Egg Season
I am what you might call…egg-centric. Some of you know me pretty well and might take that as a play on words. It could be easily argued that at times, I am eccentric. Or just crazy.
I’ll let you debate that around the dinner table. This time, however, I’m talking about eggs. I eat a lot of eggs.
I am certainly a fan of donuts, biscuits, scones, bagels, pancakes and waffles. Did I leave a breakfast carb out? French toast? Banana bread? I love them all. But I can’t eat them all every day. (For those of you who wonder…that’s why I’m not 500 pounds.) Eggs, though – those I can eat just about every day. I eat them boiled, fried, scrambled, quiched, frittata’d or casseroled. I’d even eat ‘em poached if I could do it without making egg drop soup in the process.
Of course, it’s mostly chicken eggs I’m dealing with, but every now and then something else comes along. One of my regular egg suppliers has a duck on her farm, and she brought me a half dozen duck eggs to try. Every now and then a quail egg will show up on a menu. This time of year, however, it’s a different animal providing the eggs. For a few weeks in the spring, I’m focused on bunny eggs.
It’s a conspiracy, I’m certain. You walk into any major grocery store - even some quick marts - and you know Easter is coming. First it’s the old standby Reese’s eggs in the yellow package. Otherwise known as the Reese’s Oval. It could be a football (and I’ve seen that once). Could be a watermelon, an avocado, or a giant Jordan almond. But it’s Easter, so we’ll go with egg. Then the Cadbury eggs trickle in by the truckloads. I’m sure it was a month ago that my mother brought me a six-pack of those. (I shared with my work colleagues. Again, not 500 pounds.)
They put the Reese’s by the register: the ultimate impulse buy. It’s just a little egg, right? And they are limited editions - no more Reese’s shapes until Halloween. The Cadburys go in a box you can rummage through to make sure you get one that hasn’t oozed or been oozed upon. (Sorry for that image - just keeping it real.)
As Easter gets closer, the varieties show up. The white chocolate Reese’s egg. The chocolate and caramel-filled Cadburys. Oh, look! Lindt took their milk chocolate Lindor truffle and made an egg out of it! I bet it’s so much better in an egg shape! I must have a six-pack to know for sure! Then, I suppose because they couldn’t let the Brits get the best of them, Reese’s comes out with a peanut butter egg that actually looks and feels like an egg. I must admit I am partial to these. However, each variety does have a different peanut butter to chocolate ratio, so my choice depends somewhat on the kind of mood I’m in, and somewhat on which store I’m in.
I haven’t even mentioned the bagged and boxed candy yet. There’s a smaller Reese’s egg, to begin with. I also came across a bag of small Hershey’s chocolate eggs with pretzel pieces - those were yummy. The Wife brought home a bag of pastelcolored malted milk eggs a few days ago for decorative purposes. Said they looked perfect in some fake bird’s nest that temporarily lives in our guest bath. Or dining room. They look so real I can’t tell. But she didn’t need them all, so I proceeded to eat most of the rest.
I haven’t fully explored the boxes with the large chocolate animals and apparent ostrich eggs, but I do love me a Reester Bunny, and I have my eye on a few more. The ginormous Reese’s egg is almost over the top. (I know, I’m weak.) Perhaps the peanut butter outweighs the chocolate just a little too much with that one. Perhaps I need to try another to make sure.
It wouldn’t be fair to do a survey of Easter candy without mentioning Peeps. Sure, Peeps appear at other holidays now, which doesn’t make any sense it all, but there you go. Rabbits delivering eggs doesn’t make sense, either. Today we’ve gone way beyond the traditional yellow Peeps - now we’ve got flavors and colors galor. I even saw a package of “Mystery Flavor” Peeps. It makes you wonder. Well, it probably doesn’t make YOU wonder. But it makes ME wonder. What flavor is an original Peep, anyway? (Dare I say, “tastes like chicken”?) And did the Peeps hatchery develop a mystery flavor for some reason, or did someone just forget what button they pushed?
If you check the Oreo department as regularly as I do, you may have noticed there is currently an Oreo option with
Exercise takes several forms with several benefits. We’re going to look at 3 main types of exercise today and why they’re important. And…
I’ll have to be honest with you…I only like one of them! The other 2 are not fun to me and I really dislike doing them! But, I understand, for my body, why they’re important for my present day and long term health.
If you’re like most people, let’s face it, you don’t like exercise and don’t want to do it. I understand. It pushes your body to uncomfortable levels. Why would any sane person do that?! I want you to understand (or just trust me) that you’re going to feel better in the long run. The other thing I want you to see is that there may be some form of exercise that you actually like! Let’s look at 3 main types and go from there.
1. Cardio Training – This is the one I like. I can’t tell you why I like it or even admit that I like it all the time (because I don’t), but it is the type of exercise that comes easy to me. This type of exercise is usually what people think of when they picture exercise – it’s getting that heart pumping consistently for a determined length of time. This, like some of the other types, helps with lowering heart disease risk, blood pressure, and cholesterol to name a few perks. I ran crosscountry in high school but I wouldn’t say I was a consistent runner. What really had the biggest impact for me was when I was a first year medical student and my dad, at age 53, had a triple bypass. I knew enough medicine at the time to know that put me at significant risk of heart disease at an earlier age than the general population. I knew cardio-exercise could help that, so I started running. The more I ran, the more I enjoyed it. For any of you out there who have felt that endorphin rush after finishing a run, you know what I’m talking about! It’s addicting! If you give this type of exercise a try, start out slow. The last thing you want is an injury to set you back. Once you’re consistent, start pushing yourself. Any time it hurts, translate that in your head to getting healthier!
2. Strength Training – I don’t like this one…never have. Now, alternatively, I know some folks (and you probably do too) who love this type of exercise. These are your classic ‘gym rats’. They love strength training and are in the gym every chance they get. Maybe this is an area that you’ll love once you give it a try! Your muscle strength peaks somewhere usually between your 20s and 40s then declines over time. Everyone has what is called their ‘muscle bank’. This is the muscle reserve you have going in to older ages. With strength training, you can impact the amount you bank up before your strength starts declining and, as you get older, as you continue to consistently strength train, you can lower the rate of your muscle loss! Why is this important? Well, I’ll name a couple of things – one, it’ll keep your bones stronger and, two, your balance will be better as you grow older. Even just these two things will keep you out of the hospital more, especially in those elder years. You should shoot for strength training at least 2-3 times per week to gain these advantages. I, for example, shoot for twice a week. If I ever get to where I like it, I may bump up to three times per week!...Maybe…;)
3. Interval Training – This one has become popular recently. You may have heard it called High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT. It has been shown to have all, if not more, of the benefits seen with cardio training but you don’t have to commit as much time to it! Our nature is to look for the easiest way to get something done and move on, so that’s a major part of the appeal here. Here’s the flip side, though – it’s painful! I, for example, do sprints for my HIIT. If I’m running out on the road, I’ll sprint as fast as I can from one light pole to the next then jog or walk to the next pole and so on and so on until I have done 10 sprints. Interval training is basically trying to push your body in to an anaerobic (oxygen deficient) state and that’s where you get
the benefits. You really only have to do this once a week to possibly see some health benefit. Also, a warning about injuries: since you’re moving like you stole something or a lion’s after you, there’s a significantly higher chance for an injury. Think about it. The last time you ran this fast was playing kickball in grade school!
As you read through all three of these, I hope there’s something that interests you – especially if you aren’t exercising at all at this point. None of these interest you? Go to your local gym and see what they have to offer. They usually have all kinds of classes and such that cover these 3 general areas of training. At the end of the day, the important thing is to get out there and start doing something. Something is better than nothing and you’ll just have to believe me that you’ll flat
out feel better for it! No matter how small your starting goal, I’m here to give you an imaginary high-five – you can do it!