Dear Blood Test, You Made Me So Very Happy

Remember Blood, Sweat and Tears? If not, you can still read this post. It’s all about blood, stress and diet!

I recently won a free blood test from WellnessFX. The cool part? It included a consultation with a registered dietitian.

Maybe your reaction is, “Big deal. I get my blood drawn once a year during my physical.” Yes, but does your doctor actually take 20 minutes to explain what the results mean? And does your doc then make dietary suggestions? Aha, that’s the bonus.

I exercise quite a lot and take no prescription drugs, so I chose the RD for my consultation. But I could have chosen from their list of medical doctors, chiropractors, osteopaths or naturopathic doctors.

I drove to Ventura, California, for the blood draw, and was in and out in 15 minutes. A few days later I received my results, which of course, were only vaguely comprehensible to me (I do know how to read the cholesterol and iron bit, but that’s about it). The results categories were red, orange and green. I was green in nearly every category, which is the good color!

No magic here – the green is a result of exercise and a healthy diet (portion size and food selection). The only result of concern was my LDL – low density lipoprotein. That’s the bad cholesterol. For this, I blame my parents, as there’s a genetic component. I’m not a big ice cream or milk person, but I cook and bake with butter. So even though I don’t use a lot of it, during our consultation the RD still suggested I substitute olive or canola oil when possible. I’m putting her recommendations here because they are good ideas for everyone to consider:

Use unsaturated fats (olive oil, canola oil) in place of saturated fats (butter) when cooking.
Limit amount of butter added to food (1-2 teaspoons).
Avoid Trans Fats (hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated oil) often found in regular peanut butter, packaged baked goods, and fast food.

Decrease Your Stress or You’ll Be a Mess

She said my elevated bilirubin could be related to my self-reported high stress levels. Even though I do lots of exercise, I also have a lot of financial stress (anyone else paying out-of-state university fees?) and constant work deadlines. So I’ll consider yoga (probably won’t happen), more walks (probably will happen), or going to bed earlier (probably won’t happen).

Luckily the RD didn’t push me to take a bevy of supplements, as that wouldn’t be me, but she did suggest Omega-3 fish oil, which makes sense for someone who’s a vegetarian and over 50 (which I may or may not be)! Because I’m very picky, I went with the softgels from Pure Matters, a company that puts it right out there in their mission statement: “Our bodies and lives are the product of what we put into them. Our goal is to be the most transparent and holistic source for wellness and performance available.”

Omega-3 is good for your Heart. So are Tomatoes.

Whenever I remember that my body and life reflect my choices, it’s fairly easy to walk away from poor foods.

I wrote this post to encourage all of you to stay on top of your health. Get your blood checked. Move your carcass. Eat foods that are friendly to your body. Take supplements as needed. And be kind to those idiots who drive under the speed limit on a one-lane mountain pass when you’re late to work. Yeah, still working on that one…

Speaking of winners (me and you), have you entered our giveaway yet for a free one-year membership to Anytime Fitness? The deadline is 17 January, so get your entries in!

I was not compensated for this post. I was provided with the Omega-3 fish oil tablets from Pure Matters at no cost. All opinions, blood, stress and youthfulness are entirely my own!

You can get even more great health and movement tips by subscribing to our YouTube channel and blog. Please also follow us on Twitter: AlexandraFunFit and KymberlyFunFit and Instagram: KymberlyFunFit and AlexandraFunFit. Click now on the icons above or below. We make it easy to share, subscribe and have fun exercising!

Photo credits: CreativeCommons.org: Debs (ò?ó)? (tomato heart)

Have a Ball Getting Fit at Anytime Fitness

Start 2013 with a really amazing prize! Do you want to win a one-year membership to Anytime Fitness? Yeah, it’s that big a deal!

We won a photo contest that Anytime Fitness held, and our prize is really YOUR prize, as it’s a full year’s membership to give away to one of you.

The requirements are simple:

* You must live within 30 miles of an Anytime Fitness, in any of the 12 countries where they’re located.  Anytime Fitness has over 2,035 locations, so click on the link to see which one is near you.

* You must complete the one mandatory requirement we have in our Rafflecopter giveaway below (you’ll want to play along as our videos are fabulous). Also take advantage of the optional entry actions to increase your odds. If you are already an Anytime Fitness member, you will get a year’s extension on your current membership.

That kind of sums it up. The picture you see here is the one that we used to get you this fabulous prize. You are free to comment below at the total supremeness and creativity of our picture. Or suggest video topics you’d like us to add to our sterling collection. Or submit fitness questions to us that we’ll answer right here on the blog. Wow, this giveaway is so cool, just like Anytime Fitness and Fun and Fit. You spend a few minutes of your time entering (you can come back every day for extra entries) and in return you might win a prize worth thousands of dollars. As Monty Hall said, “Such a deal!” Okay, he actually said, “Let’s make a deal,” but we updated it.

We’ll pick the winner Thursday, January 17th, 2013, who will be notified by email and/or tweet. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or we’ll pick another winner.

All the links you need to enter this SuperCaliFragiListicExpiAliDocious entry are conveniently located right here:

Start 2013 as a winner by subscribing to our YouTube channel and blog. Please also follow us on Twitter: AlexandraFunFit and KymberlyFunFit and Instagram: KymberlyFunFit and AlexandraFunFit. Click now on the icons above or below. We make it easy to share, subscribe and win!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are you like us in that your feet talk to you a lot? And by “talk” we mean “yell” and “whine.” After soccer injuries, sport aerobics competitions, years of teaching high impact classes, knee surgeries, foot surgeries, orthotics, and love of moving, we have – ahem – problem baby boomer feet. So we were eager to be included in a product review of the new TheraFit shoes. We don’t know about you, but finding shoes that match our lifestyle and feel comfortable for long hours is a challenge.

Could these shoes, which are specifically made to provide personalized cushion and support, meet our challenge? Take a look at our video to find out. We guarantee you will NOT be bored for those three minutes. Be sure to watch all the way to the end for a surprise. If you like a spoiler, scroll down to the lyrics we created to the tune of “These Boots Were Made for Walking” by Nancy Sinatra.

Click here to view the embedded video.

These Shoes Are Made For Walkin

We keep saying we’ve got something for you,
something we call comfy, and confess.
We’ve been wearing TheraFit shoes and suggest them
if you want to travel in the best.

These shoes are made for standing, and exercising too
They come in colors that will make a model out of you.

Our boomer joints aren’t youthin’, ain’t that the truthin’
It’s hard to find shoes for our problem feet
Once we put these on we don’t wanna be a changin’.
For powerwalking our TheraFits can’t be beat.

These shoes are made for action and they’re stylish too.
Try them on and you’ll be shocked by this shock absorption shoe!

You keep saying things been hurting for you
something you call age, but it’s not.

Nah!
You’ve been wearing shoes you shouldn’t a been a’ wearin’
and now your knees are hurting cuz they’re shot!

These shoes are made for walking. And that’s just what we do.
We can sure dance a storm up when we wear the proper shoe.

Are you ready shoes? Start dancin’!

There’s a lot going on with this post, all of which is good news for YOU. We’ll list them out to make it easier for you catch all the goodness!

* If you’re on Twitter, join in on a sweet feet tweet chat on 12/12/12 at 12 noon EST / 9 am PST. You might even win a pair of Therafit shoes. Hashtag is #Therafit.

* If you are in the market for new shoes, and decide to buy a pair (or two, as our friend Susie did), use either of these two codes: TherafitAW or TherafitKWE. Either code will save you $5.00 off the purchase price.

* If you do redeem either of the codes, Theraft will donate $5.00 to a charity we love, the “Big Red” Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarship money to students going to college.

* Drum Roll please…… You can win a pair of Therafit shoes right here at Fun And Fit. Four ways to enter, all easy.  Tweet “I want to win a pair of @TherafitShoe from @KymberlyFunFit & @AlexandraFunFit http://funandfit.org/?p=8248 #FitFluential #Therafit”, then come back and leave the tweet url in the comments. For a second entry, comment below on a detail in the video. For a third entry, comment on our revised lyrics or make up a line yourself! For a fourth entry, let us know which Therafit shoe and color you’d choose. We’ll be announcing the winner on Dec. 20th.

Please also check out our prior post that gives more info on these shoes: Holiday Fitness Gift List.

And this won’t get you any extra entries into the giveaway, but it will get you friend points if you head over to Anytime Fitness and click on the link to give us your vote. We are the Running Twins on the Ball. We appreciate every vote!

Walk out of the time warp our video just took you on and subscribe now to our YouTube channel and blog. Please also follow us on Twitter: AlexandraFunFit and KymberlyFunFit and Instagram: KymberlyFunFit and AlexandraFunFit. Click now on the icons above or below. We make it easy to share and subscribe!

Disclosure: FitFluential LLC compensated me for this Campaign. All opinions are my own; And boy do we love sharing our opinions! We’d love you to share your opinions too!

We win; You win! In our case, we were sent a case of LesserEvil chips and popcorn and enjoyed them. So we are very excited to be chosen to share a giveaway they’re doing because YOU can win the new iPad3 or a case of their snacks. Keep reading to enter!

“LesserEvil” is not Alexandra’s middle name, although “Greater Evil” might be Kymberly’s. LesserEvil is a company that makes snacks that are a healthier choice for you and your kids. The Krinkle Sticks are baked, not fried, and come in 4 flavors: tasty, tastier, tastiest and super tasty! Or, as they call them on the packages: Veggie, Original, White Cheddar, Sour Cream & Onion. They also have two kinds of “Fields Good Kettlecorn”: Original and Black & White (hint – it involves chocolate).

Alexandra: My boys and I plowed through all 6 bags in about 3 days. I think we were racing each other in case someone else hogged them all. I really did have a hard time choosing my favorite, but after thinking about it, I have to go with the Original Kettlecorn.

I don’t ever eat potato chips because the grease upsets my stomach, but I was glad to find these chips because I can sit and watch “Downton Abbey”  and finish a bag and not feel guilty or icky. Although it is kind of weird that I did go through an entire bag before the opening credits were over!

Kymberly: My package of snackage arrived a day before my daughter came home for spring break so I got a head start. Honestly, I rarely eat “regular” chips any more as I seek healthier options when needing a crunch snack. Attending the Natural Products Expo West revealed lots of solutions for avoiding snackcidents and finding “Lesser Evil” ways to indulge. The fact that this company offers flavor, healthier ingredients, AND donates 10% of their profits to charity spurred my hand into the bag.

Personal decadent fave? The Black and White Kettlecorn as I am known for being a dark chocolate fan. I can’t speak for the Veggie Sticks as hubster ate them all declaring them “really good. Hope you didn’t have to try them too.” So I hid the rest of the bags so I could work my way through them at my leisure. Personal savory flavory? The White Cheddar.

Try them for yourself if you don’t win one of the cases. You can use the store locater or get them online.

Here is the giveaway information:

Contest is open to US residents only until midnight PST Sunday, April 15. LesserEvil will choose one winner for the 16GB Apple iPad3 and 3 winners for the case of snacks. Winners will be contacted by LesserEvil via email and have 72 hours to respond or new winners will be chosen.

Mandatory Entry

Visit www.lesserevil.com, then come back here and leave a comment sharing something you learned about the company. While there, why not enter the contest via their form and rules too?! We really like their “How to Make the World a Little Less Evil” entry suggestion. You can enter more than once. Heck, look at all those ways to enter just below!

Additional Entries

For each action you take, you must let us know via a comment below for it to count as an entry.

Please do not combine action comments as it will count as only one entry in the contest.

Follow @LesserEvilSnack on Twitter

Like LesserEvil on Facebook

Subscribe to LesserEvil on YouTube 

Follow LesserEvil on Google Plus 

Copy & paste this tweet, then when you’re done come back and comment with the link of your tweet

I want to win an iPad3 from @LesserEvilSnack http://bit.ly/HvDlki  @AlexandraFunFit (or @KymberlyFunFit) #giveaways

Follow us on Twitter at @AlexandraFunFit and @KymberlyFunFit

Like our Fun and Fit Facebook page.

Subscribe to our Fun and Fit YouTube channel (we really like this one!)

Subscribe to this blog via email

Follow us on Pinterest Alexandra and Kymberly

Disclaimer: LesserEvil compensated us for this post. All thoughts (and tastebuds) and opinions are our own.