Where Did I Put That Again?

Having been born the middle of July, I've enjoyed a lifetime of birthdays celebrated at picnics and back-yard Bar-B-Ques. I wouldn't trade a July birthday, with  it's melted cakes and new white shorts outfits, for any other time of year.

Having just turned 55 I have no major complaints and am actually looking forward to senior discounts since I'm a self-admitted "cheap-aholic." If there is a deal to be had, I can smell it a mile away. But there is one aspect to aging that still needs some adjustment.

Last week I found myself in the garage, fully intending to get in the car to go to work, without my car keys. Oops, had my briefcase but no purse, and the keys were tucked securely in said purse, two flights of stairs away. Since I'm usually in a hurry, I ran up the two flights of stairs to get the keys, ran back down the stairs again, got in the car and realized I didn't have my water bottle. It's July, I have a long commute and need the water bottle, so I jumped out of the car, ran up the same two flights, grabbed the bottle, ran down the stairs muttering about what a goofball I am, but finally armed with everything I needed to start the car and leave.

The thought occurred to me afterwards that something is making me more forgetful. It could be the combination of middle-age and simply having too many things to do and think about at one time. Since memory issues have been a topic of conversation among my middle-aged friends recently, I'm lead to believe that I'm no more forgetful than others my age. I'm inclined to look at a hopefully positive aspect of  middle-age forgetfulness. Can the added exercise of back-tracking steps and the extra calories burned by physically compensating for a less-than-stellar memory be good for me? Could "senior moments" be helping to keep my waistline trim? Here is what I learned.

• Walk from living room into kitchen to get scissors for clipping coupons from newspaper = 15 steps.
• See  new cooking magazine on counter with summer dessert on cover and remember I need to make dessert for party, stop to leaf through pages for ideas = 0  calories.
• Oops, need cheater glasses to read the print, return to retrieve glasses left next to newspaper = 15 steps.
• Walk back to open magazine in kitchen wearing glasses = 15 steps.
• See cable bill on the counter and realize it needs to be paid that day = 0 calories.
• Return to living room for checkbook from purse, feeling very smug that remembered to keep glasses on = 15 steps.
• Return to kitchen to get amount for check, write cable check and realize stamps are in purse so walk back to living room to get stamp = 30 steps (I must be wasting away from all the walking!)
• Walk to kitchen, open magazine, find summer dessert but don't have all ingredients =  15 steps.
• Walk to the drawer to get pen and paper to write down needed ingredients = 6 steps
• See scissors in drawer, remember they are the reason for coming to kitchen in the first place!
• See chocolate chips, pop six in mouth to console myself for being so forgetful.
• Return to living room with scissors to clip coupons but realize left glasses with magazine = 15 steps.
• Sprint back to kitchen to retrieve glasses, resolved to buy as many pair of cheater glasses as necessary to place strategically throughout the house = 15 calories.

Feeling very optimistic about my theory, I searched the Internet for statistics on calories burned by walking, fully prepared to share the good news of  my findings. What I knew in nutrition school and relearned recently is this: one pound of body weight = 3500 calories. Meaning one would need to either burn or reduce caloric consumption by 3500 calories in order to lose 1 lb. Hmmm, seems like a lot of calories for one pound.  And, for the average person, 2,000 steps = one mile and that same average person burns 100 calories per mile of walking. What?!?!? One mile, or two thousand steps only burns one hundred calories?!?!?! That's a fraction of what I thought it would be!

I walked 141steps in my distracted effort to retrieve scissors, and if my high school algebra serves me, that translates into a whopping 7.5 calories burned. Since the chocolate chips contained far more calories than that, not to mention fat grams, I actually gained weight as a result of the added treat. So much for my theory. Forgetting things and running around like a chicken with its head cut off may increase calories burned, but being organized and not randomly eating chocolate chips is far more healthy...and less stressful.

Moving on to the recipe for the day, this salad was adapted from Cooking Light magazine since I never, ever, follow a recipe. My friends, Karen and Jeff tried it first and raved about it, so this is my version with ingredients altered to suit my taste. A great, colorful and healthful salad for a hot summer day. Oh, and don't forget the tomatoes, because I did. After I assembled the salad and took the photos, I turned around and there were my beautiful sliced tomatoes, sitting on the cutting board on the other side of the kitchen. What can I say... I burned 15 calories by walking over to get them.

Shrimp and Chicken Sausage Salad
Serves 3-4

1/2 pound lean chicken sausage, any flavor of your choice, cooked and sliced
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled, deveined
Sprinkle peeled shrimp with following spices and cook for about 2 minutes on each side until pink.
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
dash of salt
In small jar mix together the dressing ingredients:
2-3 T. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
pinch of salt and ground pepper
3-4 T. olive oil -extra virgin
Arrange vegetables of your choice on plate, then top with cooled shrimp and sausage, add dressing and enjoy. Vegetables: (I like a big salad so I don't list quantities - be creative, use what you like)
lettuce that has been rinsed and torn to bite-sized pieces
cherry tomatoes, cut in half
shredded carrots
whole-kernel corn, thawed from frozen or cooked fresh
diced green pepper
Avocado, peeled and sliced
Sweet onion or red onion, sliced