Baking Tips...

I love to bake. Sometimes more than others, but lately I've been on a baking kick and it has reminded me of a few of my favorite healthy tricks. When something calls for flour use half white/half whole wheat flour. I've experimented with this and using only wheat flour is too much wheatiness where as half the called for amount seems to be just enough to add a kick of fiber while not sabatoging the recipe and making it taste like cardboard.

Also another good tip is to exchange applesauce for butter. I've found this works best with breads, muffins, and cakey type things verses cookies. Although it works with cookies too you just have to add more flour because it causes them to be a little thin and flakey when they cook.

I also never use whole milk when they call for that. I always use skim or 1% and if you do use butter use smart balance and/or canola oil. Never shortening or margarine.

These are just a few of my tried and true tips that work for me everytime. I also would like to add I've tested these on my hubby and he doesn't notice how healthy they are either as long as I throw in a few chocolate chips as well. Moderation in all things right :)

Testimonial

I'm not even sure if anyone reads this anymore. It has been so long since I last posted something. I'm sorry. Mainly because life has just been really busy and I haven't had time. I had to share this. When I got this in my email I was crying it had me laughing so hard. I hope it makes you laugh. If it makes it any better...I did this same program with my husband this past week and I've been sore for days, but I did Days 2-5 as well. Hopefully my latest victim will be able to get past Day 1 also :)

Day 1

After scoring a 81.90 on my Air Force PFT exam, and stretching my waist size a solid 4 inches from the last time my measurement was taken a year ago, I thought it high time to get started on an exercise routine. My friend Mike was feeling the same lethargy, so his wife Kim, a personal trainer, set about to change us, one exercise at a time. Kim's workout plan was simple, eat less, drink more water, and exercise more.....or so I thought.

When I received Kim's exercise plan in my inbox, I was excited to see how exactly I would "melt the pounds away" (to paraphrase her expression). My last experience with a trainer ended in my incapacity to perform normal functions such as shaving, teeth brushing, and drying off after a shower. Kim assured me this would not be the case with her routine. Upon opening the attachment, I was instantly transported to a scene in National Treasure, where I, the plot's main character, would have to decipher from among the hieroglyphics, the main antagonists' (Kim) clues to my workout success. Kim didn't have the time to type it out, but rather hand-wrote it. So once the sleuthing was over with, I had a somewhat vague idea of what I needed to do on day one. Below is a rundown of those exercises:

Chest/Back/Triceps

Bench Press/Pushup to failure

I like that Kim included "Pushups to Failure" as the title of the exercise. I didn't actually know there was any other way to do pushups other than to be a failure. Pushups were invented by Chuck Norris as a means of pushing the earth away. Mere mortals such as me could never hope to do them any other way but the failure route. After a solid 12 reps of bench presses (yes, the bar counts) I got down on the ground in the pushup position. Starting in the up position, I gradually lowered myself in pure perfect posture only to find that there was nothing left to get me off the ground. Thankfully, there were three airman that could rescue me lest I have to roll around the floor in an epileptic convulsion as I could not use my arms or chest to get vertical. So much for the other two sets.

Backrow/Tricep Dip

Imagine being in the handicap stall at a public restroom. You are stuck on the toilet and need to get off, but because of earlier fatigue, your arms don't work. You are able to swing your arms from side to side until they catch on the top of the rail. You grab the power-squeeze handles on either side of the stall thinking they might help you get off the john, all to no avail. That motion pretty much describes the next series in Kim's Dynasty of Fun. I didn't even know where my triceps were, but one go at this exercise and they rang out like a Boston firehouse five alarm. The sirens rang out in my upper rear arms area hinting at the fact that I won't be able to grip a pencil for a least a week. The good news is that I don't have a car with a trunk. Grabbing the trunkgate to close it after somehow miraculously loading groceries might not be possible.

Chest Flys/Lat Pull Down

I have a pretty good idea of what it must have been like for the two knuckleheads accompanying Jesus on the way to Calgary. The motion of the fly press simulates a crucifixion....minus the nails. I was really good at resting my arms on the outward stretch, but my fun on the bench press merry-go-round made me look like I was was a walrus attempting to clap my flippers at the crowd that had gathered to watch me at this point. I don't know if it was the tortuous look of agony on my purple, swollen face that attracted them, or if it was the chamber echoing Lamaze-like noises I made as this exercise continued. I started to worry when the gym worker suddenly showed up with a defibraltor about two feet away. I decided the three reps was enough for me.

By the time I got to Kim's next 'conditioning exercise,' I figured by the title alone, I had better not attempt it. I couldn't find a machine with the words "Skull Crusher" but deduced that if something as benign as a chest fly induced cardiopulmunary arrest, Skull Crushing might just kill me.

While I will not let these exercises get the best of me, I have had to wait four days to restore normal usage of my hand's ability to grip the stick of an airplane. Monday is a new day and I fully plan to take advantage of it discovering just what skull crushing is all about.