Could my body have a mind of its own?

This week my body decided to stage a rebellion. Instead of playing nice, it thought best to put on an all out strike. A strike not so much targeted at my diet plan, but a picket line against exercise. After just two days of my initiation back at the gym, I am giving a solemn oath today that I will never let myself nix exercise from my daily routine. So to put it bluntly, my workout program has been pretty limited this week - 30 minutes on the elliptical and three sets of abs (I usually can make sets of 60 each, if I'm lucky!).

Along with exercise has come an unusual thirst - I can be working out for 5 minutes and immediately feel the need to take a gulp of water from my squeeze bottle. So instead of the usual 100 ounces of water a day, I've been upping it to almost 120 ounces a day. Was I drinking too much water? Am I unknowingly leaching my body of essential vitamins and minerals? The Mayo Clinic recommends that the average man drink 3 liters of water per day and women 2.2 liters a day. After reading this I decided that I might be overdoing it a little; let's be honest I was out of the ball park of normal. So, I found a Hydration Calculator online that asked me a series of ten questions about what I was doing on a daily basis. The result was that I should be drinking 118 ounces of water a day. I realized that the recommendation from Mayo hadn't taken into account how long I was exercising, my weight and my climate. So, I'm fairly certain that I'm doing okay - besides, I'm feeling better than ever and I'm proud that water has finally become an integral part of my daily diet. I guess I can push those worries about water intoxication out of my mind for now!

Last night's meal was Shrimp Salad. I have to say that I've always been a big fan of my mom's recipe. Shrimp, lettuce, diced hard boiled eggs, celery, dill and plenty of good mayonnaise. Summer was never complete without a heaping plate of shrimp salad and a napkin-lined basket of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls lurking nearby. Even though my recipe doesn't have the mayonnaise and eggs, I think it turned out pretty darn good. Oh, and no buttery crescent rolls either!

Shrimp Salad

One half head of iceberg lettuce, shredded
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 vine ripe tomato, cut into wedges
15-20 medium shrimp, cooked (thawed frozen shrimp work well)

Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 heaping teaspoon Paula Deen's House Seasoning (recipe below)
1 teaspoon fresh dill, finely chopped

Wisk the vinaigrette together and set aside. Combine the lettuce, celery and green onions in a large bowl. Pour in the dressing and toss well to coat. Place a heaping mound of the salad into serving bowls and arrange approximately 8 shrimp on top of each salad. Add the tomato wedges and sprinkle with fresh dill for garnish.

Paula Deen's House Seasoning

1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix together and store in an airtight container. It works well with almost anything!