Weekly Wellness
Issue 244
Featured Article
Tasty Seasonings for Bland Vegetables -- Jazz up your bland vegetables!
Fitness Tip
Change the pace.
A few simple steps can make your walking routine a better cardio workout. The trick is to break from your usual pace with bursts of fast walking. For example, walk fast for one minute, then resume your usual speed for the next three minutes. Over time, shorten the slow intervals to two minutes and then one minute.
Nutrition Tip
Three Veggie Tips
- Keep your kitchen full of vegetables that won't spoil quickly -- onions, garlic, potatoes, winter squash, carrots.
- At a salad bar, fill up your plate with salad greens first.
- Next time you make pasta with vegetables, use half as much pasta and twice as many vegetables. Bonus tip: Eating out or ordering in tonight? How about a side of broccoli with that? Surveys reveal that when people eat foods prepared outside the home, they average 25% fewer fruits and vegetables -- so make an effort to include vegetables in your order.
Quip or Quote of the Week
Quip:
Cheddar cheese gets its name from the English village of Cheddar Gorge.
Quick Recipe
Savory Vegetables
1 cup chicken broth
3 cups cut-up vegetables
Mix broth and vegetables in saucepan. Heat to boil.
Cover and cook over low heat five minutes or until vegetables are tender-crisp. Drain.
Recipe serves four.
Tidbit
A Bowl Of Cereal A Day to Keep The Pounds Away
The battle of the bulge may now have a new weapon: a bowl of cereal. A new study published yesterday in the journal Obesity Research found that 80 percent of successful weight loss maintainers eat breakfast 7 days a week; most of those breakfast eaters (60 percent) choose cereal.
While skipping breakfast and eliminating carbohydrates may be typical approaches used by some dieters, the new study suggests that those tactics will only backfire.
The participants were part of the National Weight Control Registry -- an ongoing study of 3,000 Americans who have been successful at achieving their goal of losing weight and keeping it off long-term (a 60-pound average weight loss for 6 years). The conclusion is that eating breakfast on a regular basis is a key behavior for losing weight and keeping it off. See also: Healthy, Heart Warming Cereal, and The History of Cereal.
Food Fixes
During winter months when the kitchen is cold, it can be a slow process or nearly impossible to get yeast breads to rise. Try placing the dough in an oven-safe container and setting it in the oven on warm (200 degrees) for 2 to 3 minutes. Don't let it bake, just enough to warm the bowl. It can really speed the rising process.
For burnt-on food in a skillet, just add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover the bottom of the skillet, bring to a boil on top of the stove for easier cleaning.
Green bell peppers may be frozen without blanching in an airtight container for later use in hot dishes or casseroles.