Chin ups!

The second body weight exercise is a chin up. I recommend chin ups for women over pull ups. Chin ups are a bit easier to master and don't encourage a wider back. This exercise is effective especially for the back and biceps, but also uses every other muscle in your upper body as a stabilizer. A proper chin up starts by hanging from a bar, pulling the shoulder blades down and together and using the back muscles to pull your weight up. When you first try a chin up, you may need someone to act as a spotter. Your spotter stands right behind you and supports your bent knees and feet. As you pull up, the spotter helps by pushing your knees and feet up. If you are acting as a spotter, make certain you bend your knees and pull in your abs as you lift. Good luck!

Quinoa with Cherries and Almonds

1 1/2 C. quinoa

2 1/4 C. water

Soak quinoa in water for about fifteen minutes. Remove soaking water and add 2 1/4 C. water and 1 t. salt to quinoa. Simmer on low for 25-30 minutes. Cover and let rest for about ten minutes. Spoon into a bowl. Toss with the following ingredients:

1 red onion, diced and sauteed (mix 1 T. curry powder in after sauteed)

1/4 C. olive oil

2 T. balsamic vinegar

1/2 C. dried cherries

3/4 C. toasted slivered almonds

zest and juice of one orange

1 t. salt

Intergrating Whole Grains into your diet

Cooking Grains

Quinoa-1 part quinoa to 1 ½ parts water

Soak quinoa for 15 minutes. Drain and simmer in salted water for 25-30 minutes.Cover and let rest for 10 minutes

Farro-1 part farro to 3 parts water

Soak farro for one hour. Drain and simmer in salted water for 40-50 minutes.

Wheat Berries-1 part berries to 3 parts water

Simmer in salted water for 30-45 minutes.

Barley-1 part barley to 3 parts water.

Hulled, simmer in salted water for 1 ½ hours.

Pearl, (soak for one hour) simmer in salted water for 30-45 minutes.

Brown Rice-1 part rice to 4 parts water

Simmer rice in salted water for 40-50 minutes.

No gym? No problem! Top 8 body weight exercises.

This is the first of eight body weight exercises you can do anywhere. A simple triceps pushup is one of the best exercise you can do for your upper body. By pulling your arms in close to your sides, you save unnecessary strain on your shoulders. Targeted muscles include: chest and triceps, but the rest of your body comes into play as a stabilizer. This makes the pushup beneficial for the entire upper body. If you arch your lower back when performing the pushup on your toes, drop to your knees and do it that way. Practice a few at a time and take a break when you start to lose proper form. Try to work your way up to 3 sets of 10. Good luck!

Adventure Race...Fail!

After a rather small amount of deliberation, my team and I decided I was not technically ready to tackle the mountains of Lake Tahoe on my old mountain bike. We all agreed that my lack of experience might actually present a dangerous situation. Since I am the mother of two, head injuries caused by crashing down a mountain are not something that fit easily into my life. So, while it is difficult for me to admit, this one is a fail.

Should I stop exercising and throw in the towel because this didn't give me the result I was hoping for? NO! Time to set a more realistic goal. When I am finished swallowing my pride, I will let you know what that will be.

In the meantime, a good friend of mine, who happens to be a stellar runner, shared some information with me. The LA running club meets in Santa Monica for interval training runs. Check them out on larunnningclub.com. Another great resource is the latriclub.com. They meet for bike rides, runs, and ocean swims. It's a wonderful way to meet other people with healthy habits.

Deconstruct Your Meals

If you like me have many different appetites to please in any single meal, I would suggest adopting my concept of a deconstructed family meal. Otherwise, things in my house become too complicated. This is not always possible or necessary, but I like to keep most of the dinner elements separate. For instance, in this particular meal I have Cuban style black beans, rice, corn, smoky lime grilled chicken, grated cheese, salsa, & corn tortillas. Okay, I like beans, chicken, corn, salsa & tortillas. Pearl & Dave like the works. Ellis likes beans with cheese melted on top, chicken, & corn tortillas. June will eat cheese quesadillas with the corn tortillas and cheese, beans & rice on the side. This may seem complicated but it really serves multiple purposes. First, everyone is happily fed. Second, all the leftovers are lunch ready, and I truly believe that by involving your kids in the food “they” put together, it creates a healthy relationship with food. We seem to have avoided the dinner table battles at my house that I feel leave a negative connection to food and simultaneously avoided building the black and white mindset of healthy versus unhealthy. If you have a child who only eats white rice, buy the best organic white rice and let he or she choose different things to flavor the rice. This will eliminate the unnecessary pressure, and most likely the child will evolve and start to experiment with new foods. Don’t get into the bad habit of giving your child prepackaged frozen foods because you feel this is your only option and better than nothing. This is not the way to develope life long good eating habits. Cheers, Carol

Most Delicious Cuban Style Black Beans

2 lb. black beans

1 large red pepper, roasted and peeled

2 white onions, peeled and cut into quarters

3 cloves garlic, peeled

2 t. Mexican oregano

2 t. ground cumin

2 T. cider or white vinegar

Cover black beans with cold water and soak over night. In a large pot cover black beans with fresh water 4 inched above beans. Simmer for one hour. Add sofrito and continue to simmer for about one more hour or until tender. Add salt to taste.

Sofrito: Blend together pepper, onion, garlic, oregano, cumin and vinegar until smooth. If needed add ¼ cup of water to blend smooth. If you like spicy, try adding a tablespoon of chipoltle in adobo (canned).

This recipe makes a lot of black beans so you will definitely have some for your next meal, maybe two.

Smokey Lime Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

*Marinade:

zest and juice of 5 limes

3 T. Spanish paprika (smoked)

1/3 cup olive oil

2 t. salt

4 cloves garlic, smashed

Marinate chicken for about 1 hour. Grill about 12 minutes per thickest inch. For example: if the chicken is one inch thick grill six minutes per side. Let rest five minutes before slicing. This chicken is great in a salad and/or cold for lunch the next day.

Adventure Race....update a day late!

First, let me bow down to all of you who mountain bike in the actual mountains! There is a very big difference between being strong enough to tackle an outdoor trail and being brave enough for that trail. I was officially humbled during my ride on Thursday in Malibu. While I only actually fell once during my ride, I came very close to hitting the dirt about five hundred times. I did learn some important lessons about technique, but also discovered my old mountain bike is not even close to being the proper equipment necessary for an adventure race. I will work on the bike issue and keep you posted. In the meantime, my advice for sore muscles and back tightness (I know the problem from personal experience) is to use a foam roller, or take a gentle yoga class. Wish me luck. Time is tight, so we'll see what I can do about the bike!

Super Easy Dinner

Blender pesto with organic frozen peas

2 cups fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts, Toast in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 pound penne pasta (wholewheat or traditional)

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Cook penne according to directions on box. In the last two minutes of pasta cooking time, add frozen peas to pasta and continue to cook for two minutes. Drain the pasta leaving it wet with the cooking liquid. Stir vigously with pesto. Enjoy! Good cold for lunch the next day.

Adventure Race!

In a previous posting, I talked about setting a fitness goal and then designing your workout program toward achieving that goal. I am putting my money where my mouth is, and training for an adventure race. The race takes place in Lake Tahoe on September 18th. It consists of mountain biking, trail running, kayaking and orienteering. Since my job is built around exercise, I am already semi prepared for the race. In the next few blogs, I will keep you all posted on what I do to tweak my training. This Thursday, I plan to dust off my old mountain bike and head for the hills for a trail ride. I teach spinning, so my legs are strong, but there are no rocks in the road on a spin bike. Cross your fingers for my safety and I will report back on Friday.