Dare You To...

Earlier this year, NPR published an article entitled:
We Lie About What We Eat and It's Messing Up Science
Dare you to give it a read, and more importantly, take note of its message.

The title really says it all: Research studies are often based on people reporting what they remember eating and doing, but people aren't really all that accurate or honest when answering such questions. The author summarizes a paper from the International Journal of Obesitythat asserts that self-reported data are so poor "that they no longer have a justifiable place in the scientific research."

Flawed data leads to flawed conclusions!  Our "conventional wisdom" about what prevents heart disease, cancer, or diabetes may be wrong.  How can we trust articles claiming "Research finds that..." when the finding is based on faulty self-reported data?

The problem is serious, because it's not just misinforming people who read health news; it's misinforming our policy ad…

In my efforts to eat more real foods and rely less on sugar, I've been using honey in my baking!  Honey is known primarily for its sweetness and can replace white sugar in almost anything.  In fact, honey is so sweet (25 - 50% sweeter than white sugar), that you need less of it to enjoy the same flavor!


More than sugar:However, unlike white sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and other such man-made, refined sweeteners, honey is a more naturally-occurring substance containing over a hundred different compounds, including plenty of vitamins, amino acids, and minerals.When you consume honey, you're getting so much more than just a hit of sugar, and, for that, honey is a much healthier sweetener than refined sugars!

The best kind of honey you can use is rawhoney, which can be found in most farmer's markets (bonus points for local!) and health food stores today.  Or, if you're so inclined, visit a local bee farm or raise your own!  That's another dare for another day...

[S…

Tomorrow is EARTH DAY!   On April 22, 2015, we'll celebrate our planet Earth and all it does for us. Let's give back and make sure we take care of it, too.


In honor of Earth Day, I dare you to prevent paper waste and offer you several ways to do so below! 

Proper papering is one of the simplest things we can do for our planet, but it's also so ingrained in our culture that we waste a lot of paper every day, without meaning to.  We can all pay a bit more attention to the paper that is printed and wasted on our behalf.

As a teacher, I do my best to use paper efficiently (like tip #3), but I could probably still do less printing in general (#2 is something I'll work on).  Check out the tips below to see what you can do to limit the amount of paper that YOU use!

Five Simple Ways to Prevent Paper Waste:


1. Opt for Online.  Still getting bills in the mail?  Opt-in to email notifications and online bill pay whenever possible. This is a simple way to reduce the amount of paper an…

Tracking your mileage is great... except when it's not.

Today, when my evening activity got cancelled and the sun was still strong, I decided to lace up and go for a run. My plan was 20-30 minutes, another nice jog, although this time I wanted to take fewer walking breaks than last week's runs.  I set my Nike running app on my phone to start, and when I heard the music, took off.


After a long day at work, I was tired, not expecting much from my legs.  Instead, I started out strong!  I felt great. My shins were bothering me a bit, but breathing was steady. The gorgeous weather was the perfect pick-me up and my old 10k playlist had me going with the beat.  I actually think I was going quickly, probably closer to a 9-minute mile than last week's 11-minute joggers.  I kept looking forward to the moment the app would tell me my first mile was complete and what the time was.... except it didn't come.

I passed the spot that I know to be about a mile in my regular run, but n…

Excuse me while I dust off this page...

HELLO!!!!  The sun is coming back, and so am I.  As April finally appears to be letting spring in, I'm finally returning to some of the things I love: running, drawing, reading, and BLOGGING!  Time for new posts, new dares, new updates, and more.  In the fall and winter, I was feeling beat and fatigued, and blogging was simply not my priority. This time away has made me miss writing, dares, and you, so I'm back!


I'll be bringing a combination of dares for you and updates from life over the past few months as I catch up.  While I don't think I've taken on any new huge challenges since the fall, I've been working on maintaining the dares I began way back when, and maintenance matters.

One thing thing that I did not maintain was running.  After my first 10k race in September and then backing off when I was sick, I simply stopped running.  It got cold, and after months off it, the treadmill just didn't feel like a good op…

WIAW... it's been a long time since my last "What I Ate Weduesday" post!  See my previous WIAW posts here, and check out other folks' WIAW over at Peas & Crayons.

Yesterday's meals were all simple, although they'd look like they took quite a bit of time.

I was so tired that I slept through/snoozed my first alarm--very rare!  Got myself up eventually, showered, got dressed, and made eggs. The eggs caused a rude awakening, because the smoke from the frying pan--after I was done cooking, set off the alarm.  That shook me to consciousness.

Thus, breakfast was simple: eggs over lox. Lox, courtesy of my grandmother, who brought them for me when we celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday. She knows I love them but don't buy them often.  Thank you, Grandma!





Lunch was Turnip Noodles with Toasted Walnut Pesto.  Sounds fancy, right?  It's actually a "7-minute meal" by Hungry Root.  They have a variety of vegetable-noodle dishes that are pre-portioned a…