Ask Alexandra April 2014

1) Did you do a film in the eighties about transforming your body into that of a weightlifter? If so what was it called?
Leslie Abbott

Hi Leslie,

Yes, I starred in the CBS movie of the week Getting Physical. I also discuss it in this and this Ask Alexandra section. Here is a snippet online of a posing routine my character does in the movie. It is more like a dance routine and, in the name of full disclosure, I have a stand in doing the dancing.

Although I worked very hard with very little time (I was cast a week before shooting began and the movie only took a month to film), it was a terrifically fun. My offscreen trainer, Franco Columbu, was a world champion bodybuilder and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s training partner. He is my chiropractor still and he adjusted my back last week. Sandahl Bergman was so great to work with too, and every so often I see David Naughton, who played my boyfriend in the show, at an audition. Janet Carroll, who played my mom in Getting Physical, also played my mom in one of her last movies, Christmas Spirit. Janet passed away in 2012.

Unfortunately, I do not have a dvd of the movie and it is not online. I have a VHS copy but no VHS player, and since it is 30 years old, I am not sure the cassette could even be played.

I hope you liked the movie when it came out. Maybe one day they will play it on tv again, or make it available online…I know that it inspired a lot people to get in shape.
Alexandra

2) Do you eat Quinoa and if so would you be so kind as to share some tasty recipes?
Keep up the fight and keep inspiring through action.

Be Well
Jeff

I am so useless when it comes to cooking, but quinoa is a very healthy grain which is high in protein. Great for vegans!

Ian, my husband, likes it alot and cooks it very simply: he washes the grains (this is supposed to take any bitterness out) and cooks it in vegetable broth (twice as much liquid as grains) until all the water is absorbed by the quinoa. Then he adds sauteed mushrooms and onions. Yummy!

I found some great looking recipes online, though: http://vegangela.com/tag/quinoa/

And since I love chocolate, here is a Quinoa Chocolate Drop recipe:

Yields: 24 – 1″ drops | serving size: 1 drop | Calories: 154 | Previous Points: 3 | Points Plus: 4 | Total Fat: 4 g | Saturated Fats: 1 g | Trans Fats: 0 g | Cholesterol: 0 mg | Sodium: 20 mg | Carbohydrates: 29 g | Dietary fiber: 3.2 g | Sugars: 24 g | Protein: 2.9 g

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup quinoa, pre-rinsed
• 2/3 cup water
• 16 whole (pitted) dates, no sugar added
• 1/2 cup raw almonds with skin
• 1/3 cup natural crunchy peanut butter (optional, almond butter or SunButter)
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions
NOTE: The fats in our Quinoa Chocolate Drops are healthy fats primarily from the almonds. The calories are mostly from the superfood dates, which is one of nature’s sweetest foods.
Add quinoa and water to a small saucepan, cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook approximately 12-15 minutes, or until all water has been absorbed. Quinoa should still be warm when adding to the ingredients below.

Using a food processor, add dates, and pulse until they form a ball. Remove dates and place in a medium mixing bowl. Add almonds to the food processor and pulse until finely minced. Be careful not to turn the almonds into mill. Add dates (ball), minced almonds, peanut butter and warm quinoa to the food processor and pulse until ingredients are well combined. Add chocolate chips and pulse until combined and chips are melted into the mixture. Return ingredients to the mixing bowl, shape into 24 – 1″ drops or balls. Roll drops in crushed almonds if desired. Place on a dish, refrigerate until set.

Read more at http://skinnyms.com/quinoa-chocolate-drops/#mzUUVIW5TecI9f0a.99

Enjoy! I would be happy to sample them if you make these chocolate drops 🙂
Alexandra

3) Hi Alexandra, I think you have a rare talent for seeing the big picture. I can’t believe people refuse to face the problem of overpopulation. One thing I have learned over the past 5 years debating my republican friends was about a study called the “Tragedy of the Commons”. The gist is that if you ask people to voluntarily have less children, then only the conscientious will listen and be weeded from the gene pool. If everyone is limited to having 2 children, there is 0 growth. We should encourage intelligent people to have 2 children, but limit everyone to 2 children. Maybe you can incorporate this into your mission?
Mark Greer

Hi Mark,

I have read about the concept “Tragedy of the Commons“. More information can be found here. I thank you for bringing it to my attention again.

Republicans might agree this theory because Garrett Hardin believes the welfare state allows people, in the case of population growth, to have kids without feeling enough the financial consequences, thus folks will have more kids. If people were not helped in this way he believes they would have fewer children. This actually is not true, as studies have found that poor people have larger families than wealthier folks, and that the more kids in a family die of malnutrition or lack of health care, the more babies the mothers will have.

Hardin also believed that appealing to peoples’ consciences was not a way to slow population growth, as eventually the families of the conscientious folks who decided to have fewer kids for the good of everyone would be overrun by the offspring of the less thoughtful parents who had a lot of children. He believed eventually there would be no conscientious people left.

Overall I believe that ethics is not a powerful way to appeal to anyone (sad to say). Also, I do not agree that conscientiousness is passed down like genes ,so his worry about conscientious people dying out is not credible to me.

Survival is the most powerful message to effect change, although, at the point when humans really realize it is paramount to their survival to have fewer kids, it will probably be too late.

I support incentives (so folks will change because it benefits them in some way) and education (to understand how their lives, and the lives of their kids, will improve in smaller families).

Your mention of “intelligent people” concerns me. How do you really measure intelligence? There are so many ways one can excel at something – one may have a terrific memory for facts, but not be able to sustain a loving relationship. One may be street smart but have no interest in Shakespeare. Some folks have more common sense, while others are emotionally attuned to the world.

IQ is so narrow a measurement of a person – I do not value it at all. I would prefer a world where people are kind, optimistic, curious and enthusiastic than a world full of folks with 180 IQs. I do not support any system that allows some folks to have more kids than others, especially one that tries to prioritize “intelligence” over other traits.

Thank you for thoughtful email. I hope you continue to discuss the issue of overpopulation to as many people as possible.
Alexandra