Three Cheers for FantasyHealthball.com – 100th post

Well, we turned 100 today with our 100th blog post.  Thanks for visiting our site and for coming back for tips, advice, news, recipes and more in the worlds of fantasy sports and health/nutrition.  We’ve had almost 20,000 visits to this blog with more and more of you checking it out each day.  In fact, our biggest day ever was in the past month.  So keep coming back for the latest on Fantasy Healthball..and tell a friend! 

You may want to check out our Top 5 most popular posts of the last 100.  They are:

Nutrients Made Easy

Calories Made Easy

What’s A Good Score

The World’s Healthiest Foods

Our Reviews

If you love fantasy sports and you want to be healthier, you WILL find what you are looking for at FantasyHealthball.com.  Thanks again for visiting us over these past 100 posts, and check back often.  — Jim Ballard

What’s For Dinner?

Dinner as the major sit down meal in our culture probably adds to our overall health problem.  Instead of skipping breakfast and gorging at lunch and dinner, we should eat all three meals in a similar way and sprinkle in healthy snacks to keep us going. 

What to eat for dinner is as varied as the types of foods in the Fantasy Healthball Food Formation.  Lean meat and poultry, beans, and fish are all good options.  Think about how they are prepared and choose accordingly:  two pieces of battered fish with tartar sauce?  Let say about 550+ calories.  Grilled trout with lemon juice? Less than half the calories.   Check out this post for the World’s Healthiest Foods.

Yum!

One way to think about dinner is to think about what you had for breakfast and lunch and what you are missing in terms of servings.  Had a ham omelet for breakfast and the meatloaf for lunch?  You may have met your meat needs and want to focus more on a bit of pasta and veggies.  If you had a piece of cake at the office birthday party, you probably would benefit by skipping sweets as a desert and have fruit instead.  In this way, you can kind of back into what to have for dinner.  Haven’t had a salad yet today?  Now’s the time!   Make sure you are getting all the nutrients your body needs!

People “feel full” at different times and after eating different amounts.  It is that full feeling that tells our brain, “hey, stop with the face feeding, the belly getting crowded” or something to that effect.  If you are trying to watch portion size, try drinking a glass of water or more before you eat.  The water combines with the food to make you feel full faster.  Even if this doesn’t work for you, water is always good for you!  You can also try eating more slowly, so your body has a chance to tell your mind that it is full.  At Fantasy Healthball, we believe in listening to your body.  If it is complaining after you eat, you probably ate too much or the wrong things.  Check out our nutrition and exercise challenges, and make your body happy today!   – Jim Ballard

Fantasy Healthball Update – week 7

After the first 7 weeks of NFL football, my ”Healthball Hulks” stand at 4-3 in the fantasy football standings and I stand at 5-2 for my Fantasy Healthball scores.  My most painful healthball loss was week six where I scored a very respectable 124 healthball points (surely enough to win, right?) and my fantasy opponent, the Malvern Manglers, scored 143 points.  The Manglers had Matt Schaub passing for 392 yards and FOUR touchdowns and Maurice Jones-Drew adding three more touchdowns on his 133 yards.  Oh, and two of Shaub’s TDs went to the Manglers TE Owen Daniels – WHO, by the way, only had 2 touchdowns all of last year, but he decides to go on a tear and the Manglers total 143. 

Looking back at my 124 healthpoints that week, I had an amazing Monday through Thursday and I started to fall apart on Friday and Saturday.  I got cocky and thought I had scored enough points to win.  On Friday, I only met 3 of my 7 challenges and on Saturday I met 2 of 7.  I needed to follow our health advice and our exercise advice.  This is a great reminder about consistency.  Had I finished strong, I might have even beaten the 143 points from the Manglers.  I coasted in the “4th quarter” of the week and it resulted in the “L.” 

Let this be a reminder to the Healthball Hulks and also to you.  Meeting your health goals is an everyday challenge.  You can’t coast and be as successful as you want.  You only meet 2 of your 7 challenges and you probably deserve the “L!”  Push it out, finish strong, and you are likely to record the “W” for your health. 

Am I fearsome?

Oh, and one more thing, I picked Matt Forte as the #2 pick in the entire draft and was proud to have the great Chicago Bear who I could watch with pride all season.  Now he looks like Gnat Forte as in “couldn’t hurt a gnat.”  Ugg!  – Jim Ballard

NFL Week One – Will you be 0-1 or 1-0? And the 5-step Diet Grief Process

So your first week of Fantasy Healthball (Monday through Saturday) is now behind you.  Your Scorecard for the week should have a little “2″ written in where you met the challenge for the week and a “0″ where you did not.  Add up all your points with any bonus points and get your total score for the week.  This is the score that you will now pit against your fantasy football opponent for the week.  Did you do enough to beat them?  You’ll know soon!

Meanwhile, let’s talk about your week.  Which 7 challenges did you pick?  What did you find hard?  Easy?  If you found some things hard, that is good – getting into great health is not going to come to you on a silver platter.  You need to follow our nutrition advice and exercise input and focus yourself to keep it up.  Even if you start out this week with a loss, you can bounce back next week with a win to move your record to 1-1.  Put together another good week and you are 2-1.  Once you start stringing some victories together, it gets easier and easier.  Questions?  Let us know.  You want to make good decisions during the week so that you have a good chance of scoring higher than your fantasy opponent and winning the week. 

Most of changing your habits and losing weight and getting into great shape is mental.  Fantasy Healthball helps you change your attitude by focusing your football passion into health passion.  But we know how emotional it can be and how years of poor health habits can’t be changed overnight like flicking a switch.  Many people go through steps similar to the 5 steps of grief process. 

1.  Denial - Not a problem for me.  I like being fat and happy. I’ll work this weight off later.  Being overweight is just me.  Besides, my spouse doesn’t mind.  It is no big deal.

2. Anger - Quit pressuring me, jerk!   I eat what I want when I want.  But how did I gain so much weight?  I’m mad at that person in the mirror, who is that?  It is not fair.  My life doesn’t allow me the time to exercise or think about nutrition. 

3.  Bargaining - When I hit 40 (or 50) years old I’ll start getting serious about health.  I’ll cut down on sodas but I will not give up my double mochas with whipped cream. 

4.  Depression – What’s the point?  I’ve never going to fit into those shorts from college anyway.  Eating better isn’t going to change the fact that there is a history of health problems in my family.

5.  Acceptance – I really can do this.  I can drop some pounds and get into healthier shape.  I do feel better when I’m not filling my body with junk.  I can feel good again. 

Where are you on the above?  No matter your stage, it is time to check us out and give it a try.  — Jim Ballard

Top TE’s in New Cities – Fantasy Draft Files

 

Top TE’s in New Cities

The top two tight ends moving on to new teams are Tony Gonzalez (Falcons) and Kellen Winslow (Buccaneers).  Which one will benefit most from his new surroundings?  Which one will be the better choice in your upcoming fantasy draft?  We examine these two today.

Tony Gonzalez will definitely be enshrined in Canton one day as arguably the greatest receiving TE ever.  His receiving numbers have been terrific, year-in and year-out for more than a decade.  Now moving on to the resurgent Atlanta Falcons, Gonzalez figures to continue his track record of success.  The surrounding cast in Atlanta is a huge upgrade over the teammates he left behind in Kansas City.  Figure the Falcons to move the ball often enough to be firmly in the top half of the league in total offense and scoring.  

The drawback is the number of other terrific offensive players that will no doubt cut into some of the opportunities Gonzalez is used to seeing.  In KC, Gonzalez and Dwayne Bowe were absolutely all they had for receiving options.  Now, he has to spread the wealth much more.  

The Roddy White contract holdout during this training camp is worth watching, but I fully expect Gonzalez to be a very safe pick in your draft.  Even with a few less catches, he will still be dangerous in the red-zone and expect QB Matt Ryan to find him at least as many as the 7 TD’s Gonzalez has averaged the past two seasons in KC.

If Tony Gonzalez is not the greatest receiving TE in the history of the game, then it may have been Kellen Winslow, Sr.  Unfortunately, that’s not the Kellen Winslow that will be suiting up in Tampa Bay this season.  His son, Kellen Winslow, is a terrific athlete in his own right, but has been a career disappointment to date.  Now with a fresh start back in the state of Florida where he played his college ball, the potential for a breakout season is there.  

However, the unsettled QB situation in Tampa, along with a new coaching staff and a new offensive scheme to learn, may be too much for Winslow to really post big numbers this season.  We say give Winslow one more season to prove he can be a Top-10 TE before we commit our fantasy season to him.  We’d steer clear of Winslow and let someone else roll the dice this season.

The top two fantasy football tight ends moving on to new teams are Tony Gonzalez (Falcons) and Kellen Winslow (Buccaneers).  Which one will benefit most from his new surroundings?  Which one will be the better choice in your 2009 fantasy draft?  We examine these two today.

Tony Gonzalez will definitely be enshrined in Canton one day as arguably the greatest receiving TE ever.  His receiving numbers have been terrific, year-in and year-out for more than a decade.  Now moving on to the resurgent Atlanta Falcons, Gonzalez figures to continue his track record of success.  The surrounding cast in Atlanta is a huge upgrade over the teammates he left behind in Kansas City.  Figure the Falcons to move the ball often enough to be firmly in the top half of the league in total offense and scoring.  

The drawback is the number of other terrific offensive players that will no doubt cut into some of the opportunities Gonzalez is used to seeing.  In KC, Gonzalez and Dwayne Bowe were absolutely all they had for receiving options.  Now, he has to spread the wealth much more.  I fully expect Gonzalez to be a very safe pick in your draft.  Even with a few less catches, he will still be dangerous in the red-zone and expect QB Matt Ryan to find him at least as many as the 7 TD’s Gonzalez has averaged the past two seasons in KC.

If Tony Gonzalez is not the greatest receiving TE in the history of the game, then it may have been Kellen Winslow, Sr.  Unfortunately, that’s not the Kellen Winslow that will be suiting up in Tampa Bay this season.  His son, Kellen Winslow, is a terrific athlete in his own right, but has been a career disappointment to date.  Now with a fresh start back in the state of Florida where he played his college ball, the potential for a breakout season is there.  

However, the unsettled QB situation in Tampa, along with a new coaching staff and a new offensive scheme to learn, may be too much for Winslow to really post big numbers this season.  We say give Winslow one more season to prove he can be a Top-10 TE before we commit our fantasy season to him.  We’d steer clear of Winslow and let someone else roll the dice this season.  Both these guys will be ready for the season, will you be?  – Jeff Hagen

Play Fantasy Healthball with us – Get in great shape this fall/winter

Even if you weren’t one of the first to respond and join our custom league, you can still play Fantasy Healthball this 2009 NFL season with your friends or even by yourself.  Think about it.  It is easier to stay in shape in the summer time.  Days are longer, it stay light well into the evening (allowing for outdoor activities), the weather is nicer and inspiring to get outside, and the throngs of people outside in shorts and tank tops inspire you to fit into that old pair of shorts you love or that old bathing suit. 

But then winter comes.  Days are short.  It is dark by the time you get out of work.  It is cold or windy or rainy or all three.  Everyone is bundled up in layers of clothing, not a flat tummy in sight.  It is the time of year your brain might be telling you, “time to pack on some calories and get ready to hibernate until the thaw.” 

Well my friends, Fantasy Healthball is what separates us from the grizzly bears.  Our bodies do not need to pack on fat for the long winter.  Our bodies need just as much exercise and vitamins and minerals through nutrient rich food as we do in the summer time.  So play our game with us.  You are going to be watching football anyway, you might as well be getting into great shape as you are doing it!  Check out the “Start Playing” section of our website to learn all the details and then come back here for updates and advice.  By the way, this is a 2-way communication with our fans.  Send us an email or leave us a comment on our blog and we’ll get back to you. 

And now I must get back to preparing for our custom league draft on Monday.  You probably know Jeff is our fantasy guru, but here is how I have the top ten running backs ranked for this year’s draft as of right now.  I have Forte higher than most experts as he is going to be an even bigger catching threat with a first-year Cutler in addition to his usual awesome running.  And I have Frank Gore higher than most because he has never been more fired up in his career.  A hall of fame middle linebacker as a coach will do that for a guy. 

1. Adrian Peterson
2. Matt Forte
3. Michael Turner
4. Maurice Jones-Drew
5. Frank Gore
6. DeAngelo Williams
7. LaDainian Tomlinson
8. Brandon Jacobs
9. Brian Westbrook
10. Steven Jackson

How will you compare with the season of these guys?  Find out now.  — Jim Ballard

It’s Here! Join Now. The Fantasy Healthball League 2009. Free this year!

Love fantasy football and want to get in shape this year?  We are here for you!!  You are invited to join the inaugural Fantasy Healthball league for the 2009 NFL fantasy season.  The commissioner is our very own Jeff Hagen, co-creator of Fantasy Healthball and avid fantasy footballer for almost 20 years!  Although a relative newcomer to fantasy football, my team is in the mix too – meaning this league is open to experienced players and also the newbies who want to make a run at them.  Ours is NOT LIKE ANY OTHER league because we will be getting healthier as the season goes on.  Your passion for football will help you to achieve your health goals.  This year, we will be using Yahoo! Fantasy Sports as our host. 

Click here for a direct link to join our league.  If that doesn’t get you there for some reason, go to the game front page, click the Free Football ‘09 “Join A League” and follow the links to “Join a Custom League”. When prompted, enter the League ID# and password below.  You’ll get a confirmation with further details once you have completed the registration process.

League ID#:  777478
Password: health

There will be a live, on-line draft at 6pm PDTon Labor Day.  It is a head to head league and we will be playing the regular game along with Fantasy Healthball.  

We will be playing head to head Fantasy Healthball.  Each week, your fantasy team will be matched up against another team in the league.  At the same time, you will be tracking your health points against your opponent’s fantasy team.  Your fantasy team will get a win or a loss, but you will also get a personal win or loss when it comes to your healthy choices for the week.  That’s right, you will have to be committed to your health Monday through Saturday and your result will stack up against your fantasy opponent!  It is you against the NFL pros.  

So if you have some health goals, and want to take on some of the best at fantasy football, join our league now!  See you on Labor Day for the draft!  Email one of us if questions, or post a comment to the blog.  — Jim Ballard

Familiar QB Faces, New Places – who to draft

Today, we evaluate the fantasy prospects of  three veteran Quarterbacks moving on to new teams this season:  Kyle Orton (Denver), Matt Cassel (Kansas City) and Jay Cutler (Chicago).

Kyle Orton and Jay Cutler will inevitably be compared this season, and likely for many seasons to follow, simply because the teams traded them for each other.  For two teams to trade starting QB’s, let alone when one of them is coming off a Pro Bowl season (Cutler), is unprecedented in NFL history.

Of the two, we expect Jay Cutler to thrive the most, but Orton will have a good chance for success as well.  The talk surrounding the Chicago Bears is that they have no reliable NFL-caliber receivers on their roster and Cutler will have no one to throw to.  We disagree. 

Sure, we feel Devin Hester will continue his maturation process and use his tremendous speed to help Cutler, but the biggest roster strength in Chicago is the tremendous receiving options at TE and RB.  Greg Olsen (TE) and  Matt Forte (RB) are terrific receivers and will benefit greatly from having Cutler at QB.  Expect both to put up huge receiving numbers this season. 

And as for the receivers, other than Hester, Chicago has Earl Bennett, the all-time leading receiver from the SEC conference, and most importantly: Cutler’s teammate and favorite target during his senior season at Vanderbilt.  Bennett will get plenty of playing time this season.  Add in the mix young receiving talent Juaquin Iglesias, Brandon Rideau and Johnny Knox (who, outside of Cutler,  is the talk of training camp so far) and Chicago will be proving everyone wrong who said they have no receivers.

Kyle Orton has a good surrounding cast in Denver, but that only holds true if star wideout Brandon Marshall resolves his contract dispute with the team.  Marshall is trying to force his way out of town a la Cutler, but the team will have nothing of it.  Orton needs Marshall if he is going to have success in Denver.  If they don’t get a full training camp to work on timing together, we recommend steering clear of Orton on draft day.

Matt Cassell stepped in for the injured all-world Tom Brady in New England last season and surprised everyone with a 3,693-yard, 21-TD performance.  Now traded to Kansas City, can Cassell repeat those numbers this year?  Not a chance.  Even though Cassell is the undisputed starting QB entering training camp, the Chiefs let perennial Pro-Bowl TE Tony Gonzalez get away to Atlanta this off-season, and no other receiver stands out other than Dwayne Bowe.  Bowe won’t be enough to keep Cassell in the top-tier of NFL QB’s this season and expect a sizeable drop-off in performance here. 

So, for these three signal callers in new surroundings, Cutler is worth taking as your fantasy starter in leagues with 10 teams or larger.  He should be considered in the #7-10 range on your QB draft board.  Orton and Cassell are fantasy back-ups at best, with the best potential upside coming from Matt Cassell.  Make sure you have your fantasy roster strong, click here to find out how to make YOURSELF strong. – Jeff Hagen

T.O or T.J. or Torry in ‘09?

When considering the fantasy impact from off-season player movement around the NFL, there are several top-flight wide receivers who jump off the page.  Terrell Owens is now in Buffalo, T.J. Houshmandzadeh has moved to Seattle, and Torry Holt is now catching passes in Jacksonville.  Each of these three will make a case for the Hall of Fame in Canton one day.  But before then, they still have plenty in the tank to offer fantasy teams this Fall.  But which is the most promising to choose when we are on the draft clock?

Terrell Owens is one of the most visible, media-darling players in the NFL.  The only thing that surpasses his ability to gab is perhaps his formidable talents on the field.  Owens averaged 12 TD’s per season while in Dallas and had a terrific supporting cast around him.  This will not be the case in Buffalo.  With Marshawn Lynch’s off-field troubles landing him an early season suspension, and with still-unproven QB Trent Edwards, T.O. will not be the fantasy ‘lock’ for superstar performance as he has been.  T.O. is extremely durable and rarely misses a game, so he will show up.  Unfortunately, it’s with new teammates and our prediction is it will take some time for this offense to gel. 

Torry Holt was one of the key members of the famed ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ during his tenure in St. Louis.  Now moving on to Jacksonville, Holt will look to build on his already impressive resume.  He has a quarterback in David Garrard that is capable of finding Holt again and again with short to medium range passes where Holt can excel.  However, Holt’s production dipped noticeably last year, and it is clear he does not have top-end speed anymore.  He does, however, still possess great hands and will be the #1 receiving option in Jacksonville.  We predict Holt’s numbers may take a modest boost from last year’s results, but don’t expect any more huge fantasy outings.  He is at best a #2 receiver this year on your team.

The biggest winner in our opinion is T.J Houshmandzadeh arriving in Seattle.  While there is decent WR talent on the Seahawks (Nate Burleson / Deion Branch), none can compare to the durable, reliable Housh.  We predict T.J. will make his presence felt immediately in Seattle and expect this offense to really take off this season.  QB Matt Hasselbeck is not nearly washed up yet, and is excellent in the mid-range passes where Houshmandzadeh excels.   Expect T.J. to get 8-10 TD’s  and minimum 1,200 yds receiving this year.  Seahawks fans are going to love this guy.  And so will you, if you take a chance on him during your draft. — Jeff Hagen

Fans headed wrong way

Psssst, hey fantasy footballers, hey NFL fans, hey America , we are going the wrong direction.  Our American athletes are getting stronger and stronger.  World records are falling right and left.  Athletes are bigger, stronger, faster, and leaner than they used to be, but wait, what about us fans?  Us fans, we are getting weaker, slower, and fatter than cheering crowds of old.  Oh, you want proof?  I have indisputable, scientific proof, but, as they say, a picture is worth 1,000 bits of indisputable, scientific proof.

Exhibit A. Sports fans of yore

 

Exhibit B: Sports fans of today

If that doesn’t say it all, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month reported that Americans are getting heavier and heavier and now 26% of us are now fully obese.  That is not the “overweight or obese” stat but the fully obese, 26%, wow. 

 That means you get any two American couples together, let’s say Bob and Cathy stop by Ken and Lisa’s house, one of those people, let’s say Bob, is obese.  The overweight OR obese stat also rose and is about two-thirds.  That means, Cathy and Lisa are most likely overweight.  That just leaves Ken.  In this little scenario, you want to be Ken. 

Bob, and to a lesser extent Cathy and Lisa, have higher risks for chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes. 

If you want to find out where you fit in all this, you can calculate your body mass index at lots of websites like this one.  Or, you can take just look at the photos above.  Whether you identify more with the first or second photo, we encourage you to check out our nutrition info. and our exercise info. and we welcome you to the Fantasy Healthball family.  If you love football, we can help you turn this around and get back going the right direction.  – Jim Ballard