The healthiest foods at fall farmers markets

Fall in Silicon Valley is a wonderful time if you like end-of-season heirloom tomatoes, but do you know what other crops are at their prime in the fall?  

The team that works with Bob Greene of  The Best Life diet plan sent along Greene's picks for the best outdoor market picks this fall and I thought I'd pass it along..

Enjoy!

Top Fresh Market Finds to Add to Your Grocery List This Fall:

•  Apples: They’re high in fiber, plus they contain quercetin, which has cancer-fighting properties.
•  Pears: A medium pear contains an impressive six grams of fiber. Be sure to eat the skin; it’s high in antioxidants.
• Grapes: Red and black grapes are a great pick because they contain heart-healthy anthocyanins as well as resveratrol, another phytochemical that protects the heart and helps fight cancer.
•  Oranges: One 60-calorie orange delivers 100 percent of your daily value (DV) of vitamin C, three grams of fiber and 10 percent of the DV of folate, a B vitamin that helps fight cancer and birth defects. (You’ll typically find these in orange-growing states, such as Texas, Florida and California.)
•  Rapini (broccoli raab): This versatile veggie looks like broccoli and can be used in many different kinds of cuisine, including Italian and Chinese. It’s a great source of vitamins A and K, plus it provides cancer-fighting “phenolic compounds.”
•  Shelling Beans: These fully matured beans in the pod have to be shelled before eating, but they take only about 15 minutes to cook. They come in many varieties, including black-eyed peas and cranberry beans, and are a good source of protein and fiber.
•  Celery Root (celeriac): This knobby-looking brown vegetable that’s available from October until March contains compounds that help lower inflammation (a trigger for heart disease and other chronic conditions).

 If you are already a Bob Green fan and want to find out more about The Best Life, check it out here:

• Facebook at The Best Life http://facebook.com/oprahstrainer
• Twitter: @bestlifediet
• You Tube: http://youtube.com/bestlifediet

Non-toxic bed bug spray - travel size

If you're as creeped-out as I am about all the reports of bed bugs, you might be interested in a product I saw via a press release.

I haven't tried it yet, but here's the description from the web site:

Bed Bug Protection in a Convenient Travel Size Made From Natural Ingredients
Take Nature-Cide’s Travel Bed Bug Spray with you when you travel. Carry-on acceptable. 100% Natural. Stain Free. Pleasant odor. Protect yourself by using at the office, airplane, movie theater, taxi cab, luggage, and hotel room 

The company's press release was actually about garden sprays, but frankly, here in Silicon Valley there are so many places to get really good, natural products for the garden I don't much worry about it.

But bed bugs and the whole what-to-do-when-you-travel thing is much more difficult.  Anyway, if you try it, let me know how  you liked it, if you had any trouble at the airport with it, or any unpleasant odors. Or, even worse, if you used it and still brought bed bugs home from a trip.

UPDATE:  The company sent me samples of the product to try - fortunately, I don't have bed bugs but I was able to spray it in my house and bed to see how the fumes affected me.  It was a little unpleasant for a couple of minutes but by-and-large, something I'd happily take with me when traveling.

.

A terrific running playlist to train for a 5k or 10k

The Dana Point Turkey Trot sent out an awesome playlist put together by race-day sponsor Dick’s Sporting Goods with Brooks Sports. It's a 15-track ready-to-run list that they named the Run Happy Playlist.

We all know that music makes running, whether in prep for a 10K or on the treadmill, a lot more fun.  Apparently it also increases running performance by up to 15 percent, or so says Dr. Costas Karageorghis, of London’s Brunel University.

According to Karageorghis, the beat sweet spot is between 120 and 140 beats-per-minute,which is the tempo corresponding to the heart rate of the average exerciser. 

I haven't tried this yet - I'm off impact workouts right now - but see what you think and report in.

Track 1: Katy Perry – Firework

                Track 2: Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire

                Track 3: Ram Jam – Black Betty

                Track 4: 3 Doors Down – Kryptonite

                Track 5: Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros – 40 Day Dream

                Track 6: The Black Keys – Thickfreakness

                Track 7: Foster The People – Helena Beat

                Track 8: Avicii – Levels

                Track 9: Survivor – Eye of the Tiger

                Track 10: LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem

                Track 11: Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run

                Track 12: Richard Vission featuring Luciana – I Like That

                Track 13: Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer

                Track 14: Flo Rida featuring Sia – Wild Ones

                Track 15: M83 – Midnight City

And while you're at it, check out the 35^th annual Dana Point Turkey Trot, follow the event on Twitter at http://twitter.com/turkeytrot and Facebook at http://facebook.com/danapointturkeytrot. For more information about Dick’s Sporting Goods and Brooks Sports visit http://www.dickssportinggoods.com or http://www.brooksrunning.com/.