Eat More Fat

While nuts were once thought of as a dieter's high-fat nightmare, they are now viewed as a healthy component of any diet. From lowering cholesterol to protecting against heart disease and certain cancers, research continues to show that many health benefits can be obtained from eating nuts. Read on to learn about the benefits of eating nuts and how different nut varieties stack up against one another.

Nutrition Facts and Figures
Regardless of the type, all nuts provide the following beneficial nutrients:

The Favorable Fats- Although nuts are high in fat, the majority of the fat is healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fat. Unsaturated fats lower "bad" LDL-cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease. Another benefit of nuts is that they naturally don't contain any cholesterol.

Protein Power- Nuts are one of the best plant sources of protein and can be a great substitute for some of the animal protein in ones diet.

Vitamin E Vitality- Most nuts are high in vitamin E, which is an antioxidant that may help prevent LDL cholesterol from oxidizing. LDL oxidation causes cholesterol to adhere to artery walls and block blood flow. Nuts have more vitamin E than any other food (except for oils).

Fiber- All nuts contain fiber, which can help lower your cholesterol (soluble fiber) and keep you regular (insoluble fiber). Fiber also makes you feel full (aiding in weight loss) and fiber is thought to play a role in preventing diabetes.

Cancer Cutting Compounds- Nuts contain a variety of compounds that may help decrease one’s risk of cancer. They are good sources of various flavonoids, phytochemicals and antioxidants.

Although ALL nuts provide the above health benefits, all nut varieties are not created equal. Below are some of the nutritional differences between the popular varieties of nuts.

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Zen (Cycling) Training

We all know spending hours on the indoor trainer can be more than a little boring. Being the first year on the trainer, I've tried all the usual ways of passing the time. What I have found is the more I try to occupy my mind with things "Not" cycling, the less I am focused on the training itself. I don't suspect this to be a good thing.

Since posture and efficiency are so important, I have been practicing the following.

To help direct my attention to the area I am training, I often use a little Zen to help me stay focused. For example, today's training from RightWay Personal Training involved low cadence intervals and high cadence rest periods.

During the four minute low cadence reps I counted the RPM's of EACH pedal stroke; concentrating on even workloads for each side. During the high cadence periods I concentrated on keeping the upper-body smooth and the lower-body efficiently cruising along.

I will often count my cadence and then spend a minute trying to keep the cadence the same, then count it again to see how I am doing. In this way I hope to teach my body to "feel" it's way into a zone and stay with it. In the meantime my focus is where it needs to be, the energy is being directed to where it should be and the time is ticking away. Before I know it I'm heading into the final minutes of the workout. Zen and the Joyride4Life... Live it...

Information Page

The Joyride4Life

Title sponsor: Joyride Bicycles - Lincoln, NE

Benefiting: Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Friday, April 23rd 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Knickerbockers 9th &"O" Streets - Lincoln
Benefit Concert to include local media.

Saturday, April 24th
The Joyride4Life begins
Large group of riders depart Joyride Bicycles for Fairbury, NE. Local media opportunity.

A network of riders from clubs, bike shops and LiveStrong organizations along the route will organize riders to ride with me day to day, collect donations for The Lance Armstrong Foundation and provide media opportunities to help raise awareness and support.

I will have a number of cycling jerseys for The Joyride4Life. As people donate to the cause they are able to sign the name of a loved one or friend on a jersey and together we will carry our stories over the 21 days and 1,500 miles to California - collecting more donations, signatures and stories along the way.

The Joyride4Life will be followed daily on social media networks Facebook, Twitter, Google Wave, blogs and MySpace. They will be updated several times a day with information about the ride and links to videos posted on YouTube. These videos will help tell the stories of the people we meet along the way. A good example is the 21 year old here in Lincoln recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Print and television news organizations will receive a daily press release as I progress along the route and at least one TV news program in Lincoln will air weekly or biweekly news segments detailing the human interest stories and ways to support The Joyride4Life.

I will arrive in Southern California on Friday, May 14th, 2010.

In addition to the stories of those battling cancer there is my own story of training for, organizing and then riding the Joyride4Life. I am 46 years old, formerly 55 pounds overweight and until August 1st, 2009 had been a smoker of 27 years. It is through cycling that my life has changed dramatically and I hope others will be inspired much in the same way.

Having said that, I only wish to have my personal experience become part of the story in the context that it may give strength or hope to those who can identify with it. I really want this to be about everyone BUT me. About the REAL heroes who fight for their lives each day - facing yet another round of chemo or radiation treatment. I want them to know there are many of us out here pulling for them and that together, one day, one way or another, we will beat this thing called cancer.

Today's Training

Today's RightWay training schedule had me working the big gears at a low-cadence in 3 minute intervals followed by 4 minute, high-cadence rest periods. Total training time was 1 hour, 15 minutes with a total of 5 reps, warm up and cool down. Although I could feel the effects of the big gears burning my legs, it was when I switched to the smaller gears and the high cadence that I felt the lactic acid flowing into my muscles and slowly being dissipated after a minute or so of spinning. OK, at least that's what I think is going on haha... :) Perhaps Marc will be able to explain what was happening. Either way, although my I'm tired, I feel amazing and know I'm getting stronger every day. On the schedule for tomorrow is recovery on the bike and a core workout.

A Sunday ride through the country and training the RightWay

Sunday's Joyride through the rolling hills out by Denton was the strongest I've felt since the end of summer. Seems the indoor training on my CycleOps trainer is starting to pay off. Seven of us began at Joyride Bicycles just after noon and rode 24 miles in about 2 hours. Not the fastest pace but a very good workout nonetheless.

Today I begin my workouts as prescribed by my coach Marc Walter of RightWay Personal Training. I am excited to see what a difference his experience will make in my performance and overall fitness. Soon I will be posting my workout stats and hopefully we will see huge gains in all areas. Today's workout is a simple one hour recovery ride.

Welcome to The Joyride4Life

Welcome to The Joyride4life blog. This is where it will all happen - the training and planning; the place to meet the great people and companies who have committed to making our journey a successful one.

This site will be the "hub" of information for the Joyride4Life. Links to LIVESTRONG to show your support in the fight against cancer; YouTube videos of training, interviews and the ride itself. You will find links to all our sponsors including JOYRIDE Bicycles, Specialized, RightWay Personal Training & many others.

For the next 100 plus days I will be training hard, watching my nutrition, setting up sponsorships and planning every mile of the 1,500 mile ride. Here are some of the things you can expect to find:

Grassroots fund raising-

• Bike shops & individual riders in cities & towns along the route will collect donations and ride along to show their support in the fight against cancer.

• LIVESTRONG Armies, cycling clubs & local organizations will collect donations and ride along to show their support in the fight against cancer.

• With a donation to LIVESTRONG parties may sign the
name of a loved one diagnosed with cancer to one of the jerseys being worn during the ride. A few of the jerseys will be presented at the end of the ride to major supporters / sponsors and others will be auctioned off to support LIVESTRONG.

• Press releases and media opportunities at the end of each day in many of the cities and towns along the way to add awareness and show support to those currently fighting cancer.

• Daily videos posted to YouTube of interviews, human interest stories, great scenery and good times on the road.

• Send-off fund raising concert hosted by Knickerbockers in Lincoln on Friday, April 23rd with live bands to kick the ride off right.

• Rockin fund raising reception in California to cap it all off in style.


So there you have it. A welcome to our joyride4Life and a little info to boot. Tell your friends!

See you on the road-

Tom...

To inquire about sponsorship opportunities or to find out how you can help please contact us at: tom.joyride4life@gmail.com or visit JOYRIDE Bicycles in Lincoln, NE.