• Glenny's Home
• Topics
  • What's New
  • What's Hot
  • Diet Q&A's
  • Healthy Recipes
  • Diet Cartoons
  • Diet Videos
  • Glenny's Reviews
  • Health News
• Submit a Post
• Hot Posts
• Shop for Healthy Snacks

RSS

The Latest in Green Tea: An Extra Fitness Boost!

Once again, green tea is being lauded for its health benefits: a new study shows that one of its substances actually improves endurance by increasing the amount of oxygen your body uses. The substance, Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or EGCG, to make it easier, was given to research subjects in a double-blind study chronicled in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Participants who took the supplement—equal to three cups of green tea—were able to work harder for a longer amount of time on a stationary bike. Get your EGCG on with this summer-friendly recipe for fresh green tea granitas, courtesy of myrecipes.com. With 0 fat and only 88 calories each, they’re a delectable summertime treat!

Green Tea Granitas

Makes 6 servings, ~1/2 cup each

Ingredients

• 3  cups  boiling water
• 4  regular-sized green tea bags
• 1  (2-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, quartered
• 1/2  cup  honey
• 3  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice

Preparation

Pour boiling water over tea bags and ginger in a medium bowl. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Add honey and lemon juice; stir to combine. Strain tea mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Cool completely. Pour mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish. Cover and freeze 8 hours or until firm.

Remove tea mixture from freezer; scrape entire mixture with a fork until fluffy.

The 101 Best Things To Do For Your Body Now!

From Women’s Health magazine, here are the top 101 ways to live better, longer, happier and healthier…starting right now!

Can you hear me now? Plug your ears before you blow out your eardrums
Rocking out at home is one thing, but Spice Girls reunion concerts, lawn mowers, or fireworks can damage your hearing permanently. Properly fitting earplugs can provide a marked reduction in the amount of sound energy you’re exposed to. Try Mack’s silicone earplugs ($5 for six pairs, earplugstore.com ) or have an audiologist custom-make a pair for you. Cranking up the volume to 11 on your headphones can cause damage too, so listen at a reasonable decibel level. Don’t make us repeat ourselves.

One thing you don’t want in your mouth – Your contact lens
Each one is like a sponge–if you put it on your tongue or even rinse it under the tap, you slather on germs that are then absorbed into the plastic. Which you then stick directly onto your eyeball.

Watch where you stick that – Don’t apply mascara in the car
One of the most common eye injuries: corneal abrasions caused by mascara wands. Youch!

You snooze, you win!
Studies show that power naps can help you kill stress and recharge; just don’t doze for more than a half hour. After 30 minutes, your body enters the deep stages of sleep, and studies show that if you wake up right before deep sleep, you’ll feel more refreshed.

Score now, reap later - Sunglasses
Swap your H&M aviators for grown-up shades that block UVA and UVB rays, both of which up your risk of eye damage, including cataracts. We like Ryders Eyewear Sonnet Polarized sunglasses ($70, ryderseyewear.com ), which offer 100 percent UV protection.

Stop…drinking your calories.
Between 1995 and 2002, the number of calories Americans swigged each day more than doubled–and those from sugary quenchers like soda, fruit drinks, and alcohol quadrupled. That’s a whole lot of Jamba Juice, people.

Know Thyself

Know your body composition A study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that 25 to 30 percent of young women with a normal BMI (19 to 25) still carry excessive body fat. The easiest way to check your body composition is with bioelectric impedance analysis, available in many gyms and doctors’ offices.

Know your family’s health history Quiz the hell out of relatives, then download everything you learn to your M.D. Need help coming up with a list of questions? The U.S. Surgeon General’s Family Health Portrait (familyhistory.hhs.gov ) offers easy instructions.

Know your cancer risk The American Cancer Society’s Great American Health Check (cancer.org/greatamericans ) asks a few questions about your personal and family health history and then generates a list of recommended screening tests, plus tips on how to reduce your health risks. (We were told to nix the second margarita at happy hour and cut out the Cadburys.)

Know your cholesterol levels A survey by the Society for Women’s Health Research revealed that less than a third of American women know their numbers. Get your cholesterol checked every five years, starting at age 20. You’re in the clear if your total number is under 200 mg/dL, with an LDL (that’s the bad kind) of less than 100 mg/dL and an HDL (that’s the good kind) of 50 mg/DL or more.

Know your resting heart rate The lower the number, the less your heart has to work (and that’s a good thing). Take your pulse in the morning, when you’re most relaxed. Measure the number of beats in 10 seconds, then multiply by six. Your number should be between 60 and 80–even lower if you’re athletic.

Know your waist-to-hip ratio The best test for predicting heart attacks may be the proportion of your waist to your hips. Measure your waist at the smallest point, then measure your hips at the widest point. Divide the first number by the second number: an ideal ratio is 0.8 or lower.

To read the rest of Women’s Health’s 101 Best Things To Do For Your Body Now click here…

Ravenous Mother! Look out!

Thanks again to this fantastic website that sells retro humorous diet cartoons as cards: http://www.watchyourfigure.com/diet-humor-cards.htm

Happy Monday!

Plank It Up!

What’s the one move that builds core strength while also toning and working just about every muscle in your body? The single most simple, basic, no-equipment-required toning and conditioning posture that you can do anywhere? The insta-workout that creates incredible abs, tones back muscles, and sculpts sexy shoulders as well as arm and leg muscles to boot? The good old plank, of course. Holding your body in the basic plank position requires control of all major muscle groups, and variations on the plank position help target tougher-to-tone areas like abdominal obliques. And you can work these killer moves virtually anytime, anywhere (I’ve been known to pull off a quick plank workout series in the back hallway of my office on breaks). So, what are you waiting for…plank it up!

The most basic plank position is simple to put together but, since it requires holding your body position correctly for a length of time, gets more difficult to achieve as the seconds tick by. Try holding these postures for 15-30 seconds each to start, rotating through the series two or three times to get the full benefit of the workout.

• The basic plank position: Get into a position on the ground like you’re at the apex of a push-up: hands under shoulders, toes under heels, keeping your body in a straight line. To get into plank position, simply shift so that your elbows are under your shoulders, forearms and hands reaching out in front. Hold this position as long as you can without bowing down or up: keep your abs tight and pulled in with your back muscles flexed to keep your line straight, and flex the rest of the muscles in your body for increased support from your shoulders, arms, glutes, thighs and calves. However long you hold that position for, rest between it and the next one for half that amount of time.
  • Note: If this position is too difficult to hold for at least 15 seconds, stay in the push-up position you started in instead. Work up to at least one minute of holding your body in that position, then try to build 15-30 seconds in the basic plank position.
• Side plank: Rotate your body so that your feet and legs are stacked one on top of the other and you’re propped up by one elbow, under your shoulder, with your forearm sticking out in front of you. The other arms can rest along the side of your body or, for better form, be placed, hand on hip, to help center and  control the abdominal muscles. The hand shouldn’t be an active force in keeping the obliques in places but rather a reminder of where this form of the plank position is toning. Focus on keeping your abs, back and glutes tight to strengthen and tone your obliques. Hold this position as long as you can, then rest for half that time and switch sides.
• Reverse plank: Some call this the “easy” plank but really, if you’re focusing on what you need to, it’s no easier than the others. Lay on your back and then with your hands below your shoulders, palms down, fingers aimed towards feet and feet directly beneath knees, push up so that your body resembles a table: straight line from head to knees, arms and legs straight, abs, glutes and back muscles pulled in tight and arms and legs tight and braced to support the body. Hold for as long as possible, rest for half the time you held your body in place.

This is a really basic plank workout; many variations exist. Some excellent examples can be found at the following pages: BodyWorks.com, Strength Basics blog, and Wellsphere.com.

Regarding the resting times: I consider half the time you spent doing the exercise a good metric for rest until you can hold the postures for a minutes or more., At that point, no longer than 30 seconds is needed between changing postures to maximize efficiency and continue to build and strengthen, condition and tone muscles.

Ultimate Ab Blaster

My go-to ultimate ab-blasting workout has always been the Tyrolean traverse I use to get across the roaring Boulder Creek to some of my favorite climbing areas. (As per the definition in wikipedia, I traverse using a climbing harness hooked to the traverse with carabiners and slings.) If there isn’t anyone else waiting to use the traverse I’ll sometimes unclip and reclip to go back across it a few times. The Tyrolean requires me to pull myself across and since I’m usually also hauling gear—some 20-50 lbs of climbing equipment in a pack—it’s basically like doing a series of massive, full-body crunches while dangling in thin air (ok, it’s a little easier if you can drag your pack and put your feet up on it). It feels awesome, especially when the creek is running high enough that I get slightly sprayed—and cooled off!—while crossing. Every hoist further along the traverse means you automatically contract your abs while pulling your feet up and in, working the full length of your abdominal muscles as well as the muscles in your lower back, effectively engaging your deep core muscles—those small, powerful ones that wrap around your spine and are the most important source of core strength—while giving the larger, outer muscles an awesome workout too!

If you’re going to try a Tyrolean sometime, make sure you are outfitted with the correct equipment to traverse properly: usually a harness of some sort as well as carabiners and slings to attach your harness to the Tyrolean. Throwing your arms and legs around the ropes and just going for it is not recommended and can lead to severe injury or death, depending on what you’re traversing.

No Tyrolean traverse nearby to use? Try these moves, which help engage your deep core muscles, building a stronger core from the inside out:

• The V-Up: Lying down flat on your back with your arms stretched above your head, engage your ab muscles to lift both your legs and your torso, keeping arms stretched up, as high as you possibly can, then slowly lower back to start. Do 12-15 reps, rest for a minute, then repeat. This is a very balance-oriented exercise and can be difficult to master, but don’t give up! It’s the balancing that engages those deep core muscles: ideally, at the peak of the contraction, you’ll be balancing on your behind with your arms and legs stretched high above you in a V-shape.
• Lower the ball: Lying flat on your back, arms at your sides, lift up your feet and place a medium-sized ball—it can be a kickball, a basketball or, if you want to add difficulty, a weighted medicine ball—between them. Extend your legs directly above your hips, holding the ball between your feet, then lower the ball slowly to the floor, or as close as you can, legs extended, keeping the small of your back flat on the floor. Slowly bring the ball back up to starting position directly over your hips. That’s one rep. Do 10-12, rest for a minute, then do another set of 10-12. This exercise especially engages your deep lower back muscles; in fact, the way to tell if you’ve dropped your legs too far down is if you start to feel your lower back pull away from the floor. Stop right there and back up: this can strain your back and end up damaging the muscles you’re trying to strengthen. The key is to lower the ball as far as possible while keeping your back flat on the floor.
• Rock and Roll: Start in the same position as you would for a V-up. Do a V-up, lower, then immediately do another V-up, but this time spread your legs as far as possible and stretch your hands out between them. Lower, then do another V-up, then lower, and roll your entire body either to the left or the right. Re;peat the V-up, split-up, V-up sequence again, and roll in the other direction. Do 10 sequences, rest for a minute, then repeat.
• Curl-up: You’ll need a buddy, or a sturdy piece of furniture with strong, narrowly-spaced legs. Lie down on the ground and stretch your arms out above your head. Your buddy will stand where your hands are, or orient yourself so that your arms are fully outstretched along the ground with your hands gripping the legs of the furniture. If you have a buddy, you’ll grab their ankles. Using your abdominal muscles, bring your knees up to your chest, then keep going, curling up one vertebrae at a time until you are curled up completely with your shins resting against your buddy’s or the furniture’s, but in the opposite direction: your feet near their knees and vie versa. Reverse the curl, rolling back down slowly. That’s one rep. Do 10-12 then, if working with a buddy, switch places. Do two sets each.

Motivate!

Diets and exercise are full of pitfalls. You overindulge once and figure, forget it, I guess I’m not on a diet anymore. You skip one Pilates class and say, that’s it for me, guess I just can’t hack it.

Oh, how wrong you are. And to prove it, try a motivator:

• Going running, cycling, rock climbing, anything that involves your feet? Coat them in a mint-based lotion or cream before you put on your kicks for a little extra “oomph” in every step. I love Burt’s Bees Peppermint Foot Lotion, which I always use when I climb. It makes my feet feel ready to scale a mountain.
• Get a mantra. I’ve heard some good ones lately, like, “earn the downhill” when you’re running uphill, or “thank you, legs/arms/abs/pick your body part and insert here!” Get something in your head that gives you the determination to rise to the challenge.
• Give yourself five minutes. This one comes from the first woman to ever run the Boston Marathon, Kathrine Switzer. If you’re REALLY loathing it after five minutes, then call it a day. But five minutes of any activity will usually be enough to drill into your brain that yes, this feels good, yes this feels healthy and yes, this is what you should be doing.
• Do mini-workouts during times you’d otherwise just be sitting around. During TV commercials, jog the stairs in your house or do planks. Set your alarm half an hour earlier so you can stat your day with a quick yoga sesh. Get creative!
• Hydrate often. Drinking lots of water is not only good for you, it can be a great way to remind yourself that you’re going to work out after work…and it gets you physically ready for the workout in store.
• Reward yourself. My reward after running is chocolate milk…because it’s an awesome post-run beverage and it tastes SOOO good. Whether it’s treating yourself to a mini Snickers or getting a pedicure for your poor, well-worked feet, come up with a reward system that works to motivate YOU.

Congratulations! You’re already on the road to success!

Recipe of the Week! Quick Thai-Style Chicken Curry

Spice lovers, rejoice: this curry will dance like fire on your tastebuds while enveloping them in a hot/sweet/fiery tango of delicious and complex flavors. Soothing light coconut milk provides a nice foil for the curried chicken, and making this recipe with whole grain brown rice instead of white gives you 35 grams of satisfying whole-grain carbs (compared to white rice’s overkill of 44.6g of refined carbs) in just 150 calories (compared to white rice’s 205 calories) per cup. Also, recent studies have shown that eating brown rice can reduce your risk of contracting type 2 diabetes.

The fire in this dish comes from the curry paste, so it’s really up to you to decide what type you like best, i.e. how spicy do you really like it? Unless you’re quite familiar with Thai cooking and eat very spicy Thai-style foods often, I’d suggest starting with a milder curry paste than the one I use and then if you get bored with it, perhaps trying the brand I’ll recommend here out (or something in-between). I shop at a neighborhood Asian marketplace that has numerous curry types and a friendly staff happy to help with questions. I highly recommend seeking out one of your own.

Quick Thai-Style Chicken Curry

You’ll need:

• 1-2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1-2 tablespoons Mae Ploy Red Curry Paste, or any other curry paste you prefer
• ½ lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 can light coconut milk (13.5 ounces)
• 2 cups cooked long grain brown rice

To prepare:

• Heat sesame oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes
• Add curry paste, stir and cook until fragrant, 3-5 minutes
• Add chicken, stir to coat with curry paste and cook 6 minutes or until done
• Add coconut milk, simmer 5-10 minutes.

You can allow the curry, at this point, to simmer on low or medium low for another 5-10 minutes for the flavors to develop or serve as is. Serve hot over rice. Serves 4.

I like to whip up salads as this is cooking, My Favorite Salad for Two being our preferred salad to serve with this meal, as it has a lot of cooling veggies and greens in it. Enjoy!

Summer Foot Care 101

It’s sandal season…and time to make sure your feet are as lovely as those gorgeous strappy shoes you just bought to shoe them off. Some tips to keep your tootsies looking and feeling their best:

• Wash often and well. Spend some serious tub time scrubbing your feet, because the more they’re exposed to the elements, the greater the chances are they’ll attract dirt, dust and grime. If once or twice a day isn’t enough, sit on the edge of your tub and scrub, scrub, scrub away. Clean feet are sexy…dirty feet are definitely not.
• Soak, exfoliate, repair, treat and moisturize! This is an excellent maintenance routine you should be doing year-round, but in the summer it’s super-important to keep your feet looking and feeling healthy and clean. At least once a day, if possible, soak feet in a pedicure tub or a shallow basin filled with warm water. Add some honey or medicated treatment to beat back germs—honey is a natural antiseptic—and give feet a fresh start. Exfoliate with a scrub containing granules or a pumice stone to slough off dead and dying skin and help with the next step…repair. Slather on a super-hydrating cream, balm or jelly—I love Bag Balm or even just plain old petroleum jelly—and cotton socks while doing things—or just lying about—around the house to work on cracked, dried heels and calluses. Treat nail fungus with medication prescribed by a physician…nail fungus shows up as an icky white or yellow spot or spots under your nail and if left untreated can grow and spread rapidly. Quick treatment with prescription-strength medication is the best way to resolve this. Finally, moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! Keep your feet looking and feeling their best by slathering on a thick cream before sliding into those strappies.
• Get a pedicure or do one yourself at home (though they’re a relatively inexpensive, pleasant indulgence). The basic steps are: soak the feet, trim and file the nails, remove any old nail polish as needed, exfoliating with a foot scrub or stone, moisturizing the cuticles and feet and, if you prefer, polish the toenails.

Follow these steps and those gorgeous new strappy sandals will be begging to be worn! Happy summer!

Jessica Alba’s Diet And Workout

Celebrities. They can be so wacko, so crazy, so loony, so…incredibly motivating, winsome, and awesome as role models too, sometimes. In this excerpt from Celebrity Diet Doctor one can only think…who wouldn’t want that body? Turns out you can get it too…here’s how.

(from Celebrity Diet Doctor

“In this recent shoot for GQ, Jessica Alba appears to be in top form as she gears up for the filming of Sin City 2 this summer. Her diet secret is “portion control” says her trainer in the latest issue of In Touch weekly, and “she knows how to keep her eating habits under control.” “She likes to have dinner out, but will only eat half of the food on the plate.”

In addition to a balanced diet, Jessica also watches her carbs, leaving bread and desserts off the menu. But she doesn’t deprive herself when she gets a particular craving “You need to indulge and have that chocolate cake whenever you feel the need.”

Jessica Alba’s Diet Plan
It’s a South Beach style diet, with lean meats, whole grains, low-fat cheeses, fruits and veggies.

• Breakfast
  1 cup oatmeal with berries with 3-4 scrambled egg whites when working on the film set.

• Lunch
  Salad with 170 gms (6 ounces) of chicken breast or fish (salmon, tuna)

• Dinner
  Sashimi or or 170 gms (6 ounces) of petit filet of beef or other lean protein with unlimited veggies and 3 small red potatoes

• Snacks
  handful of almonds or hot air popped popcorn

Jessica Alba’s Work Out
Jessica’s is big on exercise with lots of cardio on the elliptical, stationary bike or treadmill for 30 minutes four times a week. She adds resistant-training including weights and yoga to tone up for her action roles in films.”

Dieting is War!

Thanks to this awesome site for retro diet humor for this great cartoon: http://www.watchyourfigure.com/diet-humor-cards.htm

Happy Monday!

Next Page »

Featured Video

  Trim and Tone Your Abs Video
(Click Image to Watch Video)



»Click Here to Watch


---

• Recent Posts

  • Yummy
  • January 2012 Sweepstakes: Enter for a chance to win $100 of Glenny’s snacks!
  • Small Steps to a Healthier New You!
  • WIN $100 of FREE Glenny’s Snacks (November Sweepstakes)
  • “I just wanted to say THANK YOU”
  • “I am nuts about it”
  • “I just want to say how good your cranberry and almonds bar is”
  • “Thank you so much for making such yummy, healthy treats”
  • I can say is wow……
  • Thank you! Thank you!