SQUASH!

Not the game... but the vegetable! Thanks to Fitness Magazine for today's yummy recipe... I see it in my future weekend plans.... enjoy :)

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Sausage-and-Quinoa-Stuffed Acorn Squash 

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• 4INGREDIENTS

• 2medium acorn squash, about 3/4 to 1 pound each
• 1cup  low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/3cup  quinoa, rinsed
• 1 1/2teaspoons  toasted sesame oil
• 4ounces  fresh turkey or chicken sausage, casing removed
• 1teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1/2teaspoon  coarse salt
• 1/2cup  chopped red onion
• 1/2cup  chopped red bell pepper
• 3garlic cloves, minced
• 2 1/2tablespoons  minced fresh ginger
• 3ounces  Gouda, shredded (about 3/4 cup)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees . Cut squash in half horizontally and remove seeds; place cut side down in a baking pan filled with 1 inch hot water. Bake 45 minutes, or until a sharp knife easily pierces squash.

2. Meanwhile, bring broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add quinoa and simmer, partially covered, over medium-low heat 15 minutes. Turn off heat and cover pot.

3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add sausage, cumin and salt. Saute 4 minutes, breaking up meat with a spoon. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic and ginger. Cook 2 minutes; stir in quinoa.

4. Transfer squash halves to a dry baking dish, cut side up. Pack each with an even amount of filling and bake 20 minutes. Press shredded cheese into each filled half and bake 5 minutes more, or until cheese has just melted.

Funny fitness Thursday!

Well, it's pouring in NYC and it makes me feel totally gloomy, unmotivated, and lethargic..... just like yesterday's post might suggest! So, what better way to cheer up, then with a few funny, fitness jokes??!!

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Jack, decidedly overweight, and not at all bright, asks Doctor Mayo at Portchester Health Centre, for help in losing weight. The doctor advises Jack to run 10 miles a day for 30 days. 
This, she promises, will help Jack lose as much as twenty pounds in a month.

Jack, naturally very excited, follows Doctor Mayo's advice to the letter, and, after thirty days, he is delighted to find that he has, indeed, lost twenty pounds.

Delighted, Jack 'phones Doctor Mayo and thanks her profusely for the wonderful advice which had produced such a tremendous result.

At the end of the conversation, however, he asks one last question, 'How do I get home now, Doctor, since I am some 300 miles away?'

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And finally... some special Tennis humor for Tim.... 

Never date a tennis player; to them love means nothing ;) 

Weather and YOUR body...

This week it's been COLD! I am feeling the season change, along with the darker afternoons and my chilly walk to work... I feel like a bear who wants to hibernate.  Why?

Weather affects our bodies for many reasons, so many that we have scientists constantly investigating biometerology -- the study of how weather affects people, plants, and animals, and importantly, how weather can affect your health.

There are so many factors included in weather (temperature, wind, an increase or decrease in precipitation...) that it's hard to tell specifically why we feel different when the weather changes.  Our emotional health, joints, body pain, mood.... so much to consider.  One reason we DO know that our joints often ache is the change in barometric pressure -- that's known.  The change in pressure also affects your blood pressure which in turn affects EVERYTHING about your body.  This we know.

Dr. Pawan Grover tells us this falling barometric pressure....

"frequently precedes a storm alters the pressure inside joints. Those connections between bones, held together with tendons and ligaments, are surrounded and cushioned by sacs of fluid and trapped gasses."

So, with the change of weather upon us, be prepared for your body to change.  You may feel more aches and pains, more exhausted, off balance.... your body may demand more rest, more fluids...

Listen to it. Give it what it wants, and enjoy the start to winter that will be coming soon :)


 

Marathon!

What were you doing on Sunday? 

I was cheering on the 50,000 runners who completed 26.2 miles around the five boroughs of New York City.  It is my most favorite day of the year and I am continually motivated and inspired by the passion, effort, and heart that thousands share in a few hours, whether as a participant or an observer.  It reminds me of why a "we're all in this together" kind of attitude actually works.  

Every year I think, next year I'm gonna do this.... and then life gets in the way and before I know it, suddenly half a year has gone by and it's too late to begin training.  Well, not this year.  I am DETERMINED to do this next year as an "I can do this" present to myself :) 

Who's with me?!