Coffee Will Save Your Life - Really!

More great news for all of us coffee drinkers! The latest really big, really prestigious study on the health effects of coffee concluded that coffee drinkers are a little bit more likely to live longer. And a little bit more likely is good enough for me!

The study of 400,000 people is the largest ever done on this issue and was headed up by some pretty heavy hitters - the lead researcher is a scientist at the National Cancer Institute and the study was performed by the National Institutes of Health and AARP and reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.

So what was the most surprising conclusion of this huge study conducted by these prestigious scientists? No one knows what it is about coffee that's good for you! And don't say it must be the caffeine because caffeine wasn't the focus of the study.

The specific results? Compared to those who drank no coffee, men who had two or three cups a day were 10 percent less likely to die at any age. For women, it was 13 percent. And even a single cup a day seemed to lower risk a little: 6 percent in men and 5 percent in women. The strongest effect was in women who had four or five cups a day. They had a 16 percent lower risk of death!

And what kind of diseases can coffee protect you against? The study showed that coffee drinkers were less likely to die from heart or respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, injuries, accidents or infections. Yes - it even lowers the risk of accidental death!

Now before you get too coffee crazy, just be aware - the study didn't actually prove that coffee drinkers live longer. Just that there is a positive relationship between drinking coffee and living longer. Again, not too scientific but good enough for me.

The only cautions for coffee drinkers - easy on the sugar and cream as too much of these can negate the positive effects of coffee. And drink filtered coffee rather than boiled as filtering removes compounds that can raise bad cholesterol.

Having said all of that, I think I'll do something healthy for myself and go have some coffee!



© Kim Selzman 2012 All Rights Reserved

I Heart Almond Milk

I like to keep my Tennis Fixation fans in tip-top shape so here's a quick tip on how to reduce calories while still enjoying your morning cup of joe.

It's no secret that I'm a huge coffee fan. I think this is evidenced by the many times I've posted about it on this supposedly tennis blog. And I take my coffee with milk which means that I probably drink 1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk each day just based on my coffee consumption.

Well, somehow I got it in my head that I needed to cut back on dairy. I'm sure you've all heard the same "rumors" I've heard - reducing dairy will help you cut calories, give you luminous skin and make you feel much less phlegm-y (assuming that is a word or a condition). Thinking I needed to try some alternatives to my morning skim milk, I first gave soy milk a whirl. But the taste was too strong and definitely not a good substitute for skim milk. I went back to dairy for a while. After a few months, I decided to put almond milk to the test. And now it has become my go-to coffee additive. Here's why I like almond milk:

1. It does not have the strong flavor that soy milk seems to have. That is assuming you get an unflavored and unsweetened variety as almond milk, like soy milk, comes in plain, vanilla and chocolate and can be sweetened or unsweetened. And that is also assuming you get the "Almond Breeze" brand, pictured in the photo above. I have tried other brands and have found that some have a stronger taste than others. I've settled on "Almond Breeze" as the least detectable flavor.

2. It has a lot less calories than milk - even less than skim milk! While a cup of skim milk has 90 calories, which seems pretty low, a cup of unsweetened almond milk has only 40 calories. So follow me here as I prove that almond milk is the miracle diet I've been looking for:

• If I am drinking 1/2 cup of milk in my coffee each day, that's 3 1/2 cups per week.
• If I use skim milk in my coffee, at 90 calories per cup, that adds up to 315 calories per week.
• If I switch to almond milk, at 40 calories per cup, it's only 140 calories per week.
• That's a savings of 175 calories each week.
• And that adds up to a savings of 9,100 calories each year!
• You have to burn 3,500 calories to burn a pound of fat.
• So, theoretically, I can lose 2.6 pounds in a year simply by switching to almond milk.
• Theoretically.

There's probably more to it than that but is sounds good, doesn't it? If you're switching to almond milk to reduce your calories, just make sure you get the unsweetened, unflavored variety. You can see in the photo above that the "Almond Breeze" carton has "unsweetened" and "40 calories" printed on it - be sure and check the calorie count on your almond milk.

3. Almond milk lasts a long time. This is a pretty big  deal in my house as I'm the primary user of milk. I used to find that my skim milk often went bad before I used it up. I switched to organic skim milk because, besides being better for me, it has a longer refrigerator life than non-organic skim milk, maybe 4 to 5 weeks. But I find that almond milk has an ever longer refrigerator life - something like 7 to 8 weeks, meaning I never throw it out and can actually stock up.

I should probably warn those of you who take your coffee with regular milk or even cream - if you hate skim milk in your coffee, almond milk is probably not going to make you happy. It really does not have the richness you're looking for. But as someone who switched to skim milk long, long ago, I am very happy with my new friend - almond milk. And when the pounds start melting away, I'll be ecstatic!




© Kim Selzman 2012 All Rights Reserved

Halloween Tennis Breakfast: Vanilla Pumpkin Smoothie

The perfect tennis breakfast to celebrate Halloween - the Vanilla Pumpkin Smoothie! A smoothie is a great pre-match breakfast because its very portable and won't make you feel too full when you're starting up your match.

Besides being the vegetable of choice at Halloween, pumpkins are low in calories, high in anti-oxidants and filled with Vitamin A. And, with the approach of the holiday season, you've probably noticed canned pumpkin filling your grocer's shelves. I based this on a recipe I found on the lululemon blog for a pumpkin spice protein smoothie, but I tweaked it a little to make it my own. I put it through the recipe calculator at myfitnesspal.com and came up with a calorie count of only 141 calories! So buy a can of pumpkin and give this delicious smoothie a try:

VANILLA PUMPKIN SMOOTHIE

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla-flavored almond milk (you can also substitute soy or skim milk)
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Truvia (or 1 Tablespoon light agave syrup)
cinnamon
nutmeg

In a blender, combine pumpkin, almond milk, banana, vanilla extract and Truvia. Blend until well-combined. Pour into serving glass and top with a light sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg. Enjoy!



Don't forget to enter the Tennis Fixation October giveaway for a super cute pink polo from 4allbyjofit. Click on this link - October's Go Pink 4all Giveaway! - to go to the post with all of the details.




© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved

Tennis Breakfast On The Go

Remember how I was looking for a great tennis breakfast to get me through my morning matches and I thought oatmeal was the answer? (You can check it all out in this post - Searching For The Perfect Tennis Breakfast.) Well, just two days later, I got several coupons in my newspaper to try out McDonald's Fruit & Maple Oatmeal. For free! I knew this could not be a coincidence. I mean how likely is it that I'm going to write about oatmeal and then get coupons for free oatmeal?

So I headed to McDonald's yesterday morning to put their supposedly healthy oatmeal to the test. My conclusion - I liked it! It comes in a sealed cup with a spoon so there's no mess involved. Here's the pic of the actual oatmeal I received taken inside my actual messy car:

Obviously, you're not going to eat this while you're driving. Inside that cup you get warm oatmeal, sweetened with brown sugar and topped with raisins, dried cranberries and chopped apples. Again, a photo of the actual stuff:

The calorie count is 290 (with the brown sugar, 260 without) and its pretty darn tasty. I can see myself stopping by McDonald's for Fruit & Maple Oatmeal on my way to a match and eating it once I got there. This would be much better for me than some of the other pre-match breakfasts I have had when I've been in a morning rush (pretzels and M&Ms comes to mind).

My conclusion - McDonald's Fruit & Maple Oatmeal qualifies as a great tennis breakfast.




© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved

Tennis Breakfast: Banana & Coffee Smoothie!

My new mission is to find tasty and nutritious breakfast foods that I can eat in a hurry on my way to my morning tennis matches. And my latest is a real winner (to throw in some tennis lingo). I came across a recipe for a Banana & Coffee Breakfast Smoothie in the March 2011 issue of Health magazine. I've been playing around with it and have come up with what I consider to be the perfect Tennis Fixation version.

Here's the recipe:







BANANA & COFFEE SMOOTHIE

1/2 cup cold coffee (save some in the morning)
1 cup skim milk
1 banana, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon agave syrup sweetener
4 to 5 ice cubes

Combine all of these ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into your roadie cup and enjoy!

Note: To get the best coffee for this smoothie, pour off the first cup from your morning coffee and save it for later. Do NOT use the old coffee left at the end of the pot that has been cooking on the coffee pot warmer all morning - this coffee will taste burned and make your smoothie pretty much undrinkable. I speak from experience.

Now, if you're not a coffee drinker, this smoothie is going to taste a little harsh to you. But if you're into coffee, and especially if you'd like a cheaper version of a Starbucks frappuccino, you'll love this.

So what's the calorie count on this? I put this recipe into the recipe calculator at www.myfitnesspal.com and came up with a figure of 268 calories for the whole thing. I think that sounds pretty good! And since I'm such a nut for coffee (as evidenced by all of the coffee posts here on Tennis Fixation), this is the kind of smoothie I can see myself having at snack time too.

Give it a try and tell me what you think!




© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved

Searching For The Perfect Tennis Breakfast

I was playing a match yesterday and serving to win the first set tiebreaker, my team being up 6-4 (a first to 7 tiebreaker). I faulted my first serve and was bouncing the ball to take my second serve when I suddenly thought, "I'm really hungry!" Not where will I put this serve. Not how much spin should I put on this. Not even be calm and play out each point. No, I was thinking how I hoped we won the tiebreaker so I could go see if there was a banana on the snack table.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is not what you need to have running through your mind when you are serving out the first set tiebreaker.

After we won that point (Yay!), and the tiebreaker, I found a banana, wolfed it down, and then went on, with my partner, to win the second set 6-2, and thus the whole match (of course, I'm going to throw that in there).

But my point here is - I think I need to come up with a better breakfast option for myself, especially on match days, so that I'm not just adding to my problems on the court by suddenly focusing on the need for food instead of the need to play out my match.

This morning was my first attempt at that. Just see the lovely photo above. This is a warm bowl of steel cut oatmeal with a little soy butter and soy milk mixed in, and topped with blueberries and cinnamon. Doesn't that sound good? Kind of bed-and-breakfast-y? I think the only thing that might have made this a bit more healthy and protein-ish was if I had mixed in some almonds or pecans but I didn't have any that weren't salted.

Here's my whole breakfast, including my Tinker Bell coffee mug:

And here's a shot of that mug, Front:

And Back:

The good news is that my family is beyond thinking that it is weird that I am taking pictures of oatmeal.

So I ate this breakfast at 8:00 a.m. (later than I usually eat), had a lesson at 9:00 a.m., did some errands, came home, and didn't feel hungry until about 11:30 a.m. Thus, the steel cut oatmeal breakfast lasted me about 3 1/2 hours. I think that's pretty good and I will use this breakfast on match days for awhile.

Do you have great breakfast suggestions? Let me know what you eat to make it through your matches.




© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved