The shape of things

So I've put together a great list of fitness and health-related items for Christmas. You can use these as ideas for what you want to ask for or you could perhaps give some of these gifts to your fitness-minded family and friends. Here's the list:



I'll go over each item by item:

1. Gravis Yoga Mat and Bag - this great gym bag and mat holder comes with a yoga mat too. Don't know about you but a bag and a mat for less than $40 is way worth it.

2. Stella McCartney for Adidas run tank- At full price, I would never buy any of her stuff for Adidas despit how fabulous it all is - so this runner's tank for $50 is much more reasonable and worth the small splurge

3. We Pilates tank - I interviewed the woman who own this company and her passion for her product is unbelievable. I'd totally pick up a tank for every girl I know that does Pilates. So cute and functional.

4. Foam Roller - Don't know if you've ever used one of these - but if not they're great. You can do a lot of stretching exercises on it, and you can do some stability/balance strength moves too.

5. Stability Ball - I know my husband would hate this in the house, but I use them so much at the gym that I'd love to have one so I could work my core while watching TV

6. Vinyl Coated Dumbbells - if you've never been in the market for small hand weights, then you probably don't realize the ridiculous prices - and the fact that you normally have to buy a pair separetly. These weights are affordable, come in tons of weights AND they are sold in pairs.

7. Adidas Running tights - It doesn't get too cold here but when it does and I want to go for a run, I never know what to wear on my legs. Well these tights will be perfect for those chilly day runs and they'd work for pilates class too!

8. Misto Oil Spray - Instead of dumping your olive oil on a salad, this sprayer just spritzes it on salads, etc so you get the taste but not the huge amount of calories. Nice.

9. Adjustable hand weights - If you don't have a lot of space to stack 5 pairs of dumbbells, try these adjustable hand weights. You can adjust the weight on these to be from 2.5 pounds to 12.5 pounds.

10. Fit deck Playing Cards - Interesting little set of cards - FitDeck is a deck of custom playing cards that contains "body-resistance" exercises (so no fitness equipment is needed). Each card has three fitness levels to accommodate different abilities.

Merry Christmas and leave a comment if you've got a great fitness and health gift idea!!

Pretty much every day at work when 2:30 rolls around I get a little bit of a sweet tooth. Nothing decadent, but just a small desire for some sugar. Normally I satisfy it by either running out to the coffee shop, grabbing some fro yo, or digging around in my very small fun-sized candy drawer. Obviously none of these are very smart or fulfilling choices - they won't ruin my diet - but they won't help it either.

I've tried my fair share of granola bars, whole wheat crackers and chips, nut mixes, craisin mixes, etc. All of these were yummy - but nothing to really keep me coming back for more and more.

I was reading through the December issue of Shape Magazine and saw their annual healthy snack feature. They outlined tons of snacks from your savory, to sweet, to creamy, etc. etc. I read through the list and one item in particular caught my eye - the fiber one oats and chocolate bars.

These bars have 35% of your daily fiber in them (9 grams!) and according to the test tasters, they're deliciously sweet and decadent too. And if you're not sold on the benefits of a high-fiber diet, read why you should be!

I bought them yesterday at the store, and today when 2:30 rolled around I pulled one out. Let me just say - they're delicious! Really, and I'm extremely picky about these things. They are chewy and chocolate-y and sweet and savory all rolled up into one - and all for 140 calories.

I'm really excited to have this healthy snack for my sweet tooth break. The best part is that it's extremely portable, so unlike chopped fruit and peanut butter, I can just shove it in my handbag in the morning and go. Love it.

Read more about the bars here. Tell me what your favorite sweet snack is and why.

Ok. I'm not hungry. But I've been doing some revamping around here and wanted to bring all of you up to speed. I'm hoping that I have some pretty regular readers on this blog - and according to visitor stats - I seem to bring in a pretty steady flow of traffic.

If you are one of the regulars, if you're not already using an RSS feed, you really should. It makes reading and keeping up with blogs and news sites so much easier.

If you click on this graphic, you will subscribe to my feed. Basically when you check your feeds, it will show you whether or not I've posted something new. That way, if you visit a lot of blogs or just randomly browse, you only have to check in one place to see what's going on in your personal blogosphere.

I personally used bloglines.com. It's a free service and basically you set up a profile and list all the blogs and news sites you want to keep up with. Once you have them listed (and you can even organize them in folders like "fitness" or "fashion" or whatever you like) you can visit bloglines.com as often as you want and it will show you which sites have been updated since you last checked.

Magic, huh?

Here's a print screen of my current bloglines. On the left you can see a list of the all the sites I'm subscribed to, and on the right is the reader - showing my current posting in The Shape of Things blog.



If you're still really confused, don't give up. Visit Bloglines FAQ page and read up on this great service.

I'm just trying to make your life in the blogosphere easier - I sure wish someone had told me about RSS feeds a long time before I actually learned about them!!!

So America (and the world) are facing two huge problems at once - an obesity epidemic and global warming. No matter what you're political views are on the situation - I'm pretty sure we can all agree that our time here on this planet has caused some negative effects to nature. Scientists have decided that one way to tackle both of these problems simultaneously is to link them together - meaning, if you go green you can also get lean.

Sadly, Americans are notorious for being narcissistic and selfish. Therefore, if we don't see something benefiting ourselves, we probably won't do it. So if this whole going green business has no effect on our lives (monetarily or physically) there's a good chance we'll let is slide by. To combat that selfishness, environmentalist tried to tout the monetary benefits of going green - change your light bulbs save on the energy bill, bring your own grocery bags and get a store discount, use water sparingly save on your water bill, etc.

And now, in addition to monetary benefits, envirnmentalists are telling us that if we go green we can lose weight and get in shape. How you may ask?

"They advise that people get out of their cars and walk or bike half an hour a day instead of driving.

The payoffs are huge...One numbers-crunching scientist calculates that if all Americans between 10 and 74 walked just half an hour a day instead of driving, they would cut the annual U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, by 64 million tons."

But what about the payoffs for your health? Well if the average person was to walk instead of drive 30 minutes a day, they could lose up to 13 pounds a year. Read the full article here.

Personally I love that we're finally putting the environment and exercise in the same category. I believe that anyone who leads an active lifestyle recognizes that if we keep polluting this planet, the beautiful outdoors we love and enjoy will crumble apart. There may be too much smog to run outside, the trail you love to hike on may become a parking lot, and the bike paths may become so littered and trashed that there's nowhere safe to ride.

Unfortunately, the community I live in makes it almost impossible to choose to walk or bike instead of drive. There are absolutely no sidewalks on any route that I take to work. There are also very few bike paths, and the ones we do have all are recreational and don't lead to common work places. Our city (Baton Rouge) is so spread out and not planned that it would be very difficult to switch from driving.

So perhaps it's time we stop sitting back and letting others define the way we live. We should demand sidewalks and bike paths that are accessible and lead to work places. We need to support communities who are green friendly and encourage commuters to find alternative modes of getting to work. We need to stop this nasty urban sprawl by telling our city councils that we need more ways to get to work than a highway.

I've said it many times before - my trouble spot has always been my abs. So when I read articles about how to get flat abs I always take it in with a grain of salt - since I've read tons of these articles.

So today when I saw this "6 tips for Flat Abs" on webMD, I decided to give it a try. Although a lot of the tips are pretty standard - eat less, move more - there are some great ideas thrown in there. I decided to share those with you.

The first tip - and my favorite - is so simple and easy that by the time you finish reading it, you can have flatter abs. Seriously. Want to know what it is?

Stand up straight! Improving your posture can drastically make you look leaner, and in many cases get rid of your pooch. When your shoulders are back and your chest is up your abs naturally pull themselves in.

Here's how to have great posture while standing: "align your ears over your shoulders, shoulders over hips, hips over knees, and knees over ankles. Keep the fronts of the shoulders open like a shirt on a hanger, instead of a shirt on a peg. Draw your navel to your spine and keep your weight even on the balls and heels."

I also love the second tip - do pilates. Basically when you do crunches, you're not developing strength and flexibility around your core. Meaning - you're not hitting all the muscles of your core. The tip is to work your core in "3-D" the back, sides and middle.

A few other tips are to take things slow - you won't get fast long-lasting results - and to set realistic goals.

For the reast of the tips and some great ab exercises, read the article.

If you want some more information about flat abs:
Read about how Pilates has changed my abs.
Read why only doing crunches won't fix your abs.
Read about how contracting your transverse abs will help you get flat abs.

I don't know about you, but ever since November 1 I've been dreaming of fried turkey. Mmm. And dressing. And sweet potatoes. And gravy.

You get the point. Thanksgiving is coming up soon (a little less than two weeks) and I've got a great idea for you. In order to enjoy your thanksgiving meal and not completely derail your healthy-eating-living lifestyle, sign up for your local turkey trot.

A turkey trot is typically held the morning of Thanksgiving. Most trots are a 5K (which is 3.1 miles) and seem pretty family-friendly. Visit active.com to see if your area is having a turkey trot. Can't find it there? See if your local running club or running shoe store has information about a trot.

Now I know you may think it's a little last minute - and perhaps it is - but if you're fairly new to running, I'd still suggest signing up for a trot. It's a perfect time to do it and if not now, when? Right? There are training programs (like couch to 5k) but most of the plans last 6-9 weeks. Which is obviously too long for this race.

But, if you've been doing some running (even if it's run/walking), a 3 mile course is a great place to get a taste of what races are all about. You don't have to run the whole thing. In fact, you could do your run/walk workouts on the course. The only thing is, chances are you'll push yourself a bit harder than you do on your workouts. And you may completely surprise yourself!

Take a family member or friend along with you. It's a great way to start the Thanksgiving day and it will make you feel a lot less guilty when you dig into that pumpkin pie!

Sometimes we push ourselves too hard. I did just that last night. On Monday night I went to the gym and did a cricuit workout and then lifted weights focusing on my lower body. My calves were pretty achey from the circuit, but I stilll did calf raises and other strength training exercises targeting that muscle.

I was sore, naturally, yesterday and so when I finished work I did a tough run and then pilates. I actually had to sit out a few of the exercises in pilates that targeted the calves because THEY HURT. When I got home, I noticed that I could barely walk. In fact, I wobbled all night. My husband had a lot of fun making fun of me.

I did some stretches but nothing seemed to ease the pain and all night I was uncomfortable during sleeping.

It seems as if I strained my calf muscle. It happens to most people every once in a while and if it every happens to you here's how to treat it: R.I.C.E. - rest, ice, compression, elevation.

I'm at work so there really won't be too much elevation or compression. But I am keeping my walking down to the bare minimum as well as applying mineral ice to the area to give it some relief.

I went on Web M.D. to get some more tips on treating muscle strains. read the article here.

Some tips that stood out:

• Don't apply heat to the strained muscle as it can actually cause it to swell more. You should wait until the swelling has decreased to apply heat.
• Don't do any activities using the strained muscle until the pain has completely gone away (looks like I shouldn't run this evening...)
• Ice the area for 20 minutes for every hour that you are awake.

Just remember to be careful and to listen to your body. I should have eased up on the run and maybe skipped pilates last night, but I didn't and I'm paying for it.

Random title.

Somedays I finish work at 4:30 and the last thing in the world that I want to do is hop on the treadmill and run for 30 minutes. So it's those days that I turn to some alternative heart-racing cardio activities.

Yesterday was one of those days. So I turned to my November issue of Shape Magazine for some motivation. And I found this very interesting feature on metabolism. Basically the article was about how working out and doing the same things at the same intensity day after day does nothing for our metabolism. In fact, our bodies get very used to it.

So they present a few ways to stoke your metabolism from time to time to make sure you're reaching your calorie-burning potential. I did a circuit that combined cardio with strength moves, here's what they had to say about it:

"This high-intensity sculpting routine helps you get that permanent metabolism boost by building muscle, but it also keeps your real-time calorie burn on high—so you get the best of both worlds."

Unfortunately, the routine I did is not available online. So if you want to try it pick up the November 2007 issue of Shape. But, they do offer a few alternative routines on their Website that have the same metabolism boosting results.

After doing the first half of the 30 minute routine I was winded and ready to quit - I drank some water and finished it and felt great. It was definitely harder than running for 30 minutes - but it felt great to be doing a high intensity work out.

Try the alternative routine today.

This post may seem out of place - but it isn't. I'm going to post a recipe for a very easy tiramisu that will be so much more better than any of those little candies you have lying around from Halloween. So you can choose between eating 1 snickers bar (270 calories) or a slice of tiramisu (about 215 calories).

If you decide on the tiramisu, I'd suggest taking that leftover candy and sending it either to work with your husband, or to school with your kid, or somewhere out of sight and reach. Of course, after one bite of this dessert, you'll have very little use for all that candy. :)

This recipe takes about 15-20 minutes of prep, and then it needs to chill for 2-8 hours. I made a half recipe because the mascarpone cheese at the grocery store was $6 for 8 ounces, and I wasn't about to spend $12 on a pound.

Tiramisu - Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Ingredients:
6 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
1 pound mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 cups strong espresso, cooled
2 teaspoons dark rum
24 packaged ladyfingers
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate shavings, for garnish

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Add mascarpone cheese and beat until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon of espresso and mix until thoroughly combined.

In a small shallow dish, add remaining espresso and rum. Dip each ladyfinger into espresso for only 5 seconds. Letting the ladyfingers soak too long will cause them to fall apart. Place the soaked ladyfinger on the bottom of a 13 by 9 inch baking dish, breaking them in half if necessary in order to fit the bottom.

Spread evenly 1/2 of the mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers. Arrange another layer of soaked ladyfingers and top with remaining mascarpone mixture.

Cover tiramisu with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 8 hours. Before serving, sprinkle with chocolate shavings.

Here are my tips:
1. If you choose to do a half recipe like me, just use a smaller square baking dish
2. Instead of pulling a ton of shots of espresso, go to the store and buy a can of Starbucks Double Shot, it's 6.5 ounces per can, so if you're making the full recipe, buy 2.
3. I didn't have dark rum on hand, so I substituted amaretto
4. Use some of that chocloate candy lying around for the shavings, don't buy a bar of bittersweet chocolate.

Per my calculations, if you make a full recipe and cut into 18 pieces, it comes to about 215 calories per slice. Enjoy!