Makes: 8 cups
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: at least 45 minutes
Ready in: 50 minutes

Lentil soup

• 1 cup lentils, dry
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 ribs of celery, diced
• 1/2 head of cabbage, sliced into 1 inch chunks
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. basil
• 1 tbsp. oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions: In a large pot, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium high heat and add 1/2 diced onion and 4 cloves minced garlic. Stir frequently to avoid burning. After 1-2 minutes have passed, add your 2 ribs diced celery and 2 diced carrots and cook for an addition 3-4 minutes. Once the onion is tender and/or translucent, add your 1 cup dry lentils

, 4 cups vegetable broth, and 2 cups water. While the soup is coming to a boil, slice your 1/2 head of green cabbage into bite sized chunks and add to the pot. Add your remaining ingredients – 1 tbsp. basil, 1 tbsp. oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for about 30-40 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender.

Vanessa Ferandell received her Master’s degree from Emperor’s College in Traditional Oriental Medicine and Herbology in 2008. Vanessa is a California Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist. She has been licensed for ten years in massage therapy with a specialization in Myofascial Release since 2002. Vanessa received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from California Polytechnic University of Pomona in 2001.

Attending Acupuncture school and being trained in various massage techniques was essential to Vanessa’s integrated approach in delivering healing arts to patients. Some of her focuses are in pain management, gastro intestinal issues, sleeping disorders, and women’s health. She also facilitates the body’s natural healing with Chinese herbal formulas and massage.

Taking the food pyramid and translating it into what goes onto your plate is what Get Your Plate in Shape is all about. It is designed to help teach people about healthy servings. How much is too much? The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases defines the differences between portion and servings, “A ‘portion’ is how much food you choose to eat at one time, whether in a restaurant, from a package, or in your own kitchen. A “serving” size is the amount of food listed on a product’s Nutrition Facts. Sometimes, the portion size and serving size match; sometimes they do not. Keep in mind that the serving size on the Nutrition Facts is not a recommended amount of food to eat. It is a quick way of letting you know the calories and nutrients in a certain amount of food.”

Take into account the following tips to help visualize portion sizes:

Serving Sizes Everyday Objects

¼ cup of raisins or nuts one egg or a golf ball

1 cup of cereal a fist

½ cup of cooked rice, pasta, or potato ½ baseball

1 medium fruit a baseball

2 Tablespoons of peanut butter a ping-pong ball

3 oz meat or chicken deck of cards

Over the course of day, consider eating foods from each food group: vegetables, grains, protein, fruits, and dairies. Half of your plate should consist of vegetables and fruits. Have fun with all that Mother Nature has to offer choosing from dark green, red, and orange vegetables. Fresh and in season are always best, but frozen or canned vegetables and fruits are a great option during the rest of the year. When purchasing the latter make sure that select “reduced sodium” or “no-salt-added” canned vegetables. Similarly when purchasing canned fruits make certain that they are packaged in water or 100% juice.

The other half of your plate should be divided between grains and protein. Consider 100% whole-grains when eating breads, cereals, crackers, pasta, and brown rice. The protein portion should include any of the following each week:  seafood, nuts and beans, lean meat, poultry, and eggs. Dairy is not on this healthy plate but rather on the side. Think about low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese to fill up this side serving.

Eating balanced meals is key to keeping fit, but exercise is equally important. Make sure to get some type of regular exercise daily and you will be on your way to a healthier lifestyle.

Which is your favorite vegetable?

What is Myofascial Release?

Trauma, inflammatory responses, and/or surgical procedures create Myofascial restrictions that can produce muscle or sinew related pain.  Myofascial Release applies gentle sustained pressure into the Myofascial (muscle/sinew) connective tissue to eliminate pain and restore motion.

Exercise physiologist Jason Karp said the first thing is to increase the intensity.

“Instead of just taking a nice stroll in the park on a sunny afternoon, they can mix periods of easy walk with periods of harder walk, and they’re going to rev their metabolism and get a lot more out of it,” Karp said.

Karp is a fan of interval training, utilizing small bouts of increased effort through walking or running with your standard program, but he cautions not to jump out of the gate too fast. He said for a person who has gone 40 years without running, the best way to start is to mix walking and running.

“So maybe they walk for five minutes and run for a minute and walk for five minutes and run for a minute,” Karp said. Over time, decrease walk time and increase run time to see results.

Personal trainer Julia Morichelli says you can also integrate by having a jump rope with you.

“If you see a boxer run, they always have jump ropes with them, and they jump rope in between,” she said. Morichelli is a fan of fitness toys to train the brain and the body. Along with jump rope, move to music as studies show we work harder and longer with tunes we love.

You can also pack a pedometer to monitor steps taken, and then challenge yourself.

“If yesterday you took 2,000 steps, try to increase it by just 500 steps,” Morichelli said.

Exercise tubing is also easy to tote, and it’s good for muscle conditioning during intervals to rev up the system. “The more muscles that you use during the workout, the more calories you’re going to burn and ultimately the more fat you’re going to lose,” Karp said.

And don’t discount those funny looking Nordic Poles that burn on average 20 percent more calories along with creating more movement.

“A lot of times putting that pole is forcing us into spinal rotation, and that’s probably the most important thing,” Morichelli said.

Where you walk and the way you walk also makes a difference. Morichelli suggests walking at the beach one day if you can, then at the mountains another day.

Then be mindful of rolling from heel all the way through to your toe with an exaggerated effort to get your glutes engaged, which can help take stress off your knees.

“When you’re pushing off the heel, you’re going to engage the glute — more than the fancy schmancy funny sneakers out there,” Morichelli said.

Finally, remember that you have to up your game periodically, and be progressive in your approach.

“We become much more efficient with the activity, so that’s why some people don’t see results because they do the same thing over and over and over again for month after month after month,” Karp said.

For more information about Walgreens’ Walking Program visit www.walgreens.com/walk.