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 Needless
to say, the muscles in the ankles and calves get continual use
and consequently are often well-difined and trim. For those who
want to slim their ankles and create more definition in their
calf muscles, the following exercises are very good.
Health Challenge...
Reduce Caffeine.
Caffeine is a drug, a stimulant. It stimulates the cells of the
stomach to produce more acid, the pancreas to
produce more insulin, the adrenals to produce more adrenaline—and
it's addictive. You need to drink more and more to feel the same
effect and when you quit drinking it you can experience withdrawal
symptoms severe head-aches and fatigue.
It takes quite a while for your body to stabilize itself and find
energy through enough sleep, proper diet, and exercise instead
of with an artificial stimulant. Ideally, you should try to stop
drinking coffee altogether, as well as colas and teas that contain
caffeine. Switch to delicious herbal teas. Up until now I haven't
always followed my own advice and while I have greatly reduced
my coffee drinking, there are still some days when I drink one,
maybe two cups of the stuff. I'll join with you this month and
try to cut out caffeine altogether. |
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 Zucchini
Oat-Flake Loaf
Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked rolled oats
5 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup grated Swiss or Cheddar cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup soy meal or 1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons oil
1/ 2 cup toasted sunflower seeds
'A teaspoon nutmeg
Method: Preheat
oven to 575°. Saute onion in oil until soft. Combine with
other ingredients and press into a well-greased loaf pan. Bake
for 50 minutes. Serves 6.
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No-Knead
Oatmeal-Wheat Bread
Ingredients:
2 cakes or 2 tablespoons dried yeast
3 cups milk, scalded, cooled to lukewarm
1/2 cup honey
1/4 Cup of Oil
1/4 cup raisins, seedless
1/4
cup soybeans, roasted, ground
1/2 cup nutritional yeast (optional)
1/2 teaspoon mace, ground
1/2 cup milk powder
5 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups oatmeal
Method:
Soften cake or dried yeast in cup milk combined with honey.
Stir. Let rise and bubble for 10 minutes. Add rest of
milk to oil. Blend in raisins, nutritional yeast, mace,
milk powder. Add softened yeast mixture, then flour and
oats, and blend thoroughly. Dough should be soft to touch
but not too wet. Set bowl of dough in pan of warm water
(85T). Cover with heavy towel. Let rise in warm place
for 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch down. Turn into 2 oiled
bread pans. Cover with towel, set in warm place and let
rise about 45 minutes more. Place bread pans in cold oven,
turn on heat and bake for 15 minutes, letting temperature
rise to 575°; lower to 525° and bake for an additional
40 minutes. Makes 2 loaves.
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Exercise
1:
Toning the Ankles and Calves
Hold on to a chair, table or railing. Stand with your legs wide
apart, feet turned out. The wider the stance, the more benefit
you'll get out of the movement. Bend your knees and lower yourself
so that your buttocks are almost level with your knees. Now
raise your heels as high as you can lift them, then lower them
to the floor. When doing this, don't rush and don't move your
hips—only your heels. Try to keep your hips on a line
with your knees. Continue in a steady tempo until your thigh
muscles burn. Shake your legs out and do it again. Keep trying
to increase the number of repetitions.
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Exercise 2:
Heel Lifts
Get down on your hands and knees, knees about hip-width apart,
hands flat on the floor. Now, straightening your legs, walk your
hands forward and lift up high on your toes, pushing your heels
forward and rolling up as far as you can to the ends of your toes.
Staying in this position, lower your heels to the floor, then
lift them again. Repeat this up-and-down movement in a steady
tempo until you feel fatigue in your calf muscles.
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 Exercise
3:
Hamstring / Achilles' Tendon Stretch
Starting on your hands and knees as in the pre-ceding exercise but
this time with your feet together, walk your hands forward. Press
your left heel into the floor; release it as you press the right
heel into the floor. Continue "walking" this way until
you feel you've gotten a good stretch in your hamstrings. |
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