Mama Sue's Place

It's that time

I've enjoyed the past few years blogging here and sharing with all of you.  For now, I think Mama Sue's Place has run its course, so I'll be taking a hiatus.  I'm not sure if I'll be back, but until then, you can find me on Facebook or Twitter.

I hope to see you there, and I thank all of you for your contributions to the blog over the years. My love to you all.  ~ Mama Sue

Staying Fit and Motivated

An excerpt from The Best Life website ...

A Trainer's Secrets to Staying Fit and Motivated

By Michael Scholtz, M.A., Best Life fitness expert

Ever wonder how they do it—you know, the fitness pros that always look like they’re ready for the next challenge? It seems as though it’s just so easy for them: Getting up early, getting to the gym and getting in a workout. Yeah right! We all have those days when we just want to pull the covers over our heads and go back to sleep—trainers included. But instead of rolling back over in bed, we resort to a bunch of tricks that help us stay motivated even on the toughest days. I’ll let you in on some of these secrets to help make your sweat sessions feel like, well, no sweat!

Always Be Prepared
Make it easier to squeeze in a workout by having your equipment ready. Keep a bag stocked with shoes, socks, shorts, shirt, soap, a towel, and whatever personal items you need to feel comfortable after getting hot and sweaty. (For an idea of what to pack, check out It’s in the Bag.) It’s like having a traveling locker in your car or office. Then, when you use something, simply rotate a new item in its place. In fact, make restocking your bag the first thing you do as soon as you get home. That way, it will always be ready, and so will you.

Live an Active Life
One of the most important turning points for a dieter is when she stops being an “only when I have to” exerciser. You know the type: They park in the spot closest to the gym door, take the nearest treadmill, walk their 30 minutes and not a second more, and hit the door. Fitness pros know that to be healthy, you have to be a truly active person. That means not just hitting the gym for your workout, but incorporating fitness into every aspect of your life. The payoff: You’ll be more fit overall. If you can run, then walking several blocks to get to work or the theatre is no big deal. If you can crank out an hour on the stairclimber, you’ll smile as you bound up a flight or two at work.

Spice It Up with Variety
Doing the same thing day in and day out can get stale pretty quickly. To be fit, you have to shake things up a little. Professionals do it with a fancy system called “periodization.” That just means you train a certain way for a period of time, and then you change it up to keep your body guessing and progressing.

Try lifting lighter weights and doing sets of 20 reps and then change things up and lift heavier weights for 8 to 10 reps. Or focus on really long aerobic workouts and then change the emphasis to shorter workouts with harder intensity. Although periodization typically involves cycles of three to six weeks, you can vary your workouts monthly, weekly, or even daily.

Set Goals
Ever wake up, think about going to the gym and then wonder “Why am I doing this?” That’s where having goals comes in. Fitness pros set realistic but challenging goals to help keep them on track. And believe it or not, these goals aren’t just focused on how fast you can run or how much weight you can lift. It’s about being a healthier person in order to achieve your dreams. For example, you have a hiking trip planned with pals and you don’t want to let them down. Or, your son really wants to ride Space Mountain in Disney World, and you want to take him. The bottomline: If a goal is personal, challenging, and rewarding you won’t even blink when that alarm clocks goes off. Keep one on your calendar and find out for yourself.

Tea Time!

With our 7th annual tea party just around the corner, I thought I'd share with you an article from one of the Best Life nutritionists on the benefits of tea.  Enjoy!

Tea Time

By Tracy Olgeaty Gensler, M.S., R.D., Best Life nutritionist

 It's no wonder that tea is one of the commonly consumed beverages in the world (it finished second only to water). A cup contains no calories (as long as you don't add extras like sugar and milk) and has been linked with a reduced risk for cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. Plus, a warm drink can be satisfying when a craving strikes or just before bed. Check out these tea tips to brew the right kind for you, and to get the most out of your cup.

Tea types

The way tea is harvested, dried and processed will affect the flavor; your cup can have a mild to strong taste, so you may want to experiment with a few types to find one that suits your preference. White, black, oolong and green tea seem to offer the most health benefits; caffeine-free herbal tea, which is a mixture of leaves, roots, bark, seeds or flowers of plants, offers different perks, like inducing calm and helping you relax. As for taste, white tea is light and sweet; oolong has a darker, richer flavor; black tea has a rich, hearty, sometimes slightly malty taste; and green tea has a fresh, light taste, sometimes described as grassy.

A healthy cup

Tea is rich in anti-inflammatory agents, immune boosters and powerful antioxidants called flavanols and tannins. Green and white tea contain flavanols called catechins; black tea is rich in tannins called theaflavins and thearabigins. These compounds can help keep you healthy by:

·         Protecting your pumper.  Drinking three or more cups of black tea daily has been shown to cut your risk for heart disease and stroke.   Researchers suggest that tea reduces oxidative damage (which is the first step to artery clogging) and improves both blood vessel function (which reduces hypertension) and platelet function (which reduces blood clots).

·         Cutting your cancer risk. Green tea seems to reduce damage to cells that can lead to cancer, curbs uncontrolled cell growth, kills cancer cells and strengthen the immune system.

·         Boosting brain power. Green tea may also protect against cognitive decline.

 

Brewing basics

To ramp up the disease-fighting powers of your tea, add a tablespoon of fruit juice or a few drops of lemon juice to your cup. Not only will this make your tea more flavorful, but it also changes the pH, which can help you absorb tea's beneficial compounds.

To make the best-tasting cup, use fresh, filtered water and small, loose leaf tea for hearty flavor. Use hot water to coax the flavanols out of your tea leaves, but let the leaves brew for only three to four minutes in a teapot or one to two minutes in a tea cup to avoid a bitter flavor.

When to choose organic fruits and veggies

This comes from a Best Life blog post from one of my favorite Best Life folks, Heather Jones.

Wondering whether you should go organic? There are benefits to choosing organic foods over conventionally grown products; for instance, organic fruits and veggies help reduce your exposure to potentially harmful chemicals. And organic farming is better for the environment.

But in these tough economic times, buying organic isn't always an option. So, what should you do? Limit your organic produce purchases to only the most contaminated fruits and veggies. According to the nonprofit organization, Environmental Working Group (EWG), you can lower your pesticide exposure by a whopping 90 percent if you avoid (or buy only organic alternatives of) the produce they refer to as the "The Dirty Dozen," the 12 most contaminated fruits and veggies.

The following table from the EWG will help you decide which organic produce purchases to make. For even more help you can print out the EWG's pocket-size Shopper's Guide to Pesticides.

RANK	FRUIT OR VEGGIE	SCORE
1 (worst)	Peaches	100 (highest  pesticide load)
2	Apples	96
3	Sweet Bell Peppers	86
4	Celery	85
5	Nectarines	84
6	Strawberries	83
7	Cherrries	75
8	Lettuce	69
9	Grapes (imported)	68
10	Pears	65
11	Spinach	60
12	Potatoes	58
13	Carrots	57
14	Green Beans	55
15	Hot Peppers	53
16	Cucumbers	52
17	Raspberries	47
18	Plums	46
19	Oranges	46
20	Grapes (domestic)	46
21	Cauliflower	39
22	Tangerine	38
23	Mushrooms	37
24	Cantaloupe	34
25	Lemon	31
26	Honeydew Melon	31
27	Grapefruit	31
28	Winter Squash	31
29	Tomatoes	30
30	Sweet Potatoes	30
31	Watermelon	25
32	Blueberries	24
33	Papaya	21
34	Eggplant	19
35	Broccoli	18
36	Cabbage	17
37	Bananas	16
38	Kiwi	14
39	Asparagus	11
40	Sweet Peas (frozen)	11
41	Mango	9
42	Pineapple	7
43	Sweet Corn (frozen)	2
44	Avocado	1
45 (best)	Onions	1 (lowest  pesticide load)

Source: Environmental Working Group

Welcome spring!

Finally a sign -- and some color from daffodils and crocus!

 

 

How much exercise do you really need?

Good info from my Best Life website:

 

Exercise: How Much Do You Really Need?

By Bob Greene

You might be confused by just how much time you need to put in at the gym. Do you really have to log a full hour each day? Will 30 minutes a day cut it? Part of the confusion stems from the fact that the recommendations vary based on your goals: Maybe you simply want to reap the health benefits of activity, or perhaps you're trying to prevent weight gain. Or, if you're like many Americans, you're trying to lose weight. Not to mention, the American College of Sports Medicine just released new exercise guidelines, which are a little more intense than the last batch they put out in 2001.

So, how much do you really need? Take a look at the chart below to find out how much workout time you should be logging:

To Protect Your Health and Prevent Disease - The ACSM recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week to reduce your risk for chronic diseases, such as heart disease and stroke. That's 30 minutes five days a week. And by moderate intensity, they mean your workout should be hard enough that you're breathing deeply and feeling fatigued, a level 7 on the perceived exertion scale. You should still be able to talk, though you'd prefer not to, and although you're tired, you feel like you could complete the entire workout at this pace.

To Prevent Weight Gain - Aim for 150 to 250 minutes per week. You can spread this out over four, five or six days, depending on your preferences and your schedule. (You can work out every day if you'd like, although it can be beneficial to plan off days or at least light exercise days to give your body the chance to recover.)

To Peel off Pounds - At least 250 minutes per week provides the most significant weight loss, according to studies. You can spread that out over five days at 50 minutes a session; or you can plan six workout sessions, each about 42 minutes long. (The previously recommended 150 to 250 minutes per week produced only modest weight loss.)

To Prevent Regain - Similar to losing weight, you'll have to work out more than 250 minutes per week to keep it off. Try new activities each week or so or enlist the help a workout partner to stay motivated. In all cases, you should consider adding strength training to your workout routine. It can reduce the amount of body fat you carry around and may also cut your risk for diseases.

My advice: Be sure to work in as much activity as possible keeping these guidelines in mind. But it's also important to find an amount of exercise that you can sustain long-term, because if you try to add in too much and fail, you might be too frustrated to try again. So start with an amount that's challenging but do-able, and gradually work your way up. Of course, the more you can do, the better, but even adding small amounts of activity to your day can make a big difference.

 

 

Hi! Remember me?

I have been dreadfully remiss in keeping my blog up to date. I must admit that Facebook has taken more of my after-work computer time lately. It's quick and easy to leave short status updates, and I haven't been much in the mood to write more than a sentence or two about what's been going on. That doesn't mean there has been stuff going on I just don't want to talk about ... all is well ... I just haven't felt like writing.

Spring is barely peeking its head in New England. We had a beautiful day in the high 60s yesterday, and my crocus are blooming! There is nothing quite like the emergence of color after winter, no matter how small.

Paul is feeling fine, continuing to take good care of himself, and has decided on "active surveillance" for his prostate cancer. This means he will have PSA screenings twice a year and a biopsy once a year to track progression of the cancer. It is extremely slow growing, and he only has "a tiny bit of cancer," as said by one of the excellent specialists (and his favorite) he consulted with.

I've cleaned out my basement room, reorganized it, got rid of an old piece of exercise equipment, offered the futon to my niece and her husband-to-be, bought a 32-inch 720p flat panel t.v. for that room, all in an effort to make a place conducive to happy exercising!  I also went to my local Comcast office to get a digital cable box, but I walked out with another DVR, a brand new Cisco high-screaming cable modem, and an updated bundle package that saved me enough money to make the second DVR come in for free!  I am hoping to record my "Susie shows" (as Paul likes to call them) on the downstairs DVR. Once my niece takes that futon, I'll have no chairs down there, so t.v. watching will be from the elliptical machine or Health Rider. Or the floor.  :-)

Easter with my awesome east coast family is at our house this year, and then 10 days at home in CA in May for the annual tea party, Julie's 30th birthday, and Mother's Day.

I'll make a better effort at posting more here ... thanks for the nudge, Sarie.  :-)

Players are arriving for spring training!

Twittering, Facebooking or Blogging?

Busy, busy times ... and how do we stay connected?  I seem to have slowly moved away from blogging and spend more time (well, probably more 'hits") using Twitter or Facebook.  With Facebook especially, you can quickly touch base with so many people, write a one-liner on someone else's page, or update your own status to say what's new.  Here on my blog, though, I feel more compelled to write more detailed info, and when work and life get busy, I don't blog as much.

So here's what is new around our neck of the woods. 

It's 50 degrees today and some of the piled-up snow is finally melting. I am pretty sure this is the most snow I have seen piled up at one time since I moved here. It really doesn't bother me, but I do miss feeling warm sunshine.

Great segue into our upcoming short trip to Disney World. I have never been there, only to Disneyland in southern California. Jake, Alisa, Monet, the Gartins and Amy folks are all going, and when I found out, we had to figure out a way to join them. They have an awesome travel agent -- Paula Nagie -- if you ever need someone to help you plan a vacation down there. I highly recommend her; she was able to make a last-minute, 4-day trip possible without sending Paul and me to the poor house! Here's a link with info to reach her.

That's about it ... lovely Sunday in New England, and I feel good.

Happy Birthday, Judy!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful niece, Judy.  She's a great friend, mom, sister, niece, daughter -- you name it!  I am so blessed she is in my life, and I'm sure those of you who know her, feel the same.  Happy Birthday!!