Exercise: I like this Upper Body and Cardio workout because you get upper body strength training in while also doing cardio intervals. The upper body strength training usually doesn’t make you sweat, but alternating like this helps gets your heart going.
If you are stuck in the middle of nowhere and can’t jump and can’t go more than 3 feet in either direction, then this video is for you. Low Impact Functional Strength workout is 55 minutes of balance, coordination and something different. Brutal low impact is also great for those that cannot handle high impact workouts that include jumping, but still get a great heart-pumping workout in. I know it is hard sometimes to work out especially in apartments or when someone lives beneath you.
Book: Here are some of quotes from “Death by Food Pyramid” by Denise Minger.
Why you usually can’t believe someone even with “credentials”:
“One of the more disturbing examples of “credential fraud” is that of Henrietta Goldacre, who received a diploma from the American Association of Nutritional Consultants (AANC) in 2004. Although she might sound plenty qualified to steer you toward a healthier diet, you’d want to think twice before enlisting her services. Not only did Henrietta earn her certification while dead; she was also a cat.”
Although I think the government is one big and easy target in addition to a lot of quacks out there, here is another good line:
“Asking the Department of Agriculture to promote healthy eating was like asking Jack Daniels to promote responsible drinking.”
You can also learn about the crazy Minnesota Starvation Study. It would be totally impossible to do today… legally anyway. 36 men ate their regular number of calories and had 6 months of starvation. How many calories? 1,570 per day. Weight loss was expected at 25% reduction in weight. Ancel Keys headed the project: the man who brought us “fat is bad”, the Body Mass Index, and popularizing the Mediterranean diet.
Recipe: I really, really love fruit if you can’t tell. This bread is sooo moist it is crazy! I love the bright flavor of the bursting blueberries and the lemony background notes. The zucchini keeps the bread super moist and gives the bread pretty specks of green.
Bake these as mini muffins, muffins, mini loaves, loaves or any way you like. Just watch the crust and it will all be good! Now I need to go make some more….
These make GREAT gifts. Bake a bunch of loaves or mini loaves and wrap to hand out. Or store them in the freezer wrapped twice in plastic wrap and put into a freezer bag for safe keeping. Just pull it out the morning or night before you need it!
I have made this with half AP and half white whole wheat. You can use all AP flour of course.
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil or applesauce
- 3 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 and ½ cups white whole wheat flour (or whole wheat, or all-purpose)
- 1 tsp. salt (I used kosher)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- zest from 2 lemons or 2 Tb. lemon juice powder
- 1 pint fresh blueberries
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray with baking spray or grease 6 mini loaf pans, or muffin pans or 2 - 9x5 loaf pans.
- In a medium bowl, add the eggs. Whisk together.
- Add the oil, vanilla and sugars. Whisk together. Fold in the zucchini.
- In a great big bowl, whisk together the dry stuff: flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Add the wet stuff to the dry stuff. Stir until barely combined and you still see streaks of flour.
- Add the blueberries and fold in gently.
- Divide the batter among the sprayed muffin or loaf pans.
- Bake mini loaves for 40-45 minutes.
- Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes.
- Bake mini muffins for 12-15 minutes.
- Bake a 9x5 loaf for 1 hour and 10 minutes - making sure to cover with foil about halfway through baking to avoid over-browning the top.
- Test with a toothpick - it should be free of liquid and may have a few tiny crumbs. Keep testing as sometimes adding more pans to the oven can affect bake times. The tops should be light golden brown and some of the loaves will have cracked tops with no liquid in the middle.
- Let it cool for about 10 minutes. Turn it out onto a wire rack to cool longer.
