Christmas Cookies -
 Every year we are responsible to bring the Christmas Cookies to the family gathering. The recipe that calls for multiple sticks of butter and mounds of sugar, not to count for the sugar in the frosting and the added sprinkles.


Here are some ideas on how to make the Christmas Cookies a tad bit healthier, remember one meal at a time. 


Whole-Wheat Sugar Cookies http://www.health.com/health/recipe/0,,10000001862977,00.html


Yummy Molasses Cookies - recipe where they reduced the butter and added ginger http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/yummy_molasses_crackles.html


Raspberry-Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/raspberry_chocolate_thumbprint_cookies.html




Sugar Cut-Out Cookies - This recipe adds lemon zest, honey and whole wheat flour http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/sugar_cut_out_cookies.html

Great American Smoke Out - Thursday November 19th, 2015


Review of the Tobacco Cessation Information Packet provided by the City of Lincoln:


The 10 Best Quit Smoking iPhone & Android Apps of 2015:


1. Smoke Free
2. Kwit
3. LIVESTRONG My Quit Coach
4. Quit It Lite
5. Quit Smoking Cessation Nation
6. Stop Smoking Cigarettes Now
7. Quit Smoking with Andrew Johnson
8. Craving to Quit
9. Quit Now!
10. Quit Pro


Electronic Smoking Devices (E-Cigarettes) and Secondhand Aerosol:


According to the American's for Nonsmokers' Rights, the 'harmless water vapor' contains nicotine, ultrafine particles and low levels of toxins that are known to cause cancer


Effects of second-hand smoke from E-cigarettes may make respiratory ailments like asthma worse or constrict arteries which could trigger a heart attack.


The following information was obtained from American Cancer Society:
Benefits from Quitting:


After you quit smoking:
In 20 minutes: your blood pressure drops to your pre-cigarette level
In 12 Hours: your carbon monoxide level drops to normal
In 24 hours: Your chance of a heart attack may decrease
In 2 weeks to 3 months: Your lung function may increase up to 30%
In 1 year: Your excess risk of developing coronary heart disease is now half the risk of a smoker
In 5 years: Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker
In 10 years: Your lung cancer death rate is about half that of a person who continues to smoke

• Thank you to City Wellness Program Coordinator Keerun Kamble to put the packets of information together! Please take a look the Tobacco Cessation Wellness Packet for additional information to assist you or your loved one to quit smoking!

Staying Fit through the Holidays

There are 35 days between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. These days are full of last minute shopping, holiday parties, and family obligations, which make it difficult to take time to hit the gym, go for a walk, or focus on eating healthy. After reviewing a few websites, here is a list of tips to help Stay Fit through the Holidays.....


1. Join the Holiday Challenge - Information regarding the LPD Holiday Challenge will be released soon! Stay Tuned


2. Complete a 5K - There are events being held during these days. Check out the Wellness Calendar and find a friend to walk/run with!


3. Start a Fitness Tradition - We have several family traditions, why not start a fitness tradition with the family, which could include the Turkey Trot before Thanksgiving Dinner.


4. Powerwalk & Shopping - While you are shopping make sure you do extra laps of powerwalking around the mall or shopping centers.


5. Try Ice Skating - Lincoln Stars Icebox or Canopy Ice Rink  - A great adventure with the family


6. Sweet Tooth - Indulge only in the most special holiday treats


7. Shovel Snow rather than use the snow blower - a high intensity workout that uses all your muscles

What is Intermittent Fasting?

One of the most difficult things about going on a diet, whether you are trying to lose weight or gain muscle is all the conflicting advice. It is only when the experts seem to have it all figured out when some maverick comes along and challenges the establishment. Perhaps the most repeated diet advice out there is that you have to eat 5-6 smalls meals a day to lose weight. The rationale is that every time you eat a meal it 'revs' up your metabolism, causing you to burn more fat. Also, for many people they find a willpower or psychological advantage to eating small meals, making them feel more full and less likely to binge on garbage foods.

But now you have a new way of eating called Intermittent Fasting (IF) that throws a monkey wrench into everything. What IFers have discovered is that they can create incredibly lean, muscular and healthy bodies by only once or twice a day. Every IF diet is divided into two phases: feeding and fasting. The former is when you eat, the latter when you don't. The difference between each diet is the specific feeding/fasting windows. One of the most popular IF protocols out there is Leangains. The protocol was created by a Swedish trainer named Martin Berkhan. With Leangains your feeding phase is an 8 hour window while your fasting phase is 16 hours.

 A sample schedule from the website:

11:30 am Pre-workout  drink
12:00-1:00 pm Training
1:00 pm Post-workout meal (largest meal of the day)
4:00 pm Second meal
9:00 pm Last meal before the fast.

In addition to the 8/16 feeding/fasting split there are some people who advocate going 24 hours without eating anything once or twice a week. A popular website for this approach is eatstopeat.com. A third and related approach is called the Warrior Diet where you have a few snacks during the day and eat a large meal at night, mimicking a hunter-gatherer who would spend all day on the hunt and then feast at night.

Don't confuse IF with calorie reduction and it isn't 'starving' yourself necessarily either. Instead of spacing out your calories in 5-6 smaller meals, IF advocates you eat those same amount of calories in a smaller time frame and obviously spread out among fewer meals.

But whether something like fasting is good for you in the long term is still up for grabs. As far as a mainstream nutrition strategy there is not as much research out there as there is on other diets, although this will likely change. There are two things to remember about IF and just fasting in general. First, everybody already fasts, it's just the time period from your last meal of one day to the first meal of the next. Secondly, fasting was and is commonly practiced by different religious traditions for thousands of years. Fasting is an integral part of major holidays for Jews, Christians and Muslims (Yom Kippur, Lent and Ramadan respectively). Just because you decide to try and fast over the course of a month or two you probably will not keel over and die on the spot. Check out the websites mentioned above and give it a shot.

 

Kettlebells: Simple and Sinister

 In previous entries  two of the most functional exercises out there: the swing and the Turkish Get Up (TGU) were covered. After using the homemade kettlebell for a few weeks you might find yourself wanting to upgrade to the real deal. While looking into kettlebells training programs you will come across a guy by the name of Pavel Tsatsouline (common spelling). Pavel is a former trainer for Soviet special forces who now trains military and LEOs here in the America. Pavel is credited with popularizing the kettlebell in the West. He also helped create the Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC), known as the first kettlebell certification in the USA. (In response to the current crisis in Ukraine, a friend suggested calling them Liberty Bells in protest).

Pavel training the TEK, Hungary's elite counter terrorism unit

 Today, Pavel is the creator of an organization called StrongFirst, a community of kettlebell enthusiasts with a focus on strength development. Pavel's latest book is Kettlebell: Simple and Sinister. The book is a great introduction to KB training. Pavel builds an entire program and swings and TGUs with a brief warm up. Also, instead of buying a whole rack of KBs you really only need to buy two: a 35# and a 50# (Pavel dislikes poundage, preferring kgs or poods, a Russian weight but meh).

Here's a sample of what the program would look like:

Warm up:
Goblet Squats
Bridges
Halos

Main set:
Swings-Shoot for 100 total reps. If you are just starting do 10 sets of 10 reps. As your strength/conditioning improves you can do 5 sets of 20 etc. Perform each rep with as much explosion as possible.

TGU's- 5 reps per side. No more. Perform slowly and deliberately

And......that's it. Pavel says you will be tempted to add more exercises but resist the temptation. If it's too easy then get yourself a bigger KB. Workouts should be done in about 20-30 minutes. Pavel is interested in the minimal effective dose, remember adding more reps is not always better, focus on explosion on the swings and slow/control on the get ups . The book is well written and is an exceptionally easy read, it only takes a day. At only $10 for the Kindle version it is a bargain having one of the world's best giving you pointers.