here's his message:

A MEAL IN A BOWL

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Okay, I have a confession to make. I gained a pound! Hey, don't be laughing at me! Let me ask, when you gain a pound, don't you get upset? I know I did! Oh, that sneaky little one pound came on in only one day, too. My mistake was to let myself go a little and I ate too much of a good thing.

See, I made these delicious enchiladas and I ended up having too many of them. Of course, I made them using only healthy ingredients and they were also very low in fat. But, as good for me as they were...I just ate too many of them. And you know what? I blame it all on CNN! That's right...and let me explain.

See, I was watching election coverage last Tuesday night and was getting all caught up in it. I'd watch a little CNN then eat an enchilada. But the race was just so interesting, I wasn't paying attention to how much I was eating. So I think I have a right to blame both the Presidential candidates, too!

After discovering my weight-gain, I decided that one pound had to go and I intended to lose it with...soup! So every night for a week, I've had soup and salad for dinner. Here's how I made my soup:

I take a big soup pot and fill it with about three cans of chicken broth. I love cooking with chicken broth and I use it all the time. I keep at least a dozen cans of it stored away in my kitchen cabinets. I use it to make chicken dishes, rice dishes and just a whole lot of other dishes. It goes so well with so many things. Hmmm, I think I'll write the Swanson's people and tell them about it. Oh, let's get back to my soup!

I turn the fire on the chicken broth very low and while it's simmering, I cut up some vegetables for the soup. I add sliced carrots, onions, celery, water chestnuts, parsnips and finely chopped fresh parsley.

I let all of those ingredients simmer until the vegetables are al dente. Now before I began making my soup, I'd placed three skinless, boneless chicken breasts into the freezer. I do this to make them a little firmer. And why do I do that? Because, and I've told you this before, I'm going to slice those chicken breasts very thin for my soup. And when the breasts are a little firmer from being in the freezer, they slice so much better.

After I've sliced them up, I drop the chicken slices into the pot with those simmering vegetables and let them all cook together for a few minutes longer. Lastly, I add a small can of diced tomatoes, some crushed basil, black pepper and a little dash of hot sauce.

So in my soup, I'm getting my protein with the chicken, I'm getting lots of vegetable windows in there, and just a very little bit of fat. You know that chicken broth is always labeled "fat-free" but there's always a teeny bit of fat in it.

To make my soup even tastier, here's what I do. First, I put a serving into a bowl then add one teaspoon of fat-free sour cream and stir it into my bowl of soup. I can't tell you how amazing it tastes. You'll have to make it for yourself to see just how good it is. I can tell you that it's warm, crunchy and oh-so yummy!

To complete my healthy meal, I make myself a salad of lettuce, shredded cabbage, cucumbers and a few sliced black olives. I use a little oil and vinegar for my dressing. It's a very satisfying dinner and the best news is, since I've been eating like this for a week...I've lost that pesky old pound I'd gained! Hoo-ray!

And the moral of this story is this: Don't eat enchiladas while watching election returns on CNN!

Love,

http://www.richardsimmons.com/j15/index.php?option=com_dailymessage&Itemid=31
The link stays the same but the message changes daily, so if you click this link you'll get that day's message, not the one from Nov 11, 2008 if you're reading this on another day.

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