Best Foods & Fitness Matchups

It’s a common problem: You’re going for the final stretch, looking for that extra push to

help you burn just a few more calories, but suddenly you’re out of gas. You’re not alone.

“The muscles maximally absorb nutrients from food during the first 30 minutes after a

workout,” says Roberta Anding, M.S., R.D., national spokesperson for the American Dietetic

Association.

What to do? Fuel up with the right stuff before you hit the gym, and don’t forget a

recovery meal post-workout. Try one of these winning combinations before your next

workout, and see if you don’t find that extra oomph you’ve been missing.

Weight Training + Protein: Combining a high-protein diet with strength training can help

dieters lose more weight — and you lose fat, not muscle. Protein not only builds muscles but

it also helps repair them after a workout. “The winning combination is typically four grams of

carbs for every one gram of protein (think skim chocolate milk, energy bars, a turkey

sandwich on whole wheat),” says Anding.

Long Distance Running + Carbohydrates: For long workouts, the performance edge goes

to people who have the most glycogen (the stored form of carbohydrates). When you eat

pasta or other starchy food, the body converts those carbohydrates into muscle glycogen for

fuel. Hence the reason marathoners “carbo-load” the night before a big race. The trouble

comes in when you eat more carbs than you need, because unused carbs can also be

stored as fat!

Aerobics, Kickboxing and Spinning + Fat: For activities that involve repetitive joint action,

monounsaturated fats from fish, nuts, seeds and canola, olive and peanut oils can help

lubricate the joints while also providing high-quality protein to power you through a workout.

An added bonus: These fats also reduce post workout soreness and stiff muscles.

Yoga and Pilates + Complex Carbohydrates: The fiber from whole grains and vegetables

slows the digestion of food, allowing your body more time to absorb critical nutrients. And

since most yoga and Pilates classes require fasting for two hours before class, the long

lasting effects of fiber will help sustain you through a few hours without food.

NIBBLES AND SIPS

Tomatoes Take Over Menus All Over Columbia

Restaurants Highlight Tasty Produce In Advance of Festival

By April Blake
Thursday, July 10, 2014

- See more at: http://www.free-times.com/blogs/071014tomatoes-take-over-menus-all-over-columbia

If you think you’re seeing red this coming week, it’s due to the impending Tasty Tomato Restaurant Feast that starts July 11 and runs through the July 18. Thirty local restaurants are offering specials that feature the red, or yellow, or green, or hell, even purple, summer orb in a variety of dishes. Offerings include a breakfast special from Drip on Main that combines Wil-Moore Farms scrambled eggs with fresh City Roots tomatoes, spring onions, garlic, and capers on an English muffin; or, for lunch, the coffee shop's take on the classic caprese salad drizzled with a housemade spicy olive oil. Keeping with the Italian tradition of serving plenty of tomatoes, Il Giorgione is including tomatoes in every course, from a bruschetta appetizer to the spaghetti sciue’ sciue’ to salumi e formaggi, aka the Italian cold cut and cheese plate, alongside pickled green tomatoes. Columbia’s newest health food restaurant, Black Bean Company, is even getting in on the action with its honey turkey bacon club wrap with fresh roma tomatoes. The Restaurant Feast is a prelude to the Tasty Tomato Festival, which will be held on July 19 at City Roots. For more information on the Tasty Tomato Restaurant Feast or the festival, check out tastytomatofestival.com. The calendar of specials that will be available at the restaurants is getting updated daily. - See more at: http://www.free-times.com/blogs/071014tomatoes-take-over-menus-all-over-columbia

Getting To Know Your Neighbors Creates Community

In our fast-paced, stress-filled world we often don't create the opportunities that we need 

in order to get to know our neighbors. In days past, good neighbor relations were the staple 

of every strong community. Being able to share life's experiences, both good and bad, with 

those who live so close to us was once considered one of life's greatest blessings. 

 These days it is the exception rather than the rule to take the time to create strong 

relationships with the people we share our community with...and we are each the poorer 

because of it. Each one of us has a story to tell, a hand to lend, a laugh to share, and 

friendship to give. What keeps us from extending so much of ourselves to the families that 

live around our own may be those same things that prevent us from experiencing many of 

the great blessings of our parents or of our youth: A changing world that focuses more on the 

individual than the family and the need to remain isolated in order to feel "safe and secure." 

 Someone once said, "If you always do the things you did, you'll always get the things you 

got." If we want to grow as a community then we have to risk breaking free from the bonds of 

isolation that are so easily created by and for us. We must reach out to our neighbors and let 

them know that they matter and that we care. If we do that, even in the most seemingly 

insignificant of ways - like a wave as we pass on the street - then we are moving toward a 

better community and a better way to live. 

 Just because our culture has pushed us away from ourselves doesn't mean it is right, 

it just means that we have to work that much harder in order to reconnect with one another 

and create a better environment in which to live.

How We Can Create A Strong Community

A hive of bees is a perfect example of a community working together in harmony and for the 

common good of all its members. After all, a bee living alone can barely survive, let alone 

prosper. But in a hive made up of hundreds of other bees, each taking responsibility for the 

various jobs necessary for the survival of the community, the lone bee not only survives, it 

contributes mightily to the success of the hive. The secret of the bee's success in living together in a close-knit community is that each bee not only understands the inter-relationships that exist between it and the rest of the members of its community, but it is willing to accept its role in the community whenever necessary. 

We too can choose to recognize the inter-relationships that exist between ourselves and our neighbors and how those inter-relationships have a direct impact on our quality of life. We can also choose to take some of the responsibility upon ourselves to contribute to improving those relationships and in the process improve our community. 

In order for our community to continue to protect, preserve and enhance our quality of life, each member of our community has to acknowledge their role in our community and, at times, be willing to expand their role to take on some added responsibility.  For example: We all must obey our governing documents. By obeying community rules and regulations, we contribute to our community and accept the role of a rule abiding member.  We also have the opportunity to attend our monthly  WCCAC meetings in order to better understand the business decisions made by the Board.  When we choose to attend those meetings, our role as a rule abiding, voting member now expands to include that of a participating member.

So, let's all work at recognizing what roles we can choose to accept in our community and, 

like the bee, work together at making our community the best place to live!