Black Angus Rotisserie Manual Treadmill
Lazy Cook is at it again. What to do with left over white meat from a delicious Costco rotisserie chicken? Also, it is the middle of a heat wave over much of the country, and certainly here in Chicago. That isn’t conducive to spending a lot of time preparing meals. It happens that I have on hand a large amount of previously cooked barley. I have mentioned in previous lazy cookery posts that I like to work ahead by precooking several day’s to a week’s worth of one dish that I can then mix and match to create simple and fast meals. Much of the country remains under heat advisories this week.
Besides putting a damper on outside activities, this extreme heat makes it tougher to prepare regular healthy meals. So we turned to our favorite Vita-Mix Lady for some help. Lea Ann Savage demonstrates the Vita-Mix machine and seems to know everything a person could need to know when it comes to using these high tech marvels.
Lee Ann offers this recipe for Cold Green Soup on her. I got my inspiration from the guy selling “Savory Stews” recipes online (I bought his product) and I combined some ingredients from the Excellent Raw Marinara Sauce provided by Joanne (from the Vita-Mix User’s Yahoo Group). I make this thick and chewy (leaving some tiny bits and pieces unblended for consistency sake – you can blend more or less to suit your taste).
This is AWESOME (to me at least) 1/2 to 3/4 of a cucumber (peeled if not organic) 1-2 medium tomatoes (home grown taste best – Campari are 2nd best for flavor if you have to buy from grocery store) Very small slice of onion 1/4 lemon (rind cut off) 2-3 pitted dates 3-5 sun dried tomatoes (I like the kind packed in olive oil – I use this: 1 tsp of Blend It Up Spice (the kind sold at Road Shows, if you don’t have it, substitute Sea Salt) 4-6 fresh basil leaves (or a scant tsp. Of dried basil) Scant tsp.
I usually pause and blend up this mixture – eventually getting to high for just a little bit (15-30 seconds or so on high) to get the dates and sun dried tomatoes really blended. Then I add: 1 stalk celery 1/2 to 3/4 of a red pepper 2-4 cups of Greens (you pick what kind – I like Spinach and/or Romaine the best). I blend this just enough to get the Greens mostly chewed up (so that I can pour it into a bowl and spoon it). You can blend it into a drink if you want – it’s up to you how much you blend it.
I have a very “addictive” personality and right now – this is my current Green food addiction. (big smile) This low calorie concoction seems just the ticket for a healthy change of pace in handling our current wilting heat wave. Charles Dickens said, “Reflect on your present blessings of which every man has many, but not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” Epictetus, Greek sage and Stoic philosopher (AD 55-AD 135) said, “There is only one way to happiness and this is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” It turns out that old advice is very sage in regards to being happy. It pays to look on the bright side, as I hope you will agree shortly.
Unhappily, we are not very good at predicting what will make us happy in the long term, according to Professor Sam Wang, Ph.D. Molecular Molecular Biology and Neuroscience, Princeton University.
Lottery winners are an excellent example of this principle. Over a period of time, lottery winners were surveyed and were not appreciably happier than before they won. Even among regular lottery players, those who win are not happier than the losers.
In addition, the giant sum of money to big winners often so disrupts the person’s life as to make it considerably worse than before the ‘win.’ Professor Wang teaches course. By no great coincidence I have just finished taking that course and the subject of happiness was the concluding lecture. The course is offered by This is not to suggest that money is irrelevant to happiness. Happiness differences are not strongly dependent on income.
Above a certain level, there is no difference. Minimal needs can be met on about $30,000 of income, according to Professor Wang. The determinant seems to be relative wealth. How do we compare with our friends and neighbors? Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice stated that people tend to be less satisfied with their lives when they choose amongst many options as opposed to choosing among few options.
Perhaps comparisons tend to invite regret. The author practicing what she preaches. Photo by Ineke Moss. Two hormones play an important part in controlling appetite. Ghrelin is a hormone that’s produced in the stomach that stimulates appetite, and leptin is produced primarily in white fat cells and inhibits appetite. Sleep deprivation alters both ghrelin and leptin levels. In one study, restricting sleep to four hours a night increased ghrelin and reduced leptin levels.
These altered levels can make you feel hungry even if your body isn’t in real need of food. A bad eating habit is like a gift that keeps on giving, only in reverse. Instead of giving you pleasure over and over, your good health keeps getting worse day after day.
As a long time fan of Dr. Phil, I think the good doctor has a very good suggestion on the topic of bad habits. Phil said on numerous occasions that you shouldn’t try to break a bad habit by ‘white knuckling it.’ That is, quitting cold turkey. He said the secret to breaking any bad habit is to find something that is healthy and substitute it for the bad thing. For example, don’t just quit smoking, start snacking on sunflower seeds or something healthy like that instead.
John, my blogging partner, is currently struggling with a diet soda habit. He drinks about 140 ounces of diet soda a day. He wants to cut out or seriously cut back on that consumption.
How to do it? In John’s case, I have a couple of substitution suggestions. I think these would work for me, but this kind of thing is personal, so John may have other ideas. I suggest substituting watermelon for some of these sodas.
After all, watermelon is 92% water, so that would satisfy his thirst. In addition, it tastes so much better than plain water. I think it is a net plus.
I blogged about the health aspects of watermelon. He can bring watermelon to the office and keep it refrigerated so it seems to me this could work for the rest of the summer anyway.
That would put several months of reduced diet soda consumption behind him. There are numerous vitamin waters, etc. That are also healthy and have some different flavors, so he wouldn’t have to be bored with plain water.
A somewhat more offbeat suggestion is from the blog item One of the links in that item suggests making a chia seed gel with a spoonful or two in a glass of water or fruit juice. This would provide a very nutritious and filling drink to take the place of diet soda. I am really looking forward to John’s kicking his diet soda habit. Stick around and see how it turns out.
I don’t usually write about fast foods, but this morning I was watching CNBC for business news and they had a quiz on Mickey D’s. They asked viewers to guess what the highest calorie item was at McDonald’s. I guessed wrong, I thought it was one of the Angus Burgers.
The highest calorie item sold at McDonald’s is the 32 ounce Chocolate Triple Thick Shake. How many calories would you guess?
Black Angus Rotisserie Manual Treadmill Manual
For perspective I am a 152 lb man and need to consume around 2100 calories to maintain my body weight in a day. The McDonald’s Chocolate Triple Thick Shake contains 1060 calories. If I drank one, I would have used up half of my food budget for the day. How much nutrition would that produce? You be the judge. There are 28 grams of fat, 16 grams of saturated fat, 2 grams of Trans fat, 100 mg of cholesterol, 500 mg of sodium, 204 carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber 168 grams of sugar and 26 grams of protein. I just want to mention a couple of things that jump out at me here.
The 16 grams of saturated fat is a lot. It is only one gram shy of the sat fat on an angus bacon cheeseburger. The 500 mg of sodium is on the high side.
John would be more troubled by this than I would as he watches that closely because of his medical condition. However, the 168 grams of sugar is a mind blower. I took strong exception to the 67 grams of sugar in their Frozen Strawberry Lemonade. You can read about that in.
The 168 grams of sugar in teaspoons of 4.2 grams per comes out to 40 teaspoons of sugar. That is almost a full 8 ounce cup of sugar. Can you imagine drinking that much sugar without gagging?
I covered the details of why consuming sugar drinks is not recommended if you want to cool yourself off in my previously mentioned item on their frozen strawberry lemonade. It’s worth a look. Much of the nation is suffering under a heat advisory which includes the home town of this blog, Chicago. The dangerous heat wave blamed for as many as 22 deaths spread into the eastern United States on Wednesday, extending its reach across nearly half the U.S.
Population, officials said. About 141 million people in a 1 million-square-mile area were under heat advisories and warnings, according to Justin Kenney, spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The National Weather Service said, “These triple-digit temperatures are forecast to remain in place across the eastern U.S. Through Saturday before cooling off slightly to the mid-90s by Sunday.” For folks like me who try to exercise every day, this advisory is extremely problematical. I want to exercise, but I don’t want to become a statistic.
In an effort to beat the heat, I rode my bicycle very early every morning this week. I wrote about my actions two days ago in trying to get in a bike ride early in the morning before the heat really got going.
You can read the details. Yesterday was the second day of the heat advisory, but with some significant differences. When I walked the dog first thing in the morning, I noticed that the heat did not feel as oppressive as the day before.
I didn’t come home sopping wet as I had previously. It turns out there was a lovely north wind blowing that provided a pleasant coolness to the air and was very helpful when I got out on the bike. It was possible to ride and enjoy a constant cooling from that north wind. I finished with an enjoyable 25 mile ride and came back home comfortably unlike the previous day when I barely managed 20 miles and was wiped out at the end of the ride.
Black Angus Rotisserie Oven
The fascinating development occurred later in the day. By noon I had showered, walked the dog and fixed myself a lunch. I was watching a recording of the Tour De France stage that occurred earlier in the morning when I began to feel a little tired. Now, as I am retired, I can nap any time I feel like it and usually take one or two naps a week in the afternoons extending 20 to 40 minutes.
I wake up refreshed and continue with my day. So, it was no surprise to me that I felt like a nap. I lay down in my bed around 1:15 PM. Here’s the interesting part. I didn’t wake up until 4:30 PM and I felt like it was the middle of the night. A three hour nap is an extreme rarity for me. I can’t remember the last time I took one.
Was this a delayed result of riding the bike earlier? Keep in mind that when I rode, the heat was not at all intolerable like later in the day.
Perhaps it was residual from my tiring ride of the previous day. I have to assume that this nap was a result of the heat even though my body never sent me any fatigue messages during the early morning ride.
If any readers care to offer an insight into this, I would love to hear it. I pride myself on listening to my body and acting healthy in every way I can. I thought I had done so yesterday, too. The temp when I was riding didn’t exceed high 70’s F at most. For some further suggestions on dealing with extreme heat, check out and, Remember: A bicycle can’t stand alone; it is two tired. If you would like to read more about cycling and see some of the photos I shoot on my rides check out my new blog.
Last week we shared with you an excerpt from a 44-page report by Harvard Medical School on osteoarthritis of the hand. You can read it. This week, we want to finish up with some offbeat treatments of hand arthritis discussed by Harvard. The entire publication which covers The Healthy Hand, Arthritis of the Hand, Tendon Trouble, Exercise for the Hand, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other Tunnel Syndromes, Traumatic Hand and Wrist injuries as well as handy gadgets for sufferers to use. This pretty much qualifies as everything you ever wanted to know about the hand, but were afraid to ask.
Harvard Medical School offers special reports on over 50 health topics. You can order the complete Hands report. Holding a cup of coffee can be very painful to an arthritis sufferer Following is an excerpt from the report: Many people with chronic, painful conditions like arthritis who don’t get complete relief from conventional therapies turn to alternative treatments. As with any therapy, some people find that certain treatments work well for them, while others find little or no benefit. Talk with your physician to decide which approaches might work best for you, and consult a licensed, certified practitioner for specific treatment and guidance. One glass of water shuts down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University study. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it. Fields Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. Keep in mind that we get 20% of our water from the food we eat. A hamburger, for example, contains 40% water. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.
For our more detailed write-up on drinking water, read Are you drinking enough water every day? Sip back and relax Tony. Subway is featuring an oldie but a goodie as its sandwich of the month for July, the Italian B.M.T. This is an offering I bought frequently in the days when Subway first started opening stores in the Chicago area where I live. But it’s also one I haven’t touched since I started paying closer attention to ingredients, particularly to Sodium content.
Subway’s lists a 6-inch B.M.T. As having 450 calories, which for a lunch isn’t bad at all. But the same 6-inch has 1,500 mgs of Sodium. Double that for a foot-long and you have 900 calories and 3,000 mgs of Sodium. An adult needs only 250 – 500 mg of sodium per day. For people over age 50 and for anyone with high blood pressure, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends no more than 1500 mg a day. Diet, processed foods contribute 75 percent of the sodium consumed.
The foot-long also has 40 grams of fat and 16 grams of saturated fat, assuming a foot-long’s numbers are double those of the six inch. Subway definitely offers healthy choices, but not everything it sells is totally healthy, so be a discerning diner when you opt for Subway. My choice there is almost always salad with oil and vinegar and a little roast beef. Subway lists that at 140 calories and 450 mgs of Sodium (presumably in the roast beef). Avoid the packaged dressings, they’re loaded with Sodium too. I’ve been the past few weeks, every since a high school friend mentioned to me that it had helped both his cholesterol levels and his blood pressure. He is taking very high doses of niacin, seven to nine grams a day.
And he mentioned to me to be prepared for what’s called flushing, which really means turning so red it looks like your. I started with 100 mg a day and now am taking 200 mgs a day. The flushing is still intense, but it hasn’t gotten worse as I’ve increased my daily intake, so I’ve now bought 500 mg tablets to try that dosage next. My face looks redder than this when the niacin hits me.
I haven’t seen a change in my blood pressure, which I take with a home wrist monitor, so the jury is still out on effectiveness for me. I bought the 500 mg tablets at a natural medicine store in my suburb and was speaking to one of the workers there who also recommended garlic tablets for high blood pressure. So I’ve bought some of those as well, 600 mg tablets. Traditional medicine is not lowering my blood pressure. I’m already on two medications from my doctor and my pressure still tests high at each physical, so I’m trying some non-traditional approaches. I’ll keep you posted on what happens next. But should you see me on the street sometime and it looks like my head is about to explode, don’t be alarmed, its only the niacin kicking in.
We in Chicago are living under a Heat Advisory today which possibly will extend for the rest of the week. As a guy who wants to ride his bike every day possible, that is not good news.
This is what the National Weather Service says: A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT WEATHER IS EXPECTED. HIGH TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE POSSIBLE. DURING VERY HOT WEATHER IT IS CRITICAL TO STAY HYDRATED BY DRINKING PLENTY OF WATER. IN ADDITION CHECK UP ON RELATIVES ELDERLY AND NEIGHBORS.
TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS IF YOU WORK OR SPEND TIME OUTSIDE. WHEN POSSIBLE RESCHEDULE STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES TO EARLY MORNING OR EVENING. KNOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT AND LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING WHEN POSSIBLE AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. I am a senior citizen who is in pretty good physical condition. I asked my doctor about riding my bicycle during a heat advisory.
She said that I shouldn’t do it and that she tells the same thing to her 40-year old patients. I was moping around the house last weekend with a summer cold. It started last Tuesday and likely will be with me until this Tuesday. As long as I can remember, it’s always taken me a week to completely shake a cold.
As I’ve worked out more and been thinking more about my health, I think I’ve gotten fewer colds than when I was younger, but all this exercise seems to do nothing for my recovery time. My wife, on the other hand, is usually feeling better in about three days. Why the difference?
I consulted with, but only found there that colds can last three to seven days; there was no explanation for the span. The same is on a site called Both sites reminded me that doctors and medical professionals are really only taking their best guesses when they treat us.
We, as patients, have to know our own bodies and health histories to ensure those best guesses make sense for our bodies and our health. This is our perennial big sports weekend write-up to help you to enjoy the festivities without packing on any extra pounds. On July 4 we had our first big sports weekend post covering the beginning of the Tour De France and Wimbledon. With the Women’s World Cup Final tomorrow as well as another stage of the Tour De France, there is plenty to occupy the couch potato.
Watching the women tomorrow, exciting as it will be, doesn’t do anything positive about burning calories or working your heart. This is one of the conundrums of our times. We love watching the games, but we do it from our couch in front of our big screen TV while drinking beers and munching munching.
Before I get involved in any sports spectaculars I always try to make sure that I get at least a cardio workout in to put some calories in “the bank” for when the beer and munching start later. In reasonable weather, this just means get out on the bike. Being retired I know I have more time and more fluid time to exercise and still vedge out. If you are more pressed for time, consider possibly going to the health club and watching a game on TV while you walk the treadmill or ride an exercise bike. Or, in the best of all possible worlds, do you have exercise equipment at home? If you do, drag the bike, etc. Into the TV room so you can do some cardio while enjoying the ‘action’ on the tube.
Change happens on the margin. If you can turn couch potato activity into calorie burning time, you will profit greatly in both the long and short run. This kind of stuff adds up. Try it; you might like the results. Kathy Ahn Is losing weight on your list of New Year’s resolutions? If it is, let’s work on making it a resolution you actually stick to this year. Losing weight is simple: eat less; move more.
But like all other New Year’s resolutions, it involves commitment over time and changing your behaviors. Have a Plan In order to increase your chances of succeeding with your resolutions this year, take the time to write down a plan of action for achieving your goals and focus on one thing at a time. Include milestones in your plan so you can reward yourself for sticking to your goals.
Once one behavior is habitualized, you can work on another one of your goals. Many people like to say that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, but remember that the number of days can vary from person to person and so don’t get discouraged if three weeks have past and you’re still working on forming that new, good habit. Even though we start the year strong, it’s easy to make mistakes and lose sight of our goals so just in case of a slip up, have a setback plan you can immediately turn to. Your setback plan can be as simple as going back to re-read your New Year’s resolutions and plans to help re-motivate yourself. In addition to those, you might want to write something inspirational to yourself at the beginning of the year to include in your setback plan. You can also do a visualization exercise where you picture yourself at the weight you want to be, or have a folder of pictures of the body you want to have or the clothes you want to fit into. Anything that motivates you and will help you get back to working on your weight loss goals can be in your setback plan.
What should definitely not be in your setback plan is guilt. Don’t punish yourself by feeling bad for missing a day of food logging, or missing a workout.
The best thing to do is just get back to your original plan as soon as possible. Don’t try to compensate for your mistakes by starving yourself or over-exercising. Losing weight is a long term goal and it’s accomplished by establishing new habits. This year, you can do it and here are some tips and tools that might help you out. Eat Less; Move More Eat less by learning to food log, and understanding and exercising portion control. These two go hand in hand. Food logging works because it’s makes you pay closer attention to what you eat, but you can’t log accurately unless you know how much you’ve eaten.