This was dinner a couple of nights ago.

And this is my 18-month-old cutie.  Just want everyone to know that she’s awesome.  : )

Been reading about potassium lately.  It’s good stuff.

“Potassium is crucial to heart function and plays a key role in skeletal and smooth muscle contraction, making it important for normal digestive and muscular function, too.”

Most people need about 2,000 mg each day.  If you’re eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, you shouldn’t have a problem getting all you need.

You can get potassium from more sources than just bananas.  Eat avocado, cantaloupe, tomatoes, potatoes, salmon and broccoli.  Tons of other sources too.

Sources:

University of Maryland Medical Center: Potassium

Ohio State University Medical Center: Foods High in Potassium

Click the image to read about why checking the serving size on the nutrition label matters.

If you’re on Twitter, you should follow Fooducate. 

Their mission includes ending “chronic preventable disease in the U.S. by offering people and organizations a weekly prompt to start and sustain healthy behaviors.”

“Eating whole instead of refined grains substantially lowers total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and insulin levels. Any of these changes would be expected to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease.”

– Harvard School of Public Health: Health Gains from Whole Grains

Eat some whole-grain foods today.  Don’t have any?  Go get some.

Examples include, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice and oatmeal.

Substituting whole-grain foods for foods made with refined grains can be beneficial to your health.

Have a healthy Monday!

Check this project out:  All the ingredients of a Twinkie in photos.  Yum?

I read two interesting articles this week on exercising with an iPod.

1)  To iPod or Not? from The Cooper Institute Blog

This article shares results from a study that found that cardiac patients who exercised with music had better scores on a verbal fluency test than those who exercised without music.

2) Is exercising with your iPod making you stupid? from Sweat Science

This article suggests that because of all the time we spend around screens/technology/devices throughout the day, we are better off exercising without the distraction of these things.

Do you spend your exercise time listening to music or watching TV, etc?

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

Sometimes it’s really nice to go outside for a ride or run without anything but my thoughts.  Other times I enjoy the distraction of a game on TV while I hit the treadmill or trainer.

In my opinion, do what works for you.  Getting exercise with or without music/screen/etc. is better than no exercise at all.

Now resting/stretching it more to see if I can get it to heal.  Frustrating, though.

Been biking a lot now but I miss my runs.

Bottom line:  Sometimes you just have to rest.

Applicable to everything.

I’m trying to remember this everyday.

The American Council on Exercise did a study to see if they live up to the hype.

“Across the board, none of the toning shoes showed statistically significant increases in either exercise response or muscle activation during any of the treadmill trials.

There is simply no evidence to support the claims that these shoes will help wearers exercise more intensely, burn more calories or improve muscle strength and tone.”

So, once again, more hype than anything else.

That being said, if these types of shoes get people to exercise when they wouldn’t otherwise, that is still a good thing.

Source: American Council on Exercise: Will Toning Shoes Really Give You A Better Body?

“The physical activity-related behaviors and attitudes of parents are excellent predictors of the physical activity behaviors and attitudes of their children.”

“Researchers in the Framingham children’s study examined the physical activity behavior of children ages 4 to 7 years and their parents and found that children of two ‘active’ parents were 5.8 times more likely to be ‘active’ than were children of two ‘inactive’ parents.”

“Children from families with one ‘active’ parent and one ‘inactive’ parent were still 3.5 times more likely to be active as were children from families with two ‘inactive’ parents.”

Source: President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports: Research Digest: Series 10, Number 3: March 2010