Topic Thursday

Here are some great rules to try!  How many of these are you already doing?  Is there 1 or 2 you could add to your current routine?  Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser has some great tips here...check them out!

Wellness Wednesday

Properly dealing with stress will reap you big rewards.  Try some (or all) of these Yoga poses to help you release your tension and stress.

Tasty Tuesday

Asparagus is so good and good for you!  Luckily we're in the thick of Asparagus season!  Pretty much every grocery store has it on sale right now!  So load up on this yummy veggie and try out a new recipe, like this one!

Marinated Mushrooms and Asparagus Salad


Marinated Mushrooms and Asparagus Salad
{gluten-free, vegan}
Serves 6 as a side dish

1 pound of mushrooms (crimini or whatever is available), quartered
1 pound asparagus, bottom two inches cut off
1 turnip, waxy skin removed and then shaved thin using a vegetable peeler
1 bunch scallions chopped large
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced thin
a small bunch chives, cut one inch long
2 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Fill a large pot of water for blanching and bring to a boil. Add salt until it tastes like the ocean.
While you are waiting for the water to boil, coat a sauté pan with oil and turn to high heat. Add the mushrooms to the hot pan and let them sit for a minute to gain color. Shake them every minute or two to brown them on all sides. After five minutes and when they are deeply browned, add the chopped garlic and peeled turnip. Gently toss or stir a few times, then remove from heat and place in a mixing bowl. Add the vinegar and scallions. Toss and let cool.
Blanch the asparagus in the boiling salted water for two minutes. Remove and shock in ice water. Let sit in the ice water to completely cool, about two minutes. Remove and cut each spear in thirds on a bias and add to the mushroom bowl.
Dunk the capers in the blanching water for ten seconds. Remove from water, then chop and add to the mushroom bowl.
Finally add your fresh chives and zucchini. Season with salt and pepper, and then toss one last time. Keep in the refrigerator until served. This will hold up well for three days.

*Recipe from Fig & Fork.  Click Here for site

Motivation Monday

Often times we get so caught up in every day tasks, exercise tasks, work tasks, etc that we forget some of the most basic things in life...we need to do what will make us happy!  This week, turn your focus to happiness, the rest will fall in to place!

Fit Friday

Here are some great Glute exercises from Fitness Magazine.  Try these out!




To see these exercises a little closer up, click Here

Topic Thursday

Summer Skin

Every sunscreen has a sun protection factor, or SPF, which is a measure of its strength or effectiveness. Each of us needs a different SPF, depending on whether, and to what degree, our skin burns or tans. A tan is the direct result of melanin, a brown pigment found in the epidermis that is produced when skin is exposed to sunlight.

Melanin protects the skin by absorbing, reflecting and scattering ultraviolet radiation before it penetrates the dermis, or underlying skin. However, armor that it is, melanin can’t prevent all the negative effects of the sun, and is often representative of damage. That’s why we need to use sunscreens. To determine what SPF your skin requires, you must know how long it takes your skin to burn when unprotected and exposed to sunlight. As a rule of thumb, anyone whose skin burns, whether or not it turns into a tan, should use an SPF of 15. Check with your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking antibiotics, antidepressants or antidiuretics. Some of these medications increase your skin’s sensitivity to sunlight and may decrease the time it takes your skin to burn.

Creating a Barrier

When exercising outdoors on a hot, sunny day, light-weight, light-colored clothing combined with plenty of sunscreen on both exposed and unexposed skin is the way to go. However, if overheating isn’t a concern, dark-colored, tightly woven clothing is more effective at blocking UV rays than say, a white T-shirt, which allows UV rays to reach the skin. Another barrier against sun damage comes in the form of eyewear. Protect not only your eyes, but also the skin around them, by wearing sunglasses that block 90 to 100% of the sun’s UV rays.
And, last but not least, wear a hat. Though a cap may be more comfortable for jogging, try a wide-brimmed hat that will shade your neck and face while gardening or walking outside.

Start With the Inside

Now that you know how to protect the skin’s surface, it’s time to start thinking about what you can do to make it glow from the inside out. You’re already off to a good start with exercise, which gets the blood circulating and delivers fresh oxygen to the skin all over your body. The next step is to drink plenty of water. Outdoor exercise, especially in the summer, increases your risk of dehydration. This is one risk you don’t want to take since it not only affects your performance and robs your skin of its vitality, but may be potentially hazardous to your health. Be sure to drink fluids before, during and after activity. To replenish your fluids after any outdoor activity, weigh yourself before you participate and then again after your workout. Any weight you lost is water and should be replaced by drinking two glasses (16 ounces) of water for every pound you have lost.

Everyone Needs a Little Sunlight

It’s been shown that a lack of sunlight can cause depression. After all, most plants won’t even grow without sunshine. And when the sun comes around and makes the days longer, our first instinct is to peel off our sweaters and bask in it. Go ahead. Just take precautions so you won’t have to deal with the unpleasant (and unnecessary) consequences.

Sunscreen Facts

• Wear sunscreen every day if you will be outside for more than 20 minutes, even when it’s cloudy.
• Sunscreen should be applied 15 to30 minutes before going outdoors and reapplied every two hours or after swimming or sweating.
• Don’t skimp: One ounce—enough to fill a shot glass—is considered the amount needed to properly cover exposed skin.

• Limit your exposure to sunlight from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during Daylight Savings Time (9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during Standard Time), which is when the sun’s rays are the strongest and most harmful.
• When choosing a sunscreen, look for one with an SPF of 15 or higher that provides broad-spectrum coverage against all ultraviolet light wavelengths.
• Throw out old bottles of sunscreen, which can lose strength after three years.

Source: American Academy of Dermatology

What SPF Do You Need?

Follow these steps to calculate what SPF you should look for in a sunscreen:

1. Determine how many minutes your bare skin can be exposed to the sun before it burns.


2. Divide that number of minutes into the total number of minutes you want to remain in the sun.


3. The result is the SPF you should look for in a sunscreen.


For example, if your unprotected skin burns in 10 minutes, and you plan on being in the sun for three hours, you would need a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 18 (180 minutes divided by 10 minutes).

 

*ACE Fit Facts

Wellness Wednesday

New 'Dirty Dozen' List of Pesticide-Laden Produce Just Released

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) released its newest Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides on Monday, which was Earth Day. And apples top its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues for the third year in a row. 
Other changes from the 2012 findings: cherry tomatoes and hot peppers are newcomers this year. Blueberries and lettuce, meanwhile, dropped off the Dirty Dozen list. The environmental watchdog group uses data compiled by the USDA, based on pre-washed samples of 48 types of conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables, to produce its findings.
“I think most Americans would be very surprised about how prevalent pesticide residue is,” EWG senior analyst Sonya Lunder told Yahoo! Shine, noting that pesticides were still seen on 67 percent of the samples, which were all either washed or peeled before being tested.

Among the top three worst offenders—apples, strawberries and grapes—nearly every sample had pesticides on it, Lunder said, with one grape alone showing traces of 15 pesticides.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Services acknowledges that scientists do not have a full understanding of the health risks associated with exposure to pesticide residues through food, soil, water, or air. Still, notes EWG, various U.S. and international government agencies have linked pesticides to a slew of health risks, including cancer, hormone disruption, brain and nervous system toxicity and irritation to the skin, eyes and lungs.

Dirty Dozen 2013:

Apples
Strawberries
Grapes
Celery
Peaches
Spinach
Sweet bell peppers
Nectarines (imported)
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Hot peppers

Additionally, the EWG added a “plus” category for the second year, noting two items—domestically-grown summer squash, plus kale and collards—that, though they didn’t meet Dirty Dozen standards, were commonly contaminated with exceptionally toxic pesticides. These organophosphates, dangerous to the nervous system, were phased out of agricultural use in the 1970s and ’80s, but still linger on many farm fields.

Still, there’s also good news, as the guide includes the “Clean Fifteen”—fruits and veggies with the lowest levels of pesticides, offering hopeful solutions for anyone not in the position to find or pay for more expensive organics. Many of these safest options have naturally protective coatings, such as corn, which tops that list once again this year, and papaya, which is a newcomer. Watermelon, sadly, dropped off the clean list from 2012.

“The health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure,” notes the EWG report, stressing that “eating conventionally-grown produce is far better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all.”

Clean Fifteen 2013:

Corn
Onions
Pineapple
Avocados
Cabbage
Sweet peas (frozen, since they’re more readily available)
Papayas
Mangoes
Asparagus
Eggplant
Kiwi
Grapefruit
Cantaloupe
Sweet potatoes
Mushrooms

The consumer list, Lunder said, “shows the real difference you can make in your purchasing habits, even if you’re only buying conventional.”
*Reference: Yahoo Shine!

Click Here to view article.