One more thing

My son’s friend Jen recently came back from a 4 week teaching gig in Honduras as part of her college credit. She was very fasinated that people go to market everyday and eat their food that day. No such thing as leftovers, no concept of Costcos. She said that We are hung up with refridgeration and that people leave food out to be eaten, not to be put away for another day. No waste.

She also brought up an interesting concept that made me think even more about this food book. She wonders why certain foods were created for necessity if they are bad for us today. She used spaghetti as an example. She says now it seems like a fattening meal but it was created and necessary at some point. I told her that before processed food, pasta was ground fresh from semolina and the sauce was made from fresh ingredients. It makes all the difference in the world when food is void of preservatives and not laden with hidden number 92 dyes and so forth.

A history of food and why it is necessary would be a really interesting topic to add to my book.

Cutting Back

I found an article on MSN relating to keeping weight down as we age. Click here for the second page of the article. The article kind of depressed me. Basically, the older you get the less you can eat and the more you have to work out to keep the waistline you had in your twenties. Although I am a bit blue after reading it, the article has really good points to make about weight, food, exercise, birth control related weight gain and hormones.

The article is good and some of it is recycled information like most articles of this nature but I thought it was good to read and refresh. One of the points in the article was geared toward weight gain as we age. I have always wondered what the exacts were on this particular subject. A high percentage of adults gain 1 to 2 pounds per year and by the time these adults hit 50 they are very overweight. To keep your girly figure or most of it anyway, you need to scale back on calories by about 150 to 175 per day. This calorie cutback increases by that number for each decade. By the time you are in your 50's, over 500 calories are being cut out of your diet per day.

To stay healthy, I imagine you need to reevaluate your food intake to make sure you are getting enough vitamins in your daily consumption. It crossed my mind that possibly those calories are empty and unclean calories. I am going to try to find related articles or diet plans that relate to this blog and post them.

I have a feeling I may have stumbled upon an interesting idea for a book. I do not imagine I have to be a dietician to research a book about food. This is right up my alley. I am imagining it now, my first book, ah. I can knock two wishes off my list of things to be when I grow up, a novelist and a research writing expert.

Playing Hooky

I am not going to the gym today. I am not going to stress out about it either.

When I was younger if I missed exercise I would feel like I had a misstep, a regret, all day long. I no longer feel that way. Yes, that little vein of doubt courses through but I am not hung up about it all day anymore. There is always tomorrow and the gym will always be there. I realize that one day is not going to make a difference.

I am fatigued and I wonder how effective would I be at the gym. I would probably just go through the motions of fitness today.

It would be easy to go into my room, put on my gym clothes and ‘Just Do It”.

But today I just don’t care. I wonder if this is part of getting older, getting sick of the same old thing. I do I get a lot accomplished when I skip the gym. By the time I drive there and back, work out, drive home and shower it is over 3 hours later in the day.

This is one of those mornings I think about going out to breakfast since I don’t have the nagging guilty exercise devil on my shoulder, whispering in my ear. I may as well go full out. But I didn’t have breakfast buddies.

One day in the elementary school during a class party I overheard a few of the moms talking about meeting for breakfast the next day. I remember going home feeling hurt that I never got asked to coffee or breakfast. I realized after my over sensitive episode that it was because I spent my mornings exercising while these ladies ate food and gossiped- and they knew I worked out. They funny thing about this is one day a few months ago one of my gym mates mentioned this very topic. She said she was sick of always coming to the gym for 20 years and never getting asked to breakfast. We had a fun conversation about it and it made the 45 minutes on the bike go quickly.

I skipped the gym, I am not a fan of big breakfasts and I am over 40. I am good with all of it-today

ITALY VS FRANCE WORLD CUP FINAL 2006 HIGHLIGHTS

The Beautiful Game

Soccer is the most beloved sport in the world.

It just isn't America's beloved sport. I am ok with that. I like different.

I like most sports, hockey and soccer being my favorites. American football doesn't excite me like it used to but I still enjoy the Colts and the Dolphins were my favorite team until Dan Marino retired. To me, hockey has the toughest, fittest players due to the skating and intensity of the sport. Some might say basketball is but most sportsmen in basketball and football are showboats and are cocky. It grows tiring and makes the sport less important. Hockey players give the most polite and humble interviews after games. I like that. They have class.

World Cup 2006 resulted in Italy beating France in a shootout. Shootouts are rare ending to World cups but wow, are they it ever exciting. I rooted for Italy the whole month through the World Cup 2006. Zinedine Zidane, a French player whom I never cared for because of his arrogance ended his career in disgrace. He was ejected from the game after head butting an Italian player in the chest. It was embarrassing to watch.

It is now 2010 and I root for Italy again, the defending champions. I hear the critics opinions that the team is old. I am disappointed that some of the key players in 2006 were not rostered for 2010. I am distraught that my favorite player, Luca Toni was considered to old to be rostered. Luca is 33 years old. He is one yummy, tall, hunk of Italian and maybe that is part of the reason I am going to miss him! A 6 foot 4 inch hunk playing the Beautiful Game is quite beautiful! Heck, 6'4" is just plain beautiful on its own. Ok, I will regroup......woah.......

Anyway, I realize the importance of speed. Speed kills is a familiar saying in soccer and probably other sports too. But skill and experience go a long way too. There are some amazing footballers out there young and not so young. Brazil, Spain and Argentina are going to be exciting to watch. There has not been a repeat at the World Cup since 1962 Brazil won back to back title. The Italians gave an ok performance today, ending the game in a tie with Paraguay.

I am still a real fan, not a fair weather fan.

If Italy happens to fall out early- I am going to put my money on Argentina.

Soccer Mom

10 years ago a friend came up to me and asked me if I wanted to be a part of a soccer league in Clarkston. I was hesitant but said sure! Four teams were formed and off we went. My very first practice I pulled my quad and couldn’t play the first game. We weren’t flashy, heck we weren’t even that good but we were out there sweating on a full field in July, playing 11 v 11 and playing 45 minute halves.

We got exercise, we laughed and we made new friends. That first summer we learned how to play as a team and it wasn’t easy. Winter came and we took our teams to Oakland Yard in Waterford for indoor soccer. The indoor game took some time to adjust too. The game is played 8 people a side, goalies can’t punt and we could not do throw ins, we had to kick in the ball but not above the knee. The field was faster indoor. My team won the very first league championship that winter and we all got tee shirts. It is amazing how tee shirts can motivate a group of women! No trophy, a silly tee shirt!

Other teams joined our league and we play year round, indoor and out. There are 11 teams in our league. Many of the women come from Royal Oak, Troy, Grand Blanc; all around. I became the manager 8 years ago for my team. The first year our teams were named by color, we were The Yellow Team. It was quite humorous. For many years we were called Clarkston Sting but we had a bit of a low period with injury and team participation and my husband started calling us the Clarkston Stink. During my knee surgery and recovery my team didn’t play. Some players went to other teams temporarily. When I started my team back up I changed the name to Clarkston Rush. A new beginning was in order.

Over the years, women came into the league and many left the league. Often the women hitting late 30’s and early 40’s were dropping out with injuries or not wanting to risk injury. Half the game of soccer is endurance and some women just choose to find other forms of exercise. It can get very rough. I have broken ribs twice, tore ligaments in ankles 6 or 7 times. I play with ankle braces, and most importantly a knee brace now. I play differently than I used to but the important thing for me is that I still play and I am in my 40’s. The camaraderie and the sport itself make me feel good and happy and youthful.

Soccer tidbit: 90 minutes of soccer play can burn up to 1200 calories.

10 Minute Jump Rope Cardio Workout