Poll: Which inner voice carries the most weight when you’re deciding what to eat?

Last month’s poll

Our last poll asked the question, How do you like your bananas? We had 67 voters in total: 6% never eat bananas, 72% prefer their bananas au natural (peeled and eaten plain), and 22% like to mix and mash them into other foods. Bananas are such a classic standby and they are a major player in a lot of healthy/healthified recipes. Go bananas!

This month’s poll

Yesterday afternoon I got to spend a lovely hour with my nutritionist Nicole. We have so much fun together! I could rave about her and our discussion, but suffice it to say that I really enjoy our appointments.

Right now, we’re trying to work on bringing awareness to my emotional relationship with food. I (and, Nicole pointed out, nearly everyone) have control issues and mine tend to gravitate towards food and exercise. When I become depressed or stressed out, I use food and exercise as a release. We talked about how this is not a bad thing: it is simply that I need to be aware of when I am turning to food or exercise to deal with something, and that I need to identify my mood at the time and figure out what the root cause is. Then I can work on changing perspective. Instead of using exercise to burn calories, for example, I should look at it as a way to burn off the extra energy and emotion that has built up.

Most of the time, these days, I’m already doing that. But talking to Nicole reaffirmed this and I’m going to work on it even more. Unless I can fully comprehend and deal with my relationship with food and exercise, it will be too easy to slip back into negative reasoning and thought processes.

This brings me to this month’s poll. Today’s question is rather a tricky one, but I’d love it if you all take the time to think about it and give the best answer you can! Nicole gave me a worksheet which describes the different “voices” going on in our bodies when we are making a food choice. Although there are usually many factors involved (we’re all about a holistic approach!), sometimes it’s one voice that crops up more often than the others. These are the basic voices from her worksheet:

1. Emotions: “Oh, I want that… I’m craving this… I must have that…”

2. The Mind: “I should eat that… I deserve to eat that… It’s not that bad…”

3. Tastebuds: “Oh, that would be tasty…”

4. The Inner Wisdom of your Body: “I know what would benefit me right now…”

Which voice tends to be the most dominant when you make your food choices? I think that my thought process, over the years, has gone, in general, from the Emotions (when I was a child) to the Mind (when my food issues first began) to the current Inner Wisdom, with bits of Tastebuds spattered throughout. I am not quite at the height of following my intuition as much as I would like to be, so that is my new challenge! Awareness is fundamental to everything that we do, so heightening and tweaking my awareness with intuitive eating is perfect.

Leave a comment below telling me about your thoughts on intuitive eating and to elaborate on your answer from the poll. I can’t wait to hear all of your opinions on this subject and your experiences with these kinds of struggles.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for The Flat Belly Diet Cookbook!

Poll: How do you like your bananas?

Last month’s poll

Last month we discussed ingredient lists which, truth be told, are a favourite subject of mine (as you probably already know if you’re a regular reader around here!). I’m ecstatic to report that out of 35 voters, 71% always read the front of the package, the nutrition facts table, and the ingredient list! 26% sometimes check the ingredient list, 3% don’t really care what’s in their food, and 0% say that they trust the nutrition claims made on the front packaging of food products.

Obviously, with the demographic of readers we have here, as always the results are going to be heavily skewed. But it is so nice to see such a high percentage of people reading ingredient lists. I fully support not trusting major food corporations, until those food manufacturers smarten up and start caring about our health rather than solely about making a profit.

This month’s poll

This week while I was studying researching procrastinating, I came across this post at The Delicious about bananas. It occurred to me that Sarah is onto something: no one really seems to “like” bananas.

I eat bananas in some form nearly every day. But I never eat just a banana. No. It’s mixed into oatmeal. It’s smeared with nut butter. It’s turned into bread or muffins. It’s used as a substitute for fats in baking. It’s tossed into smoothies. It’s sandwiched between a couple slices of bread or rolled inside a tortilla or pita. But to take it along with me as a snack, all by its lonesome? Preposterous!

Bananas are a fantastic source of nutrition, and as Sarah pointed out, just about any home will have a lonely bunch hanging from a basket in the kitchen. But who eats them? And how do they get eaten? Does anyone really care for bananas when they aren’t combined with something else? I’m interested to know.

That is our (very profound, thought-provoking, and deeply philosophical) question for this month’s poll! What’s your opinion on bananas? When I went to Cambodia, we made banana flower salad and used banana leaves to create cups. A woman I met there knew all about the fruit because she owned a banana plantation in the Caribbean. Bananas are a great source of vitamin B6 (vegans, are you listening? :)). All around, they’re a pretty great fruit!

The World’s Healthiest Foods website- one of my favourite resources to learn about nutrition- talks all about the health benefits of bananas if you’re interested in reading more.

Speaking of the World’s Healthiest Foods website, I’m thinking about writing a separate blog post for every food on the website, to spread the awareness about the nutrients in each of these foods and to post a recipe for each. Let me know if that’s something you’d all be interested in reading more about! I would probably pick a different food each week so that one out of every three blog posts would be featuring a World’s Healthiest Food (the other two posts each week would be regular Living Healthy articles).

Leave your opinions about the World’s Healthiest Foods idea or about your thoughts on bananas in the comments!

You still have a few days left to enter my giveaway for Mimi Spencer’s 101 Things to Do Before You Diet, too.

Poll: Do you read ingredient lists?

Yesterday, on Day Three of the Vegan Challenge, I ate:

– Chocolate banana milkshake (1 frozen banana, 1 cup unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze, dash of cinnamon, a sprinkle each of wheat germ and flaxseed meal) and 1/2 cherry pie Larabar

– Ants on a log! (4 stalks of celery with 2 tbsp peanut butter and 2 tbsp raisins)

– Salad with romaine lettuce, spinach, hummus, 1/2 an apple, cucumber, tomato, bean sprouts, broccoli, radishes

– About a cup of spaghetti squash with marinara sauce (diced tomatoes with herbs/garlic)

– Carrot sticks and 1/2 an apple

– 2 big bowls of oil-popped/air-popped popcorn dusted with salt (I tried to make oil-popped, but I failed miserably, so I turned to the air popper instead) and a spoonful of peanut butter with raisins

Last month’s poll

Last month we talked about whether five pounds makes that much of a difference. The results are in! We had 57 total voters. 21% say that gaining or losing five pounds affects them mentally; 4% feel physically affected, 4% say that it doesn’t affect them at all, and a whopping 72% report that five pounds affects them both physically and mentally. It looks as though a little bit of weight loss or gain goes a long way.

This month’s poll

I came this close to messing up with eating vegan on Day One! The culprit was tea. Yes, tea. At work we have a big pot of tea that brews all day long. Sometimes I bring in my own tea, but usually we drink the kind that happens to be in the drawer at work: Tetley Honey Lemon Ginseng green tea. There I am on my first day of being vegan, eating my vegan calzone at work, and I pour myself a mug of tea. Then I realized that- of course!- it’s honey green tea. And sure enough, when I double-checked the ingredients list, there’s “natural honey flavour” in it. Back that tea went into the pot: not a drop passed my lips. It seems as though struggling with the possibilities for accidentally eating food with animal ingredients might be one of my biggest problems over the next few weeks!

I’ve had to look at all kinds of labels. The cocoa powder I usually use in baking, for example, is processed in a factory with eggs, whey, and dairy. I had a terrible time trying to find a vegan lip balm- even the VitaHealth store, which is where I found my vegan toothpaste/tooth floss/mouthwash, did not have a vegan lip balm- but Lush came to the rescue. Their None Of Your Beeswax vegan lip balm smells great and is almost as good as Burt’s Bees (and that’s saying a lot ;)).

Every time I go grocery shopping, I read the ingredients lists on all the products I’m considering buying. Even bottles of lemon juice can have all kinds of weird stuff in them. I don’t trust nutrition labels even if they say “100% real ___” on them; I still double check the ingredients list just to be on the safe side.

How often do you read ingredient lists? Do you know what’s really in the food you eat? Do you trust the nutrition labels or do you care what is in the product? Do you read the ingredient lists on products such as toothpaste and lip balm? Do you know what half of those ingredients even are? Please answer the poll below!

There’s no time like the present to start reading ingredients lists, no matter what the item is. It’s time we educated ourselves.

Poll: The Difference of Five Pounds

Last month’s poll

Last month we discussed the different diets that we have all tried. We had 103 votes: 26% have tried low fat, 25% have tried low carb, 21% have tried vegetarian, 12% have tried vegan, 9% have tried raw food, 2% have tried paleo, and 5% have tried another kind of diet not listed. The range just goes to show that we have a huge amount of options to choose from!

This month’s poll

After remaining at exactly the same weight for about a year now, going up or down only about a pound on occasion, I have gained five pounds in the past two months. It’s not muscle, either: exercising considerably less (someone please kick my butt into strength training!) but still eating the same amount that I did while participating in boot camp naturally leads to weight gain.

Realistically, I know that five pounds is nothing. Five pounds extra is still healthy. Five pounds less would be vanity weight. It’s not changing my athletic abilities or hindering my lifestyle at all. And I’m pretty sure that I’m the only person who can actually see that I’ve gained five pounds.

But a few pounds really does make a difference. One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed is that the extra five pounds is actually keeping me warmer. It might be August, but it still feels as though it’s spring in my city. Even on the cooler days when it’s raining the way it was all last week, I haven’t felt nearly as miserably chilly as I normally would. I’ve actually been able to function in the cooler weather. For the past year whenever it’s been cold I have just curled up and been grumpy and unable to do anything except shiver and complain.

Maybe it isn’t really physical. Maybe five pounds doesn’t make that much of a difference physically, and my new-found tolerance to the cold is actually a state of mind. Personally I doubt that it’s purely mental but I’m sure that a big part of it is. Read any magazine and it will tell you how to drop five or ten pounds, but if you are already a healthy weight, what is five pounds going to do?

Reading Spring Girl’s post last week, this paragraph jumped out at me:

A few months back I’d played with a friend’s bio electrical impedance scale so I had an idea of where I was at then and where I should be now. I was horrified to discover that the fat percentage had remained the same. Instantly I felt huge, like I’d just gained back about 5kg as the number flashed up in front of me. As soon as I got home I had to try on my measuring pants. They still fit, but that doubt that I am fat didn’t.

I think that if the clothes still fit, we’re probably doing alright. If we’re exercising regularly and eating fairly healthy, then what do a few pounds mean? This is why it can be dangerous to use any kind of measuring device besides our clothes. We rely too much on the “science” and not about how we actually look and feel (measuring devices can also be faulty, muscle weighs more than fat, and our weight can fluctuate by five pounds in one day. What I’m talking about here, however, is if we set aside those potentially contributing factors).

On the other hand, losing five pounds can decrease your risk of diseases by 25-50% (presumably this is if you are overweight), which would lead to the conclusion that a few pounds does make a physical difference. What do you think? Does losing or gaining five pounds make a physical difference, a mental difference, or both? Answer the poll and elaborate in the comments!

Poll: What kind of lifestyle diets have you tried?

Understanding nutrition labels

I’m writing about analyzing the rhetoric behind nutrition labels on food products over at Living Rhetorically in the Real World. Check it out to learn how to decipher labels and to offer your input about your frustrations with the sneaky marketing tricks used in our grocery stores!

Giveaway winner

I’m happy to announce that the winner of the Zhena’s Gypsy Tea giveaway is… Spring Girl! Congratulations! E-mail me your mailing address and I’ll contact the company with your info so they can send your tea to you.

Last month’s poll

Last month we discussed our differing opinions regarding taking medication and/or supplements. Of 40 voters, 3% take drugs as soon as they get the sniffles, 30% take them because they’ve been prescribed something special by a doctor, 48% only take them when they’re very seriously ill, and 20% take all-natural supplements or vitamins on a regular basis. I thought that many more would say that they take meds or supplements regularly, but it’s good to know that we’re mostly relying on food as our sources of nutrition. I firmly believe that diet alone can make a drastic difference in our immune system- it won’t be able to do it every time, but the majority of the time, what you eat is going to have a huge impact on your state of health.

This month’s poll

We’re doing our monthly polls at the beginning of each month now rather than the end- I’ve decided I prefer the beginning of the month. That means that we skipped June altogether. No matter! Onto July’s poll (this is a controversial one that many people might feel very impassioned about, so bear in mind that the views presented here are my personal opinion only, I’m not an expert, and I don’t want anyone to feel offended!):

Lately I have become very interested in and curious about vegan and raw foodist diets. They seem to be cropping up more and more these days, and both of these lifestyles are something that I personally have very little knowledge about. From the little that I do know, it sounds as though these diets do not fit with my health philosophy (no eggs? What is this madness! :)). However, I’m also aware that oftentimes we disagree with other perspectives simply because we don’t know enough about them and therefore do not understand them. There has also been a lot of conflicting information in the media debating whether either of these diets are beneficial to our health. My solution to getting to the bottom of it all? Try out these lifestyles, of course! In the future, I would like to do each of these as challenges (but not now. The Burpee Challenge and the Run A Race Challenge are enough at the moment). I’m undecided as to which I’ll challenge myself with first- does anyone have a preference (seeing as I’ll be writing all about it on this blog when I get around to undertaking the challenge)?

So! What kind of lifestyle diets have you tried? Which ones have improved your life and which ones have worsened your health? Answer the poll, checking all and any that apply to you, and expand on your answer in the comments! My understanding is that all of our bodies are different, so we should follow a nutritious diet that our body agrees with. It’s for this reason that I’m not a huge fan of extreme philosophies (unless, of course, some kind of medical condition requires extreme measures). Vegans? Raw foodists? This is where you get to chime in! I’m endlessly curious about the healthiness of these diets. Eventually I’ll be trying out your lifestyles so that I can really form a proper opinion about them and gain greater understanding, so any tips you have about transitioning from being a flexitarian to being a temporary vegan or raw foodist would be most helpful.

…while I was creating this poll, it occurred to me that I’ve never heard of anyone going on a “low protein” diet. That’s kind of funny. What’s so special about carbs and fats that some “experts” tell us to limit them, anyway?

And HAPPY CANADA DAY, everyone!

Poll: What’s your position on medication and supplements?

Last month’s poll

The question that 31 of us answered a month ago was about how adventurous we are when it comes to eating exotic food when we’re traveling in a foreign country. I’m happy to report that 0% of people polled head straight for McDonald’s! Always nice to hear. 42% like trying anything new, 52% will try some of the new stuff but avoid really unusual foods, and 6% prefer to stick to their regular healthy fare.

My experiences in Cambodia with the food have been really exciting. I was lucky enough to go to a cooking class and learn how to cook some Khmer food, and there are all kinds of cuisines available so I went all-out trying different kinds of dishes. I was really looking forward to buying food from the street vendors- particularly the snails- but after I got sick twice and have been feeling rather queasy on and off ever since, I’ve decided that this sensitive stomach of mine would really appreciate it if I avoided those things. Sometimes our bodies and our minds just don’t agree! Which brings me to…

This month’s poll

Drugs, medications, and supplements really aren’t my “thing”. But sometimes, as I discovered during my travels when I fell ill a few times, medication is the only way to help our immune systems recover and build up again. Some people also swear by supplementation and vitamins, saying that they are essential to maintaining a good health, but I’m wary of those too. It’s a controversial subject and one which I have never been satisfied with the various conclusions obtained from research that is floating around out there. But perhaps in instances when we are too sick for healthy eating and bed rest alone to do the job, a little bit of medication or supplementation can go a long way.

What’s your position on the great drug/medication/supplement debate?

Poll: Adventures with Exotic Food

Last month’s poll

The question that 58 of us answered was: what is your biggest issue when it comes to eating? This was a toughie because you could only pick one answer; we were identifying our major vice. However, I think that many of us would say that we fall under a few of these categories. The results: 41% are sugar addicts and another 41% can’t control portions in general; 10% are salt junkies; 7% either hate cooking or don’t like it so they resort to pre-packaged meals; and 0% have an obsession with fancy Starbucks coffees.

No surprises with the sugar and portion control issues! But I was interested that no one put the fancy coffees as their biggest problem. I’m not a coffee drinker so I can’t relate, but the way that some people talk about their whipped cream/syrupy/chocolate-shaving beverages, it’s sounds as though it’s some kind of cult following. No cult members in this crowd, I guess.

This month’s poll

Considering that I’m traveling to Cambodia as you read this (the beauty of scheduling posts to publish at specified times!), my thought process of late has been about staying healthy on the road. When I think about traveling, I think about immersing myself in another culture, and that means tasting the local cuisine. Apparently insects are a common item found at street stands, and I’m determined to try a little bit of everything to get the whole experience! (Note that I say this while I’m still in my comfy peanut buttered home. Perhaps when faced with a plate of fried snacks with eyes and antennae I’ll feel differently).

I actively work to stay healthy while traveling by walking as much as possible and eating nutritiously when I can. At the same time, I think it’s important not to deprive ourselves from the local cuisine by strictly eating only healthy items. Anything fried isn’t good for you, but experiencing it all once is, for me, one of the most important parts about traveling! When I went to Italy I made a list beforehand of all the different foods that I wanted to eat while I was there. I had gelati and calzones and creamy pastas with bacon: it was delicious, I was happy, and I got the full experience. I didn’t eat like that every single day, but I indulged and made sure I didn’t miss out.

So I’m interested to know what kind of food you eat when you’re traveling in a place where they eat a different cuisine than you’re used to. If you’re not a traveler, then it’s time for speculation! How far would you go? Do you take a stockpile of nutrition bars wherever you go? Do you veer towards fast food joints for a little memory of home? Do you let health go by the wayside in an attempt to try absolutely everything, or do you work toward a balance of experience and health? Answer the poll and elaborate in the comments!

Poll: Identifying Food Vices

Last month’s poll

In February we discussed what kind of milk we all enjoy. With 64 voters in total, 11% drink whole milk, 22% drink low fat or 1% milk, 30% drink skim (fat free) milk, 20% drink soy or another dairy alternative, and 17% don’t drink any kind of milk. It’s fairly evenly distributed all across the board! I was surprised at how many people don’t drink milk at all. I suppose I really should have included an option for other types of calcium supplements and such, but hindsight is 20/20. For those of you who choose not to drink milk, out of pure curiosity, how do you manage to consume adequate amounts of calcium in your diet? I’m interested for my (probably very distant) future challenge of going vegan 🙂

This month’s poll

As you might have noticed during the Sugar Challenge with my daily tracking of what I ate for the week, I have a bit of a portion control problem. I love food, and I love variety. I say that I eat mini meals throughout the day, but what that really means is that I eat constantly throughout the day. Food is never far from my wandering hand! I have begun to keep a personal food diary just so that I can watch my portion sizes a little better because it’s been getting out of hand. No matter how much exercising I do, I know that I don’t really need 2,500 calories a day, and that’s approximately where my food intake was getting to. Now I’m cutting back a little to a more reasonable amount for my size (and for how much I exercise/how hungry I am/what feels right for me). I am also happy to report that recording my food for this period of time is having a hugely positive affect on my eating and I think it is actually making me less obsessive this time around. I don’t imagine I’ll be doing it for too much longer, but right now it’s exactly what I need.

When it comes to portion control, I deal with it best when I take the time to think about exactly what kind of food I want to eat so that I really enjoy it each time. Also, I know that I need to keep busy to prevent myself from overeating. And at the moment, recording my eats is also keeping me aware of portion control. In the past I have been unable to record my food intake because of the obsessions that came along with it, but it appears that I have gotten past those unhealthy obsessions. For other ideas about working with portion control, check out this post at Healthy from 25 to 100.

So, for March’s poll, we’re looking at what our vices are. If we’ve got food issues, the best thing to do is identify what the problems are so that we can deal with them from there. My biggest food issue is portion control; what’s yours? And what do you do to deal with the issue?

Poll: The Milk Debate

Last month’s poll

The results are in! If you recall, our last poll was to learn what kind of exercise we all enjoy the most. We had 59 total voters: 46% are into cardio, 22% are well-rounded individuals who get a kick from all kinds of exercise, 14% prefer stretching, yoga, or other flexibility activities, 10% like strength training the best, and 8% just don’t enjoy exercise at all. For the last group, might I suggest belly dancing? Boot camp? Aikido? Perhaps some fun fitness challenges (or a Great Fitness Experiment)? We’ll convince you that exercising is fun yet!

This month’s poll

I recently came across a great post written by Urban Nutritionist entitled The Milk Misconception. Specifically, this line caught my eye: “Low fat and skim milk make calcium unavailable because fat is necessary for the proper transportation and absorption of calcium.”

Nina Planck of the book Real Food agrees that whole milk is preferable, stating that “butterfat helps the body digest the protein, and bones require saturated fats in particular to lay down calcium” (pg 64). Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat, has a different take on the subject: she says that removing the fat from the milk does not reduce the nutrients by very much; only the fat-soluble vitamins (A and D) disappear. However, vitamin D is added back by law, and there are so many dietary sources of vitamin A (mm, carrots) that it’s not something to be too concerned about. But even if you are worried about the vitamin A, it too is often added back into the milk.

I’m going to state right now that I adore all three of these sources and really respect each of them. It is wonderful to hear each of their opinions and the reasoning behind their perspectives. It’s also a good reminder that there is a wealth of contradictory information out there in the research studies. I did some research nearly a year ago about the benefits of calcium in milk which you can read about here (and if you want to see what I thought about Planck’s book, read this post!).

I drink skim milk. I grew up drinking 1% milk but when I started to learn more about health I switched to skim. I did this because it is very easy to get in more than enough fats over the course of the day through the food that we eat, so I figured that I might as well cut back on fats where I can so that I have more of a balance between the macro nutrients (those being carbohydrates, fats, and proteins). I’ve never had a really great love for the taste of milk so I wasn’t bothered by the more watery taste of skim milk. Drinking even 1% now tastes almost too rich and creamy for me just because I’m so accustomed to the skim.

If your goal is to lose weight or if the taste of milk isn’t particularly appealing to you but you still want the benefits of the nutrients, I recommend choosing skim milk. Happy with your weight, need to add more healthy fats, or really love the creamy taste of 1% or whole milk? Then you might as well stick with your current choice. It seems to me that the nutritional benefits are virtually the same all the way through, so it’s a matter of personal preference and how much extra fats you want/need in your diet as to what milk will be right for you.

I’m interested in what you have to say about the matter! Those of you with nutrition knowledge, is the fat necessary for calcium absorption? Or could we still get the same effects by eating something high in fat along with our fat-free milk (can’t think of a snack that’s much better than all-natural peanut butter on whole wheat toast with a glass of milk on the side!)?

Why do you drink the milk that you do? For those of you who don’t drink milk, do you supplement your diet for adequate amounts of calcium? Elaborate on your views in the comments!

Poll: What form of exercise do you prefer?

Our last poll

In December we discussed the reasons for why we eat nutritiously and stay active. No shocker with the results there: 68% of us do it for the combined benefit of being healthy and feeling/looking great! 20% like to treat their bodies well primarily for aesthetic reasons with the added bonus of a healthier body, and just 12% do it specifically as a preventative against health problems. Really makes you think about where our priorities lie in this society.

January’s Poll

(I know. I’m late with this one. My bad).

As complained about noted in the past, the weather has a huge effect on our health. When the wind is knocking down the decorative trees on the river skating path, that’s a good indicator to me that I’m going to be sitting down for the evening and not moving from my couch. Probably accompanied by a bottle of wine and whatever food I can scrounge from my pantry (having not gone shopping since the last warm day, of course. Venture outside for fresh produce? Too much effort!).

My cardio has really been suffering. Ever since I started wearing a pedometer every day I have been doing great with getting in lots of steps, but many of those are from pacing around indoors as opposed to spending time outside. Moreover, I haven’t been doing much in the way of variety when it comes to my cardio activity; too cold to go out dancing or skating and I just don’t have it in me to be a winter biker. All of this has led to me gaining a real appreciation for strength training.

I have to credit boot camp for teaching me the beauty of strength training, but even without boot camp to keep me motivated, I’ve been able to keep it up a fair amount. You all rock for keeping me accountable with the 100 Reps Challenge! At the moment I’m following the strength training program suggested in The New Rules of Lifting for Women (and yes, there will be a review of this book in the future!), and I love the feeling of my muscles getting stronger. A year ago I wasn’t all that interested in strength training; now, I see that there’s real value and enjoyment in it.

I stretch as well, but not nearly as much as I ought to. So I’m going to start including a session of yoga a couple times a week in my planner to ensure that I do it- I am so much more likely to follow through with a plan if it’s written down and I get the satisfaction of checking it off once it’s completed.

So the question this month is: Between aerobic, anaerobic, and flexibility exercise, what is your favourite? Even though I now understand why some people are so obsessed with strength training, cardio is still my favourite. It’s my “me time” to reflect and write (anyone else do their best writing in their head when there’s no paper or computer available?). After an hour of just about any kind of cardio activity I am beaming and feel absolutely fantastic.

Answer the poll and then expand upon your answer in the comments! Why is it your favourite? Which is your least favourite? How has your preferred type of exercise affected your body? I’m fascinated by the changes I see when I start favouring one form of exercise over another. You?