The Goal this Week was….

To get in three good training walks.  Yes, I did.  On Monday I walked with John and Wyke and then I got out my sticks and took off for a fast paced walk around the golf course on the golf cart path.  The total for that day was 6.34 miles with splits of 17:02 to 17:54 which made me very happy.  Ole’ Bruce was singing in my ear through one ear bud because the kitten ate her way through the cord to the other ear bud.  Bruce’s upbeat music is one way to get me to walk faster.  It felt really good to get out there and pump away.  The contrast by the way is a 20:15 to 23:28 minute mile when walking the dog!  Tuesday I did what I will now call a normal walk of 3.25 miles at a comfortable pace averaging 21.46.  On Wednesday I was joined by a friend from Fripp Island.  I first walked with John and Wyke for 2.74 miles and then I walked with Merilyn for 4.39 miles with an average of 17:24.  We had two miles that came in under 17 at 16:25 and 16:38.  We were on a roll.  Thursday was a normal day!  Finally, on Friday I went out to Fripp Island and Merilyn and I walked on the beach.  Glorious and so easy on the knees.  The sand is quite hard at low tide so it was easy walking except when we were walking into the wind.  We managed 5.13 miles average pace of 19:22 with a split at 17:47 (with wind behind us at that point).  You may wonder about the issue regarding the timing.  I am hoping to get into some of the timed walks and they kind of throw you off the course if you are too slow.  I do not want to be embarrassed so I am working on making sure I am comfortable at a pace that will ensure that I am not removed from the road and put on the sidewalk.  Ick!

I love this map, it looks like we were walking on water but really that is where the beach is.  So pretty.

 

Foody News

You may have read that The Biggest Loser’s Bob Harper suffered a heart attack recently.  He has a family history of heart disease and there isn’t much you can do about genes but you can work to support your body in staying healthy.  I received a notification through my Facebook page from Cleveland Clinic that said he is going to follow the Mediterranean Diet along with a quick and easy way to get you started on the program.  Since I believe so strongly in this way of eating and I would love to encourage others to try it I am going to summarize the article for you.  Here are the simple steps.

Vegetables:  Three (3) servings a day.  One serving is 1/2 cup cooked or raw.
Fruits: Three (3) servings a day  One serving equals 1/2 to 1 cup.
Olive oil: One (1) tablespoon a day but not more than four (4) tablespoons a day including cooking.
Legumes:  Three (3) servings per week.  Beans, peas, alfalfa, peanuts etc.
Fish: Three (3) servings per week.  The smellier the better because smelly fish has high levels of omega-3 fatty acids.  Please don’t buy farmed fish!
Nuts: Three (3) servings per week.  One serving equals 1/4 cup, one ounce or two tablespoons of nut butter.
Starches:  Three (3) to six (6) servings per day.  One serving equals 1/2 cup cooked, one slice of bread or one ounce of dry cereal.  Whole grains, oats, quinoa, red skin or sweet potatoes
White Meat: Three (3) three ounce servings a week.  Choose skinless poultry.  No more than one serving of red meat a week and make those lean cuts.
Dairy/Eggs:  Three (3) servings a week.  Choose 1 percent or fat-free milk, yogurt or cottage cheese.
Desserts:  One three-ounce serving a week.  If possible, use fruit.  If you have to eat baked, bake it yourself.
Wine:  Four to six ounces a day.  No beer or hard liquor.  (Honestly, this one is the toughest for me.)

That’s it.  It is hard to get in all the things you “should” eat because they are not always easy or fast to make.  I have tried to combine things so I get my quota.  Here are some ideas.  Try a big salad at lunch with broccoli, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, celery, cucumbers and avocadoes.  Then the dressing is simple olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, mustard and a good shot of turmeric.  That covers a lot of the vegetable requirements.  Breakfast is often blueberries and yogurt and granola but now I am limiting the number of mornings and alternating with oatmeal and granola.  It is homemade granola made with lots of nuts and seeds and oats with some dried fruit like raisins.  That covers a bunch of the fruit, nut and dairy items.  We eat a lot of fish here in the Low Country and I count shrimp and crab in there too.  About every two weeks or so I tell John that I want a hamburger.  He has a stash of grass-fed, lean beef and he obliges me by cooking it on the grill.  And yes, it tastes really good.  I make a mean vegetable chili that has black beans and red kidney beans in it and I also make lentil soup which I love.  A good way to get those legumes into you.  I skip the dessert and starch option except for the occasional sweet potato and once in a blue moon a dessert like at Christmas.  However, I make up for it with more than one glass of wine.  Hmmm!!!!

Finally, and I quote here, “eating is one of the greatest pleasures in life.  Enjoy your food, eat what’s good for you in moderation and remember the words of Hippocrates: ‘Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food’.”

The Last Eye

Had the big check up on the right eye this week and all is good.  However, I have a bit of pressure in the eye which I was told is due to the steroid drops that I am using to encourage the healing in the eye.  What does that mean?  It means more durn eye drops.  I will probably have to use the eye drops in eye #2 also.  I now have two big sheets one for the right and one for the left.  I start the left-eye eye drops in preparation for the second cataract surgery which is coming up on the 15th of March.  Honestly hope I can figure this out.  Which eye gets which drops when.  I was, however, very pleased that all was good in the right eye.  The reason being that I had a rather bad fall on Wednesday.  I was doing exactly what we are told not to do, going after a golf ball that really didn’t need to be chased.  It was sitting right there, I could see it but it was lodged in some riprap that was on the slope into the marsh next to the green.  I figured it was an easy reach and head over tea-kettle I went.  Banged up my arm so it looked deformed, banged my shoulder and hit my head (not too hard).  My arm is still quite swollen, the bruise is a fine looking thing and my head is just fine.  This, thank goodness, was all on the left-side of my body.  I had another fall about a month ago also on my left side and have just recovered from that wonderful bruise.  Not sure what this falling to the left is all about but I can guarantee you that both falls were stupid.  The good news is that I went on after the fall and birdied the 9th hole.  Hope I will be able to see as well as this guy does when I am done!

Recipe of the Week

 

In my new favorite cookbook “The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook”  is a recipe for Moroccan Preserved Lemons.  I have only made pickles once in my life and that was a year and a half ago and they turned out to be quite tasty.  Suffice it to say that this is not my forte but I am willing to give it a try.  Many of the recipes in the book call for Preserved Lemons, such as Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemons or Tunisian fish with preserved lemons, so I decided to give it a try.  Lots of things I question in interpreting a recipe but this one calls for 24 to 36 lemons in a 3 or 4 pint jar.  I used half the number of lemons in a two quart jar.  I think our lemons are bigger than hers!  It takes three weeks for these to pickle up with having to turn the jar upside down every two or three days.  This should be interesting.  Anyway, here’s the recipe if you want to try it yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

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Your kitten and puppy cuteness for the coming week!