Monthly Archives: July 2010

Snack Attack

Posted on July 29, 2010 | 1 Comment

NOOOOOO - Never

I don’t know about you, but summer time can be a killer for your nutrition schedule.  With activities for the kids taking us out of the house so much and then trying to keep up with work, house work, schedules, etc, a good eating routine can be killed by choosing the wrong snacks or ‘snacks of convenience.’

It seems so easy to grab chips, pop, candy just to have something to keep you going.  This is a dangerous road to go down.  The solution; make your own snacks of convenience that are healthy, readily available and made for ‘on the go’ lifestyles.

Here are a few of my fav’s that even my picky little eaters have no problem taking to the park.  Hey and the ones that require some prep…make enough to last a few days and involve the little darlings in.  When they get involved, they are more apt to eat it too without compromise.

  1. Sangwich’s (hey, in light of Jersey Shores premiering tonight). Make a few of your favorites in the morning or the night before, cut them in half and they are ready for on the fly living. My choices? Peanut butter (natural) and banana, organic honey, sugar free jam and left over meats. (I’m not a fan of deli meats since the are full of sodium.) Always on whole grain breads or wraps.
  2. Veggies. Carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, bell peppers…whatever you like. I have a container in the fridge with these always.  The kids know that they are a goto choice that they never have to ask for.  Some low fat or fat free salad dressing or dips make for a great add on to add some life to them.  Remember though, dip, not scoop.
  3. Deviled Eggs. These are something that have great protein, healthy fats and taste awesome with some celery, a little mustard and fat free mayo.  They keep well for only a couple of days. The kids love mashing up the yokes and piping the mix into the whites.
  4. Fruit. There is always fresh fruit around our table, counter and fridge. These are great on their own but I suggest fruit as a partner with the sandwich choice to slow the natural sugar uptake that the fruit provides.
  5. Salad. This a great way to get your veggies. Not the ideal on the go snack but for those times when you just want something to fill the gap, you are good to go.
  6. Trail Mix. Here is where I will go get the store bought version, but I do look for the ones that have not gone through a lot of processing.  Stay away from dried fruits and go with nuts and seed mixes. No salt, no sugars, just the good stuff. You can make your own, but the time and varieties…no thanks.  There are so many options available there is a taste for everyone.  Add some yogurt to it and you have a great, quick and easy hunger killer.

This makes me happy!

So, I know that there are a lot of other choices available. These are just a few of mine. Tell me what you do. Our readers would love to have as many options as they can and you might just have a great one too that I haven’t thought of, so share!

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Posted in Nutrition

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6 Minute Move It

Posted on July 26, 2010 | 6 Comments

Wow!! A lot of you watch Breakfast Television in the morning.  How do I know? We received some great feedback from all of you after seeing us on TV this morning.

That is where we introduced the “6 Minute Move It” Program.  This program is designed to get you moving in the morning.  A way to get the blood pumping and your muscles firing up.  You start you day like this and you can’t help but be better prepared mentally, physically and emotionally.

So here they are….the 6 exercises that you can use to get your day started right!

1.) Squats – The biggest muscle group in your body gets the first hit of attention.

2.) Lunges – The king of lower body blasting.

3.) Push-ups – Chest, shoulders, arms, back…a wake up call for your upper body.

4.) Crunches – Never forget the mid section.

5.) Tri-Cep dips – Guys…3 muscles, makes your arms pop. Ladies, have to control the chicken wings and keep them tight

6.) Jumping Jacks – Finish off with some low impact cardio.

Each exercise is one minute in duration with no rest in between.  If you can’t do one full minute, take a quick rest to allow your body to get ready to do it again or move onto the next exercise.  Either way you are working those muscles hard and when you do it everyday, it won’t be long until you are completing the minute.

Everyone of these exercises is simple, proven and you can scale them to your needs.  Lunges too easy for you? Grab a couple of 5 pound dumbbells and do them.  Push-ups too hard? Do them on your knees or against the foot board of your bed, or wall until you can do them properly.

The idea here is not to turn into the next fitness model on the cover of ‘Incredible Sexy Great Body”.  The goal here is to get your day started right.  Setting a tone for the week and making sure you are improving your life.

6 minutes a day.  For most of us, that means getting up when the alarm goes off instead of hitting snooze.  For some it means setting the alarm 10 minutes earlier than normal.  Either way…you can never have the excuses of time, equipment, or memberships again.

What do you think? Too much, too little? Can you do it…commit 6 minutes per day to your health, fitness and wellness? Let me now.  Would love to hear your feedback!

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Posted in Exercise

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What are your rewards?

Posted on July 18, 2010 | 1 Comment

I have talked many times about the importance of goal setting and that you must make your goals both reasonable and appropriate.  For example, an example of an unreasonable and inappropriate goal is to lose 100 pounds in three months.  Commendable yes, but not very realistic.

Excellent goals would be something like; losing 20 pounds in three months or losing two dress sizes in a month. Both are very reasonable and achievable.

Part setting goals is giving yourself a reward at the completion of increments of success.  Here is an example of one of my clients goals chart.

Week One

Increase total push ups by 10%

Increase total crunch’s by 10%

10 minutes at 6mph without stopping

3 pounds

3 overall inches

This is a great goal chart.  Without knowing where she started there is no way to tell by looking at this chart what kind of fitness level she had at the beginning, but we worked this out together and I’ll tell you, she hit each of these targets…and she worked hard to do it.  She combined great nutrition and a real commitment to these goals to do it.

One of the best parts of her goal setting was a great reward.  She was going on a trip and wanted to have a ‘beach body’ that she was happy with.  So when she made these goals, she went shopping and found three bathing suit that she really liked, but admittedly they didn’t like her.

After her goals were set for week two and she hit them, she bought those bathing suits.  Week three set and hit, she pulled the tags off and chucked the receipts…no turning back.  Week four???

We believed that some serious toning components needed to be built into her program.  By day five, she wore one of the bathing suits that only three weeks ago, didn’t like her…Now it lived her!!

She made great goals that had time commitments and a personal need, which worked for her.

I told you all this to tell you this story.  This week I was with a couple of my cousins who wanted to do fitness programs to help offset the aging process.  We sat down and worked out programs complete with goals and rewards, then we went to a gym to show them the exercises and how to use the equipment properly.

At the end of the session we went to a restaurant where they ordered drinks and the most fattening things on the menu.  All I could say was WTF??!!??

Their justification for these bone headed choices?? The work they had just done would offset the crap they were about to put into their mouths.  The good cancels the bad so they were even. They should have looked at it the other way…the gains they had just made would be shot down.

Sadly this is the thought process too many people have.  On a day by day basis this may be true, but on a month to month basis, the damage that occurs within your body far exceeds any benefit that any amount of exercise may offset.

The moral of this is simple…set good goals, reward yourself on attaining them and always consider the long-term destruction even small indulgences may cause to your over all goals.

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Don’t read this on an empty stomach

Posted on July 6, 2010 | 1 Comment

To lose body fat, you have to create a calorie deficit. Such are the laws of thermodynamics and energy balance. However, there’s more than one way to create a calorie deficit. One way is to decrease your calorie intake from food; (Ahem…not the Carrie way). The other is to increase the amount of calories you burn though exercise.

Burning the calories is the most effective method of the two.  This is because large calorie deficits cause muscle loss and trigger the starvation response. They slash their calories to starvation levels and exercise too little or not at all. This causes a decrease in lean body mass, sparks the starvation mechanism and creates the foundation for yo-yo dieting.

The most effective approach to fat loss is to eat more; Heck ya I said eat more!! (keep the calorie reduction small) and let the exercise burn the fat. (Insert Fitness Boot Camp here).  You don’t starve yourself – you just have to choose the right foods and make exercise a part of your lifestyle.

It makes more sense to me to eat and move my body than to starve myself and…what?  Starve myself…uhm, no. I eat, I exercise and I keep the weight and fat off.

This is Boot Camp Math:

Resistance Training + Sensible Cardio + Proper Nutrition = Fat Loss

No need to church it up anymore than that…it really is kind of simple.

Boot camp is the perfect combination of exercises in the right progression.

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Posted in Uncategorized

This waste of money brought to you by…”?”

Posted on July 5, 2010 | 5 Comments

I was recently in a bookstore looking for a specific title by a doctor when I got stopped in my tracks at the fitness section.  There were a couple of new books out by celebrities and quasi celebs.

I had a chuckle with a few of them and shed a tear at others.

When I got home I was curious just to see how many celebrities have actually written health books.  I got tired of looking at names…so, try a Google Search; 27.2 million results under “Celebrity Fitness Books”

Now I know that there hasn’t been that many…thank God, but compare that to Doctor Fitness Books = 10.8 million results.

I honestly don’t trust fitness to doctor’s or celebrities.  Health to doctor’s YES, fitness, not so much. Celebrities?? LOL. Sure, paid to exercise, private chefs, personal trainers, dieticians, micro and macro nutritionists…no celebrities are not who I turn to either.

I have my own idols who I look up to in the health and fitness industry…most you will never have heard of, others you might have heard of, but only because they have been consultants to the celebrities.

Want to know a secret about health and fitness?  ITS BASIC!  No magic program, no magic pill, no special herb from Botswana and no piece of equipment that “works, moves and shapes you” like no other piece of equipment before it.

Don’t be sold by a name…don’t waste your money on the latest fad.  All the crap out there is only clouding the issue and confusing the vast majority of us.

As a client and friend mentioned to me, her “mother out law” has at least 3 dozen books by celebs…the results??? Uhm, not what she was promised by the book jackets to say the least.  Does anyone know anyone who has had great success and continued that success?  Me neither.  You might have results…but do you have success? There is a difference.

Don’t waste your money. Here is the secret…pass it on;

Eat nutritionally sound meals, eat them often, hydrate, train using resistance and sleep.

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Posted in Exercise, Nutrition

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