Emilia--the newest family member

My son Andrew and his fiance Kelly have adopted a puppy, half lab and half pit bull. Here name is Emilia, and I am proud to call her my grandpuppy. She is very playful and sweet. They have brought her over to our house a few times. She is getting used to us (at this moment I am puppy sitting). The only ones who are not thrilled with her are our two cats. They have both hissed at her, but mostly they give her space.

She is napping in our cat Shadow's cat bed, which has made Shadow a little upset. Soon, however, Emilia will be bigger than they are and will run the house when she visits. I love dogs but haven't had one of my own since 2000. This new addition has added a new element to our family.

An Influential Book

Since I am an avid reader, I could name many books that have influenced me in some way. For this post, however, I will discuss only one. It's Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too: Eating to Be Sexy, Fit, and Fabulous! Yes, the title is long, but the book is fairly short and a quick read.

The author is chef and restaurant owner Melissa Kelly. She is from an Italian American family and relates many family stories as well as her experiences as a chef. I have been re-reading this book because it has so many great tips and recipes.

One point she makes is about the social aspect of eating in her family as well as in the Mediterranean culture. When we make meals a social "event" as well as nourishment, the meal is more satisfying and we tend to eat less. I have noticed that is true with me. Even on Thanksgiving, when I cooked for a dozen people and there were so many dishes, I did not eat too much. There was so much energy in the room, so much to talk about and share, I actually ate less. When I eat alone or eat with my husband in front of the TV, I tend to eat more and usually enjoy the meal less.

Melissa makes the point to eat at the table, to turn off the TV or other distractions, focus on the food and the companionship. When I do that, I do have a more enjoyable meal. It's easy to eat on the run, eat in front of the TV or PC or even with my phone in hand.

This book is not a diet book; it's a book about enjoying life, fresh food, family, and friends. It's inspirational. I am going to try to live more like the Mediterranean culture, right here in my Midwestern town.

If you want to see more about this book, go to Amazon. Right now the book is bargain priced and well worth every penny!

My Little Fitbit

I am not a natural athlete. However, I do want to be more fit and make working out/exercising a part of my routine. The big problem is I let other tasks take priority over my workouts. I am good at making excuses.

To show myself how much exercise I am getting, and to motivate myself to do more, I got a FitBit (http://www.fitbit.com/), a little device that I wear. It's like a super pedometer. It tracks my steps taken, my total mileage traveled on foot (walk, jog, run), calories burned, floors climbed (stairs). Through the fitbit web site, I have my personal dashboard where I can see the data from the fitbit (it uploads wirelessly) in various forms (daily, weekly, monthly) as well as providing me a place to log in my food intake, other workouts (biking, elliptical, swimming), and write in a journal. The fitbit can even track sleep patterns!

I was a little doubtful how useful this device would be, but in the last 17 days I have had it, I have been impressed and surprised. I like seeing what I have done (or not done), how much I really walk at school (not as much as I thought), and how many stairs I walk (more than I thought). When I mowed the lawn today, I got to see how many steps I took (over 7,200).

The Fitbit site sends me "badges" when I achieve milestones like my first 10,000 step day, walking the equivalent of 10 floors of stairs in one day. It took me 15 days to walk/jog 50 miles (yes, I got a "badge"). That is something I never would have tracked on my own.

If you need  a little nudge to get moving, or want to track your progress easily, check out the Fitbit.