It's the season for blue!

Blueberries are in season in my area, and I'm ecstatic. They're by far my favorite fruit to pick, because you don't have to crawl among the weeds and dirt to get to the juicy round morsels.

They're also a snap to clean; no knife required! Just a quick rinse with water and they're ready to eat.

Add to that their nutrition benefits, and you've got a definite winner. One cup has only 80 calories, but 3 grams of fiber - that's 14% of your daily needs. You also get 23% of your vitamin C needs; and you thought citrus was the only fruit high in this vitamin!

Blueberries are also extremely high in antioxidants, chemicals found in plants that protect our health. They're twice as high in antioxidants as spinach, and three times as high as oranges.

So add blueberries to your list of must-buy foods. I like to pick as many as I can, then purchase the rest from farmers in my area. Supporting local agriculture is important not only to our economy, but I like knowing the folks who grow my food.

Enjoy,

Lynn

30 miles on my bike!

I decided to ride a bike century this summer; riding 100 miles in one day. It's not a race so much as an event, often to raise money for charity. I figured I've been running for a lot of years, it's time to add something new.

So yesterday I did my first "long" ride of 30 miles. I'm following a plan from Bicycling magazine that builds me up over 10 weeks to a long ride of 65 miles. I guess after that I'm just supposed to gut out the last 35 miles for the day of the century.

It was gorgeous weather Saturday: sunny, not too warm, and not too breezy. I rode 15 miles out on Route 30, which doesn't have much traffic, is fairly flat (for Vermont) and has a wide shoulder. It was a lot of fun riding and I felt great.

It didn't even really bother me that a peloton of very fit riders zipped past me like they weren't even working hard. They have their workout and pace, and I have mine. I'll never be really fast, but I can certainly stick to a training schedule and put in the necessary miles. Hopefully having fun at the same time!

The 9 mile easy ride today was a piece of cake! Even better, I rode with my husband down to the gym, worked out, rode to the bagel shop to pick up breakfast for my kids, and then rode home. A lot accomplished on 2 wheels to start off a Sunday.

Here's hoping your day was just as wonderful as mine,
Lynn

Good runs, bad runs

I ran in the local 5K road race on the 4th of July. It was hot (OK, hot for Vermont) and humid. The water fountain was shut off, and although I brought Gatorade with me I really wanted a drink of water before the run started. Oh well, it's only 3.1 miles so I should be OK.

Not.

The first mile was fine, the second mile OK, and then it hit. I was nauseated, my legs felt like lead, and I wanted to stop. Other runners started passing me. I was determined to keep running, although more slowly, to the finish. I did manage to outkick one person at the end (she's only 20 years older than I am!) but felt completely horrible.

Today I ran 12 miles on a less humid, cooler day. While I didn't feel great, it wasn't horrible either. In fact, my pace was about what I would expect for a a steady long run.

So what's the difference? Maybe the weather, maybe the beverage choice, perhaps just a different day and different circumstances. The point is, sometimes runs feel great, sometimes they're just OK, and other times they're downright awful. I never really know what to expect heading into a run, and just need to let it flow and see what happens.

Now I'll have to sign up for another 5K this summer to try and redeem myself!

Keep on running,
Lynn

Fun - and Food - on Vacation

I just returned from an absolutely wonderful vacation with my extended family. We all eat fairly healthy diets when we're at home, but what do you think happens when we're on vacation? Not a lot different, it turns out!

Sure, I substituted whole wheat English muffins for my usual whole wheat bagels but I only ate pancakes once, at the traditional Sunday morning Lions pancake breakfast. We enjoyed more local seafood, but only once was it fried. Lunch always included fresh fruit (strawberries were in season!) and raw veggies (sugar snap peas were also fresh from the local farm) and only once did we have what you might call a "real" dessert - birthday cake on my son's birthday.

The real downfall is happy hour. When 5pm rolls around, all the families who stay at the 7-cabin resort on Bear Lake in Michigan join together at the beach to share appetizers and drinks. There was a lot of salsa and chips, but raw veggies and dip also made regular appearances. A bit too much cheese on the table, but the crackers were almost always whole grain.

So what's my point? Food on vacation doesn't have to be drastically different from what you're used to at home. It can still be fun, delicious, and something you look forward to, but it doesn't have to cause you to gain weight or blow your arteries. When you enjoy healthy food most days of the year, it just makes sense to continue those same habits when you're on vacation.

Now if I could only do something about the ice cream shop at the end of the road....

Happy summer!
Lynn