Thighs
SW-e-AT
Food-Ex Pairing Day Three: Broccoli Quad
Hello Monday Featsters. Early in the week, and early in this challenge, we're keeping it basic, and essential: Your food is broccoli, and your body part is the thigh, a.k.a. your quadruceps. It doesn't get any more accessible or urgent than this. Broccoli is available everywhere, affordable, and easy to prepare in any number of ways. You can boil it, steam it, or stir fry it. Never mind that certain recent U.S. Presidents refused to eat it, it's very good for you: It's does nice things for your heart, can help prevent cataracts, and give you stronger bones, plus it's a cruciferous veggie, and crucifers have got all sorts of anti-carcinogenic properties. On top of all that it looks like trees with tiny green trunks, and it's fun to eat.
Speaking of TRUNKS, your legs contain the biggest muscles in your body, and your thighs are the biggest muscles in your legs. We owe many of the greatest things in life to our quads: Leaping, walking, running, and kicking things like cans and tires and other people. But, sitting all day at our desks, those big muscles go tragically underutilized. Not today! Perhaps you will do Olympic Squats as described in detail here, or maybe you'll go for a ride with Lance, or a spin, or a jog. Or maybe you'll find a field and do wind sprints, dreaming of Usain Bolt (hot video after the jump). Or if you want to be very creative, you might try "Urban Sprinting" like Aussie Jerky Boy, Neg....
Have fun, and tell us all about it!
More...Link Love
Melons, Thighs, Showers, and Soy
- Gossip: Kelly Osbourne lost fourteen pounds in three weeks, thanks to Dancing With The Stars training (we hope dancing is the real reason, but 14 pounds seems like a lot of dancing). Tyra Banks works out to Sex and the City reruns.
- Science: The New York Times reports that challenging aerobic exercise makes you smarter. A new British study shows that group exercise releases more endorphins than solo exercise, thus making you happier. French researchers have found that an enzyme in melons, superoxide dimutase, can "boost concentration, cut feelings of weariness and irritability and improve problems with sleeping." Must go buy a cantaloupe immediately. And in news from Denmark, a study there shows that overly skinny thighs may indicate increased risk of death or heart disease. Guess I'll be living a long time.
- Advice: The Huffington Posts wants you to go green by ditching your gym membership. Last seen pushing pet fitness, celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson is back with a new plan for you — get healthy by drinking Silk soy products.
- Showers: Researchers from the University of Colorado sampled gunk, which they call biofilm, from 45 germy showerheads in nine U.S. cities. Then they analyzed the ribosomal RNA gene sequences from the swab samples to figure out exactly what microorgamisms lurked there. What they found is Mycobacterium avium, a bacteria found in patients with conditions like AIDS and emphysema. Pee in the shower is the least of your worries.
