FitSugar

Learn to Love: Persimmons

FitSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:00:01 -0800

Now that berry season is long gone, I'm expanding my breakfast fruit horizons. Celebrate the cold weather with pomegranate seeds in your oatmeal, or slice pears or persimmons and serve them with nut butter on toast or whole-grain waffles.

You probably know how to pick and slice a pear, but persimmons have a steeper learning curve. They're worth learning to love, so read more.

Persimmons come in two varieties: hachiya, which are orange-red and shaped like acorns, and fuyu, which sort of look like yellow-orange tomatoes. The hachiyas are bitter and astringent when they're not ripe, but when ripened, they have a soft, jelly-like texture. Fuyu persimmons are a bit firmer like a pear when ripe and can be sliced up like apples.

This fruit is an excellent source of antioxidants and chock-full of vitamins. One persimmon packs 55 percent of your daily allowance of Vitamin A and 21 percent of your recommended Vitamin C, plus six grams of fiber. In addition to having persimmon for breakfast or a snack, you can slice them up and serve them in a pretty Fall salad.

Have you tried persimmons? Tell me how you like to eat them in the comments.

Learn to Love: Spinach

FitSugar — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:30:26 -0700

When it comes to stereotypical foods that kids hate, spinach tops the list, along with brussels sprouts and broccoli, all of which I've learned to love. Seriously, when it comes to bang for your buck nutrition-wise, it's hard to beat spinach.

Spinach is an awesome vegetarian source of iron. Consider that an adult woman needs 18 mg of iron per day, and one cup of cooked spinach provides 6.4 mg of that!

Eat this leafy green raw, and one cup packs in 56 percent of the recommended daily value of Vitamin A; cook it and eat a cup, and you've got a whopping 377 percent of your daily value.

It's also very high in Vitamin C and lutein, which is good for your eyes and lowers your risk of cataracts. No wonder it's one of the foods women should eat every day.

Try serving fish or meat on a bed of cooked spinach, use it to make a light Mediterranean salad, or saute it with onions and spices for a yummy side dish.

Learn to Love: Backstroke

FitSugar — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:00:32 -0700

As a child who refused to swim because of a strong fear that sharks might live in my swimming pool, my relationship with swimming has come a long way. I now consider it one of my favorite ways to get my heart rate up. One lasting emotional holdout was the backstroke; I just didn't like it. These days, however, I am loving it.

I find the backstroke to be the perfect antidote to hunching over a computer all day. Backstroke opens my chest and I feel my entire body lengthening out as I reach back to pull the water forward. Swimming backstroke outside in the early morning or evening allows me to enjoy a view of the sky. Freestyle and backstroke are perfect complements to each other, working opposite muscle groups. I like to use backstroke as a break when training for swims with lap after lap of freestyle. How do you feel about backstroke? Do you love it or hate it?

Learn to Love: Adzuki Beans

FitSugar — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:00:54 -0700

I know beans are the magical fruit, but if you can ease your body into eating beans more often, you can avoid the gassy side effects and reap the amazing health benefits. Compared to meat, beans are inexpensive, low in calories and fat, and high in fiber. They're also fairly high in protein as well. The best part about beans is that there are so many varieties to choose from, so if you've never tried adzuki beans, now's the time.

These adorable beans are deep red in color with a distinctive white ridge on one side. Adzukis are little beans, smaller in size than black beans, and the flavor of them is very unique - slightly nutty and sweet. If you're short on time, buy canned adzuki beans. Not many companies sell adzukis, and the brand I buy is Eden, which is organic, so they cost a little less than $2 a can. To save money, buy dry adzuki beans in bulk, and soak and cook them yourself.

To see how adzuki beans compare nutritionally to other beans read more.

As you can see from the chart below, adzukis and other beans share similar stats. So you can substitute these red beans for other beans in your favorite recipes. I especially love to mix them with seasoned quinoa. If you too love to eat adzuki beans, share your recipe ideas below.

Serving Size: 1/2 cup cooked	Adzuki Beans	Garbanzo beans	Black Beans	Pinto Beans
Calories	110	130	110	110
Total Fat (g)	0	1	1	1
Sodium (mg)	10	30	15	15
Carbs (g)	19	23	18	18
Fiber (g)	5	5	6	6
Protein (g)	7	7	7	6
Potassium (mg)	250	250	280	350
Iron (% of RDI)	10	8	10	10

Flickr User skyfaller

Learn to Love: Clipless Pedals

FitSugar — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:30:40 -0700

I had been cycling for years before I learned to love riding with my feet clipped onto my pedals. It seemed too scary, I thought I would fall over at every stoplight. I have turned the corner though and have learned to love being "clipped in" and it looks like Orlando Bloom, aka Mr. Mountain Bike Man, does too. First let's review the pedal terminology, because it's a bit confusing. First there were basic pedals (like many of us had on our bikes when we were kids), then came pedals with toe clips (or toe baskets) to help the foot stay put on the pedal, now there are "clipless pedals" - a cleat on the bottom of the shoe clips into the pedal.

I love cycling with my feet attached to the pedals because it makes me feel one with my bike. Pedaling this way means you can use all the muscles of your legs to power your bike instead of just your quads. Pulling up on the pedal works your hamstrings like nobody's business. When you pedal with your entire leg, your legs fatigue much more slowly since the work is distributed and this means you can ride for longer more comfortably. If you stand on your pedals to climb hills (or to give your booty a little break), when you're clipped in you are much more secure. Your feet won't slip off the pedals.

Learn how to start riding with clipless pedals.

Learn to Love: Running Downhill

FitSugar — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:30:00 -0700

It has taken me considerably longer to reconcile my negative feelings of running downhill with the power I feel running up the other side. Unlike biking down a descent where gravity pulls you along, running downhill is work and it's hard on your quads and knees. In my neck of the woods though, it's difficult to find a flat run so I've had to cultivate a love of running downhill. If you live amongst hills or are participating in a footrace anytime soon, I urge you to learn to love running downhill, too, or at least practice some good technique.

Here's one thing to change about how you approach running downhill.

Don't lean back. Allow gravity to pull you downhill. Imagine that your body is perpendicular to the hill. Yep - lean your whole body forward, and don't break at the waist.

To learn more tips keep reading

Learn to Love: Lunges

FitSugar — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0700

Lunges are one of those exercises people either love or hate. There is however one powerful reason to love them: they sculpt a lovely tush. They also make your legs incredibly strong, which is a bonus as well.

Considered a compound exercise, lunges work your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves, just like ever popular squats. Lunges, though, require more finesse, since you move through the motion - stepping forward, back, or to the side to lunge. This movement makes your core work more than in a squat, since you need it to maintain your balance as you move through space, especially if you are holding a weight over your head. The push-off motion, to move out of the lunge, and back to standing position translate into function fitness for running, as well as cutting on a basketball court or lunging to make a shot on the tennis court. The lunge has many variations. I like taking my lunges for a walk to help my running. Backward lunges really work my booty, and side lunges work the inner and outer thighs. You can hold dumbbells while you lunge, and you can also add bicep curls and overhead presses too. Holding a weight in one hand and lunging is also a nice challenge to your balance. Or you can always add a resistance band to your lunges as well.

Tell me below if you love or hate lunges.

Learn to Love: Garlic Scapes

FitSugar — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:06:57 -0700

If you're a big garlic fan, then you're going to love cooking with garlic scapes. They're the long, thin, loopy green stems of the plant that shoot up above the garlic bulb.

If left to grow, bulbils - which kind of look like flowers - will form, which can be planted to grow more garlic. The only problem is that the scapes will consume a lot of the plant's energy to make those bulbils, which will result in smaller garlic bulbs. So farmers often chop the scapes off before the bulbils form, which is great news for us since garlic scapes are delicious. They taste like garlic, but are much milder. Scapes are tender sauteed in olive oil and eaten on their own, or they can be used in recipes such as dips, sauces, stir-frys, and soups to add a garlic flavor and green color.

Garlic scapes taste good, but are they good for you? To find out, read more.

As you can see from the chart below, scapes contain a decent amount of protein, vitamin C, and calcium. Since they're part of the garlic plant, they offer the same health benefits as the cloves, such as prevention of heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and cancer. Scapes are also known to boost your immune system and reduce inflammation. This delicacy is usually only available for a short amount of time in the Summer, so look for them at your local farmers market or grocery store. Stock up and freeze what you don't use for when they're not available.

	1/2 cup raw garlic scapes
Calories	101
Total Fat (g)	.5
Sodium	11
Carbs (g)	22
Fiber (g)	1.5
Sugar (g)	.5
Protein (g)	4.5
Vitamin A (IU)	0
Vitamin C (mg)	21
Calcium (mg)	125
Iron (mg)	1.2

Source

Learn to Love: Watermelon

FitSugar — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:32:43 -0700

I was accused of being unpatriotic when I expressed a distaste for watermelon at an Independence Day barbecue a few years ago. My hostess forced a piece upon me, and I have been eating the melon ever since. Which is a boon to my diet, since there are so many healthful reasons to love this melon.

For starters, this red and juicy melon is one of the few foods high in the cancer-fighting antioxidant lycopene, along with tomatoes and pink grapefruit - remember, antioxidants also provide color to fruits and veggies along with phytonutrients. Watermelon is also a low-calorie food and one cup of melon balls contains just under 50 calories. Being 92 percent water, the melon makes for a great post-workout treat on a hot day since it will help replace fluids lost through sweating.

Considered a cooling food, the yellow variety of watermelon might help you heat things up in the bedroom. Research out of Texas (the largest producer of the seedless variety of the melon) indicates that watermelon has an effect on the human body similar to Viagra. Learn more.

Learn to Love: Summer Squash

FitSugar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0700

I have always held Winter squash in greater esteem than the Summer variety, since zucchini and crook neck squash seem to pale in comparison nutritionally. But it looks like I was wrong, because Summer squash has a lot to offer.

One cup of zucchini provides about 15 percent of the recommended daily intake for vitamin C and 10 percent of vitamin A. This veggie is high in manganese, a trace mineral that supports an active metabolism as well as brain function and bone health. One cup of Summer squash also provides two and a half grams of fiber, and every little bit of fiber adds up to make a healthy diet. Plus, you get around 10 percent of your daily intake requirements for potassium, folate, and vitamin K with a cup of squash, as well as a bit of omega-3 fatty acids. This variety of squash is also high in phytonutrients, though not quite as high as root vegetables, which have cancer-fighting effects.

Now that I have convinced us both of the nutritional merits this versatile vegetable, I am sure you are going to want to cook some up tonight. You can check out my serving suggestions when you read more.

Here are some of my favorite ways to enjoy green and yellow zucchini, crook neck squash, patty pan, and butter blossom squash:

Chop up a variety of Summer squash and saute in olive oil with garlic and red pepper flakes for an easy side dish.
Slice zucchini lengthwise, dip in olive oil, and grill.
For a veggie entree, cook up some creamy zucchini boats.

Love Summer squash? How do you like to cook you zucchini?

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