Some thoughts from my magazines....

I read a few magazines...sometimes quite a few. I like to read them in the bath tub as I don't have to worry about getting them wet....and since bubble baths are definitely a passion of mine, I read quite a few.

Tonight I was feeling a bit stressed about some things so I took my cup of mint tea and glass of water and headed to the bath tub. I read through two magazines and have a few things to ponder. Note that I do not "believe" everything I read but I do think they give me some things to think about.

The two magazines I read tonight are Women's Health and Weight Watchers magazine. I still have a few months on my WW magazine subscription and do find stuff in the magazine even though I am no longer a member of WW.

Here are a couple of things to ponder. First, I noticed that there were several themes in common in the magazines. They both had articles about pizza and how to make it healthier. Neither of them included making the crust out of cauliflower (something I may try this week). It also made me think of the zucchini pizza crust I used to make. I may have to figure out how to paleo-fy the concept as it did include a cup of whole wheat flour. I will post if I figure out how to do it without the flour.

Second, they both had articles about outsmarting your DNA. That is, even though there are things that are determined by your genes, your environment and choices impact many more things about your health. Of course, it is important to understand how your parents' health can raise your risk to certain things.

A few other things I noticed as I read through the magazines:

• A nutritional scientist suggest mint tea before bed to alleviate cravings for sweets. Well, I was glad I had my cup of mint tea by my side.
• Planks beat crunches for strong abs.
  
• Studies show that smoking can impact memory. Thankfully, I have never smoked but I thought it was interesting.
• Recovering between exercise sessions is essential to fitness (sleep, low key movement on off days, water intake, etc.).
• There is a "diet guru" that suggest that some food choices could be like gateway drugs and cause you to start craving unhealthy foods. Really? Sugar intake, for example, causes you to crave more sugar? No duh....I could have told you that!
• 3.2 million of people in the US commute more than 90 minutes a day! Wow, I am glad my commute is about 30 minutes each way, total of about 60 minutes. If you can, you should try to vary your route as your brain can be lulled into just autopilot. For me, that was interesting as I can believe it based on my own experience. I am going to think about this.
  
• Walking backwards on the treadmill can help with back pain. I don't suffer from back pain but I have lots of friends that do. May be worth trying if you do.
  
• There is a recipe for braised lamb with smoky tomatoes, orange and fennel that I want to try.
• Another recipe I want to try is balsamic chicken with peppers.

I guess that is about what I want to share from my reading tonight.

By the way, part of my stress was caused by the scale so I am going to step away from the scale for a few weeks and see I can manage to focus on success other than the scale. I will not be reporting results from the scale tomorrow and it will be okay.