Stirred, not shaken

This is amazing. And it works.
And I'm stealing this from another blog I read, but not verbatim so maybe it's OK.
If you buy canned colas, but you forget to chill them in the frig the night before, take a big bowl and fill it most of the way with water and ice. Add a tsp and a half of salt. Stir. Add the can of cola and wait 2 minutes. It works because the salt cools the water even more and the stirring does something else scientific and the aluminum of the can is happy from all of the above.
Enjoy. (And make it a diet soft drink, as this is a health and fitness blog by God, and we have a reputation to uphold.)

BMI

Have we written about BMI before? We're not sure. But it's kind of a cool thing and lets you know more about your body profile than, say, weight.
BMI stands for Body Mass Index.
Here's a quick computer test.
Read more about BMI here.

Easy for you to say

A bumper sticker spotted Monday: How would you like that cell phone shoved up your ---?
From a (Christian) blog I read occasionally: "This has all of the hallmarks of that scheming '(city) lawyer' XXX and that crooked lowdown toad XXX behind it; aided and abetted by their money-grubbing pals." (Posters to this particular site may use their real names or monikers, and most seem to be the latter.)
From "Soundoff," a regular feature on my paper's editorial pages, which allows people to make brief comments unsigned: "Garrison Keillor is a self important reprobate." (He recently did a live radio broadcast here.)
File this blog entry under mental health or community health or both.
I've read articles lately, including this one, that suggest e-mail and blogging and posting messages to blogs allows us to become, well, less civil than we might be a) in person or b) in a hand-written or typed letter. Do you agree? I think that it's so, having received such missives and read them online from people I don't know; and, let's be honest, we have all probably sent a few ourselves, either with our name attached or anonymously. The Internet allows us to vent freely and quickly which is both blessing and curse. Blessing because I can write to my mother and say, "Do you want us to bring salad for dinner?" Curse in that I can spout off to someone without really thinking through what's been written--then the next day have a post-mortum: God, did I really say that?
In my own case, do I want to vent anonymously? No. Would I say the same thing to the person's face in the same way I'm venting to them on e-mail? Probably not.
What are your experiences with this?

Great quote

"You can have all the heart in the world, but it doesn't mean anything unless you've got the legs."
— Lance Armstrong, from "Lance Armstrong's War" by Daniel Coyle (2004)

Hello, Internet. Back from vacation, which was heavenly, and which included the purchase of the above book, as well as Wendell Berry's "The Way of Ignorance." Both inspiring in their own way. Both purchased at what may be my favorite store in North Carolina, if not the entire country: Malaprops. It's in Asheville. We visit whenever we're in the area. In one of Berry's essays, he writes: "The general purpose of the present economy is to exploit, not to foster or conserve. Look carefully, if you doubt me, at the centers of the larger towns in virtually every part of our country. You will find that they are economically dead or dying. Good buildings that used to house needful, useful, locally owned small businesses of all kinds are now empty or have evolved into junk stores or antique shops. But look at the houses, the churches, the commercial buildings, the courthouse, and you will see that more often than not they are comely and well made. And then go look at the corporate outskirts: the chain stores, the fast-food joints, the food-and-fuel stores that no longer can be called service stations, the motels. Try to find something comely or well made there."
To read the full essay, ckick here.
That's a long way of saying that Malaprops, and all of Asheville in fact, give me hope that not all inner cores of all cities are dying. (True, Asheville may be an anomoly in that it's got a good tourism draw.) Yet its locals seem to be more supportive of the home-grown businesses than not. And it offers a picture of what a community can do that doesn't want to look like every other town in America. Cheers.
In other vacation news, the trails around/on top of Whiteside Mountain were a daily destination. And on said Asheville trip, we took a detour onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. It seemed you could see all the way to the ocean. Come summertime, it'll be more hazy up there. And so, we were fortunate to have clear skies and light traffic.

Weight loss tricks

You wouldn't think snacking during the day would be good for you, but it is. (And of course it depends on which type of snack you consume. Bon bons are probably out.) That's just one of the tips reported here in cutting calories. The suggestion is to eat something about every three hours, which keeps us from putting on the feedbag, especially at night. (The worst time to put on the feedbag.) As far as exercise goes, the story suggests 90 minutes of walking a day, in order to maintain a healthy weight.
Meanwhile, this computer will be sleeping once again, beginning tomorrow, as Michael and I are going on vacation. Evil Cat is staying home. Hope that you, Internet, have a great week. Or a FABULOUS week, as Sonya says.

We all scream for ice cream

Back in the day, whenever that was, we weren't able to get low-fat ice cream that wasn't packed with air and didn't taste like mush. Thankfully those days are over. This article from Prevention Magazine lists several brands that are not only low in fat and low in calories but mmmmm-tasty, too.
If you have already sampled them, or even just one, take our nifty quiz.

What's your fave brand?
	Edy's
	Haagen-Dazs
	Breyer's Double Churn
pollcode.com free polls

Time to get serious

My Monday purchase. This thing practically makes toast. It checks weight, percent body fat, hydration level and bone mass. Hours and hours of fun.