Hot Buttered Rum Batter

We did healthy all week.

Time for a cheat meal this weekend. If you are going to go, then go all the way right? How about some hot buttered rum.

This makes for a great holiday gift.  It is quick and easy, you can package it in small canning jars like Ball jelly jars, or you can find something more interesting at a craft store. Another bonus… while it’s full of all the fun cheat meal stuff, namely sugar, it is entirely gluten free.

2 cups of brown suggar

1 cup of butter

1tsp cinnamon

1tsp cardamom

1tsp nutmeg

1tsp ground clove

Take all the ingredients, put them in a mixer, and mix till it has an even consistency. This should be refrigerated until use. To make up a cup just put a hefty dollop in a mug, add a shot of rum or not, and top with hot water from your kettle.

Sip, relax, enjoy!

Find What You Want, Then Give It Away

“…When we give in the world what we want the most, we heal the broken part inside each of us.”

• Eve Ensler  From her TED Talk “Happiness in body and soul”

When I heard Eve say this phrase a light went off. It is so simple, so true, so obvious. How had I forgotten?

I was not raised Catholic, but I the words of St. Francis still found me and I memorized his peace prayer years ago. It contained a line stating that “It is in giving that we receive.”

This time of year is often filled with giving of gifts. Sadly it is also filled with the feeling of giving out of obligation rather than out of kindness, love, or compassion. This year I am considering my giving thoroughly. The obligations are to be transformed by love, or they are to be done away with. No one wants a crappy gift anyway.

Okay, that may not be true. I can think of some people who want gifts, no matter how lacking in heart they are, so long as they are of high dollar value and in large quantity. Well… there is only one thing that can help that person find what they really need. Nothing. Seriously, the gift of nothing. When a person is not happy with anything, always asking for more, more, more, then I say “Give them the only thing that will ever fulfill them: Nothing.”

While I believe giving is essential to our happiness, I believe giving well is more important than simply handing all your things over to the next person you bump into. I feel in this time we should focus on what we really want. Things like Love and respect. Find a way to give that to someone, and give it freely. Even if you don’t get it back from them, you may just get it from someone you may have forgotten. Someone who really matters. Yourself.

The Holiday Run Around

I consider the Tabata method to be Dr. Izumi Tabata’s gift to the world.

It is an intense method of metabolic conditioning. What does this mean to us? In a workout that ranges from roughly 4 to 16 minutes, depending on fitness level, we can shed fat like it is going further out of style than it already is. This method also permits resistance training to become what many call “intense cardio.” If you want to make me cringe you can say that too. Metabolic conditioning is more accurate AND it will make you sound cool around the water-cooler. Go ahead, say it. No one is listening “Metabolic Conditioning.” Again, out-loud. “Metabolic Conditioning.” See? It just makes you FEEL smart. Go ahead and flex your brain a bit by googling metabolic conditioning. The first link will probably be to an article by Greg Glassman. It is worth your time.

Today we will be doing a Tabata style run for 8 minutes. This will consist of 16 20 second sprints followed by 16 10 second periods of rest.

Thats it. Really, that is all. It’s only eight minutes, or four if eight is too intense for you to begin with. The key is to go as hard as you can without hurting yourself (Push, but be cautious if this is new. Injuries suck. Try not to suck.) for 20 seconds and to spend the 10 seconds intensely focused on breathing and recovery.

If you can do more and want to go for 12 or 16 minutes, go for it! Remember that this is basically strong medicine. You need to watch your dosage, especially at first when this is new. Once you know your body, edging your boundaries is awesome!

Today’s workout is best done on a very industrial strength treadmill that can handle a sprinter. Unfortunately most treadmills that I have encountered don’t hold up well unless they are very high end.

Another option is to have some kind of chronometer (fancy word for a time keeping device, be sure to say that one soon after you throw out “metabolic conditioning” as you are B.S.ing over morning coffee) that you don’t have to look at. I know lots of higher end cell phones have apps you can download that have Tabata timers and you can listen to the start and stop cues through your headset.

Last on my list is the stop watch or wrist watch. Unfortunately if you are going all out it is a pain to use one of these devices. Use what you have though. There should be no economic boundaries to fitness.

If you don’t know about Pose Method, Chi Running, or Barefoot Running I suggest you check it out, though it is not necessary for todays activity. If you gradually embrace these methods of running, which eliminate a heal strike, you will once again save yourself from the suck.