Why BACON is good for you... no, really!

Ok, I've got your attention, and now is the part where you expect me to pull a bait and switch, but not this time! That's the findings in an article in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition anyway. And with a name like that, you HAVE to trust that they would know. Anyway, 21 studies concerning the relationship between saturated-fat consumption, and heart disease, have shown that eating saturated fat (the reason we have avoided bacon in the past) seems to have no negative health effects! The only catch: You have to get enough polyunsaturated fat as well. The kind found in nuts and vegetable oils. Well this is a no-brainer! If that's all it takes to get the healthy stamp of approval for eating bacon, sign me up!
Ready for even more good news? Bacon fat is mostly a monounsaturated oil or, oleic acid. Know what else is? OLIVE OIL! And I'll bet you've been reading the healthy benefits about that lately too, huh? Bacon's saturated fat is converted by your body to oleic acid! (Yay!) The rest of bacon's fat is a "superhealthy" polyunsaturated fat!
Now these are TRULY reasons to celebrate.... for now, if you are a bacon lover. I say "for now" because we all know that in just a few years, new studies will once again rain on our parade just as they always do. We'll find out that it turns out that the grilled chicken we have all come to love as our "healthy" white meat contains polyisocyrinatic forms of hemoglo-bismol and that we should cease and desist eating it at all costs. Oprah will come out of retirement just to do a story on it. But, the bright side is, I'm guessing that given long enough, these "experts" (hopefully Paula Deen will be on the board by then) will discover that any recipe that starts with 4 sticks of butter, 1lb of sugar, 1lb of brown sugar, a dozen eggs, and a bag of chocolate-chips is exactly what our bodies have been lacking! Hey! I can dream, can't I?!
Oh and as far as my goals and working out are going... I've been playing volleyball (still of course), walking Rose Rudman, and hitting the weights (sporadically) at Woodcreek! I also take stairs when I have the option, park far away from the front door in parking lots, and still do my best to eat what I want in moderation. ;)
 That's all for now!

Under Construction Blog for IN magazine

Ok, so we're doing this new thing at IN magazine where some of us are participating in a year long fitness challenge. I'll be posting on the original IN magazine site, but I will try to copy everything over here and to facebook for all to enjoy.

And so it begins...
The holiday season is here so it's time to celebrate with... celery sticks? I think not!
Look, I'm all about healthy living... well, maybe not ALL about. I do have a weakness for Oreos. But, I do believe in approaching the eating thing like this: Everything In Moderation! And, I also believe that healthy eating CAN be good! Don't believe me? Just read some of the articles in Men's Health! They have some GREAT ideas for us carnivores, as well as the rabbits out there.

My goal is to eat BETTER now, add a little more muscle, and increase my vertical for volleyball. The eating part will be the most difficult. I love fried chicken and biscuits and gravy! I CAN eat healthy (grilled chicken, tilapia, right portions of red meat) but I, like most, just want to eat what tastes good and worry about the consequences later! The problems with that is, of course, the habits you develop. And I've developed some bad ones. My worst? I eat while watching TV. My best? I eat VERY slowly. Eating slow gives your body time to let you know that it's full so you end up eating less.
My breakfasts usually consist of one slice of bacon, two scrambled eggs (sometimes with an extra egg white thrown in on workout days) and one slice of pepperidge farms Oatmeal bread. The bacon and eggs provide fat and protein and the bread is VERY fiber rich which keeps you full longer.
Whew! That's a lot of words so that should get buy me a few days from the boss before I have to write again. :)