Women's Health highlights, May 2010 issue

OK, it's two months after the fact but I've got to say: I love Women's Health magazine! And that May issue was jam-packed with interesting, helpful info. Here are my fave tidbits:

• From the Jillian Michaels cover story -- top training tips:

1. Change up your workout routines as often as possible to keep seeing results. If you stick with one thing, you'll plateau. This is totally in line with a study I recently read about that said women who did shorter and less frequent high-intensity intervals-based cardio workouts lost more weight than women who did longer, more frequent steady-state cardio workouts. I've been putting that into practice on the elliptical trainer and stairclimber at the gym, building in five one-minute sprints, with a minute of recovery time, in the middle of the hour-long workout. I've also been doing longer intervals -- five minutes at a higher heart rate, five minutes at a lower one.

2. Increase the intensity. Jillian suggests working out at 85% of your max heart rate. (Max is 220 minus your age. That makes my max 178; 85% of that is 151. Wow, is that right? I work out above that all the time.)

3. Do cardio intervals between weight training sets. I love this idea! I'm going to try jumping jacks, jump squats and/or mountain climbers between sets.

4. Buy a heart rate monitor. Already got one, so I'm good there. But Jillian suggests using it to track calorie burn and comparing the burn different activities. I'm not sure if my Garmin tracks calories burned when the GPS feature is turned off ... which makes it not so useful on the elliptical. I'll have to check into that.

5. Eat three meals a day, plus a snack. Jillian thinks the currently popular "5-6 small meals" plan is bullshit.

6. Eat Greek yogurt instead of regular. I'm already doing that so again, I'm good there. But this recipe Jillian suggested sounds good:

1 cup uncooked quinoa rinsed and drained

1/4 cup whole flaxseed

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix and spread on a baking sheet, bake in a 375º degree oven until lightly browned. Let cool, crumble and add 2 tablespoons to half a cup of nonfat plain Greek yogurt along with fresh berries. Drizzle honey on top.

7. Increase veggie intake. Duh.

8. Try coconut milk. It's healthier than rice milk and has more calcium and Vitamin D than regular dairy.

• The magazine had an interesting article on whether being overweight is bad for you (depends on how overweight and what your fitness level/diet/lifestyle are like). It also said that more doctors are looking beyond BMI for a gauge of health. They're using these indicators:

1. Blood pressure in a range of 90/60 to 120/80. (I don't know mine, but it's always fine when I go to the doctor.)

2. Resting heart rate of 60-100 beats per minute. (I took mine yesterday morning and it came in at 156. I'm going to try to do it regularly to get a general sense of where I'm at.)

3. Cholesterol: LDL below 100, HDL above 50, VLDL under 40, triglycerides below 150. (I have no idea what any of these numbers mean, let alone where I fall.)

4. Fasting blood glucose of 70-100. (See #3, above.)

5. Waist-to-hip ratio of 0.6 to 0.8. Here's how to check it: Wrap a measuring tape around the narrowest part of stomach, then do the widest part of your hips and butt. Divide the first number by the second. (I have done this yet but will plan to soon!)

• How yummy does this pesto popcorn recipe sound? Put 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large, deep saucepan (6 quarts or so). Turn heat to medium, add 3 kernels of popping corn, and cover. When kernels pop, remove the lid and add 1/2 a cup of popping corn. Cover. With the lid on, shake the pot. Cook, shaking occasionally, until the popping sounds stop, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, put 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon minced garlic in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook garlic until soft and golden, about 2 minutes. Pour popcorn into a large bowl, then drizzle the olive oil over the popcorn, straining out the garlic pieces. Toss popcorn with 1/2 cup chopped basil, 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste. Yum!

• Two more easy, yummy-sounding desserts:

1. Easy affogato: 1/2 tablespoon Kahlua, 2 tablespoons hot espresso, 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt. Place the yogurt into a serving dish. Stir liqueur into the espresso, pour over the yogurt.

2. Blueberry-almond turtles: 7 tablespoons bittersweet chocolate chips, 1/4 cup dried blueberries, 1/4 cup sliced almonds. Microwave chocolate in a glass bowl for 60-75 seconds or until melted. Stir in blueberries and nuts, then drop 5 rounded tablespoons onto parchment paper. Cool in refrigerator until firm.