A couple of weeks ago I sent out a list of my favorite breakfast recipes and I received a lot of requests to make a list of healthy snacks as well. These are the meals you eat between your main meals (b-fast, lunch, and dinner). These are extremely important meals and cannot be skipped. I often hear people say they missed a meal because they just didn’t know what to eat. Well, after reading this, that should no longer be an issue. So, without further adieu…here is a list of some of my favorite healthy snacks.
Cottage Cheese and a Fruit/Veggie Mix
½ cup low fat or fat free cottage cheese
Fruit of choice (i.e. apples, berries, banana, etc)
Veggie of choice (i.e. carrots, broccoli, etc)
Leftovers
When you are eating 5-6 meals a day there really is no distinction between snacks and meals even though they are called something different. For mid-meal snacks I often just eat leftovers from the day before. Don’t be afraid to do the same.
Nuts, Turkey Slices, Triscuits (here you get healthy fats, protein, complex carbs)
Handfuls of Almonds, walnuts, etc
4-5 Turkey slices
5-6 Triscuit crackers
Hard Boiled Eggs and Fruit
2-3 hard boiled eggs
Fruit of choice
Homemade Whole Wheat Pita Chips and Hummus
Cut whole wheat pita bread into small triangles. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake in the oven at 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Dip in hummus. For added protein you can have a low fat cheese stick, turkey slices, lean ham slices
Some other ideas to consider
Low fat cheese sticks and fruit, Protein shakes and fruit, Peanut butter and low sugar jelly sandwich (go light on the jelly)
Hopefully that gives you some ideas. These are only a few of your options. Feel free to experiment and come up with your own healthy recipes. When you do, pass them along!
If you are serious about getting lean…you must exorcise the demons!
You may be wondering, what in the world could I mean by exorcizing the demons? What do demons have to do with my physique? Where can I find these demons??? Well, all you have to do open your pantry, cupboard, or fridge and the demons will be staring you in the face. That’s right, the demons I am referring to are those unhealthy foods that we inexplicitly keep in our house even though we KNOW that they are keeping us from accomplishing our goals.
Even if you have kids or your husband is John Goodman, there is no good reason to have a house full ice cream, cookies, and Doritos. This is especially true if you have a weakness for these foods. If you have a soft spot in your heart for ice cream, more often than not you are going to forego the cottage cheese and fruit for several spoon fulls of Chunky Munkey. So why live with the temptation? Life is hard and stressful enough as is. There’s no need to try to resist those creamy delights when you get hungry. That’s just miserable.
But, what if those foods weren’t around? What if when you got a craving for chocolate chip cookies, there were none in the house? I’ll tell you what…you wouldn’t eat them! Those who are truly successful at fat loss are the ones who do not continue to surround themselves with crappy yet delicious foods. We are not super heroes after all. We will all give in after a while.
And did you know that eating a few chips, a cookie, and couple of pieces of candy in a day can add 500 calories to your day? That’s 3500 calories a week and 182,000 in a year. That is an incredible number. It is also senseless. A few chips, cookies, and a piece of candy may not seem like a lot…but as you can see it is. But if these items weren’t in the house then that would be 182,000 fewer calories you would eat in a year. How much fat could you burn if that were the case?
So, if you are serious about fat loss and you really want a body that won’t quit this summer, perform a kitchen exorcism today! Get the junk out! And don’t worry about what your children or spouse will eat because guess what? They don’t need it either!! There are plenty of healthy snacks out there that your family will eat. They may resist at first but over time they will thank you!
Some of you reading this will ignore the advice and continue to keep the bad food in the house but please know that you do so at your own peril. Unless you have unworldly will power your body will never transform and you will never look how you always dreamed!
***If you are considering performing a kitchen exorcism but feel guilty about throwing out food, then take the food to a food bank or your local church. This way you can get fit and feed the hungry at the same time!!
Quotes of the Week
Processed foods not only extend the shelf life, but they extend the waistline as well
-Karen Sessions
Our health always seems much more valuable after we lose it
-Unknown
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,
Jason
P.S. To register for your FREE BodyBack! Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:
www.BodyBackBootCamps.com
Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works! There is no better time to begin getting fit than January. Be sure to register now as spots fill up VERY fast this time of year!
If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!
Delicious (and healthy) Breakfast Ideas
As most of you know, I teach that to optimize fat burning you must eat 5-6 smaller meals a day. These meals obviously begin with breakfast. Breakfast has been touted as the most important meal of the day and for good reason. Breakfast not only jump starts the metabolism for the day but it also stabilizes blood sugar helping you make better food choices throughout the day.
Although most of us know that breakfast is important, I still get people telling me that they skip breakfast because they aren’t hungry, or they don’t like eggs, or they get sick of eating the same things. So in an effort to help the cause, I put together seven of my favorite breakfast recipes for your devouring pleasure. Hopefully you will find one or two that tickle your fancy (my grandmother used to say that : )
Here they are:
French Toast
2-3 slices of whole wheat bread
2 eggs or 1 egg and 1 egg white
½ cup skim milk
1 tspn Cinnamon
1 tspn Vanilla extract
Sugar free syrup or fruit
Directions: Mix eggs, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and milk in bowls. Dip bread in mixture coating both sides. Cook in pan until golden brown on both sides and all egg is cooked. Top with sugar free syrup and/or fresh fruit.
Protein Pancakes
1 cup LF cottage cheese
1 cup plain uncooked oatmeal
6 egg whites
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
Directions: Put above ingredients in a blender and blend into a batter. Heat skillet to medium/medium high. Pour batter onto hot skillet, cook on each side until done.
Omelet
2-3 eggs (or 2 eggs and one egg white)
Salt and pepper to taste
Veggies of choice
Low fat ham
Low fat cheese
Directions: Spray a 10- or 12-inch non-stick or cast iron skillet with a thin coating of cooking spray, and heat over medium heat. Beat eggs, salt and pepper until light and fluffy. When skillet is hot, pour the egg mixture in. As the omelet starts to set, lift an edge of the omelet with a spatula and tilt the pan so that the runny, unset portion of the omelet can run underneath and start to set. Repeat on the opposite side. When the omelet is just about completely set, sprinkle the cheese, ham, and veggies over half of the omelet. Fold the other half over the “toppings” half. Slide onto a plate, and serve.
Serve with fruit
Breakfast Shake
½ cup uncooked oatmeal
1-2 scoops of protein powder (your flavor of choice)
1 serving of fruit (again, your choice)
1½ cups of skim milk
Ice
Directions: Put above ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Pour into glass and enjoy!
Parfait
1 cup of low sugar/low fat yogurt
1 serving of fruit (your choice)
Low fat/low sugar granola
Directions: Top yogurt with fruits and sprinkle with granola. This is very low calorie and carb heavy so have this with eggs or another lean protein.
Homemade egg mcmuffin
1 whole wheat English muffin
2 eggs (scrambled or fried)
1 piece of Canadian bacon
1/8 cup of low fat cheese
Directions: Cook the eggs and brown the Canadian bacon. Top the eggs with cheese and place everything into the English muffin.
Protein Oatmeal
1 serving of low sugar oatmeal
2 scoops of protein powder
Directions: Mix oatmeal with water or milk and cook per the directions on the container. Stir in protein powder and serve. This should be served with 1-2 eggs and 1 piece of fruit.
Energy Drinks-Good? Bad? Or is it all in your mind???
Over the past few years energy drinks have become all the rage. Red Bull started this phenomenon and the industry has literally exploded. There are energy drinks out there called Monster, Rock Star, Full Throttle, Amp, Venom, and even Crunk. Sounds delicious, huh?
So, are these energy drinks really doing what they say they are…giving us energy? A few months ago I read a study that looked into the energy drink trend and this is what they found:
They broke the participants into 2 large focus groups. Group one was given a typical energy drink and were told that the drink would increase their strength, endurance, and energy output.
Group two was given the same drink but they were not told it was an energy drink and were not told anything about the effect it would have on their energy, strength, and endurance.
The results were that group one showed an increase in overall strength and endurance while group two showed no measurable change.
So what does this tell us? This study shows that energy drinks themselves have little to no effect on energy, strength, and endurance. The chemicals in these drinks do not translate to energy in the body. True energy comes from carbohydrates not taurine or caffeine or any of the other items in energy drinks.
The fact that group one had increases shows that it was their mind that caused the increases. When they were told that the drink would cause these increases to happen their mind believed it so it happened. This shows just how powerful the mind is. If you believe you can do something you probably will.
So the next time you are looking for a bump in energy stay away from the Crunk Juice and opt instead for complex carbs and a good night’s sleep!
Myth Buster-Heating Olive Oil Makes it Less Healthy
This is a question I have gotten quite a bit lately. Somehow a rumor got out that heating olive oil lessens its nutritional value. This is actually far from the truth. While heating olive oil to excessive temperatures COULD evaporate the alcohols and esters (these are what give olive oil its delicate taste and fragrance) causing the taste and smell to be effected, heat has no discernable effect on the nutritional content.
Some oils can transform into trans-fatty oils when heated but olive oil is not one of them. Olive oil is highly monounsaturated so it is very resistant to oxygenation and hydrogenation. Oxygenation and hydrogenation are what cause oils to transform into trans-fatty oils.
So, feel free to cook with olive oil at your leisure knowing that you are consuming a wonderful source of essential fatty acids.
Quotes of the Week
“What looks good to the eyes is forever on your thighs”
-Author Unknown
“I’ve been on a low calorie diet for 2 weeks and all I’ve lost is 14 days of my life”
-Totie Fields
Your Fitness Coach,
Jason
P.S. To register for your FREE BodyBack! Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:
www.BodyBackBootCamps.com
Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works! There is no better time to begin getting fit than January. Be sure to register now as spots fill up VERY fast this time of year!
If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!
Please excuse me…for some reason I am in the mood to rant. This doesn’t happen often but when it does, watch out : ) I just need to get something off of my chest so here it goes…
I began in this industry 16 years ago and let’s just say I have heard every excuse in the book for why someone can’t exercise or commit to a nutrition and exercise routine. I have heard everything from “I can’t start exercising right now because I am getting my kitchen remodeled”…huh? (I guess she keeps her elliptical next to the fridge) to “I refuse to exercise because I think sweat is gross”. These may sound outlandish but they were heard with my own ears.
Some of the excuses I get are comical but they are also frustrating. Whether it’s lack of time (the worst excuse in the world), illness, lack of knowledge; excuses are just that…excuses. Excuses are peoples way of avoiding the perceived “pain” of committing to an exercise routine when in reality the real pain is a life void of health, energy, self confidence, and most importantly happiness.
Well, enough is enough!
This is real life and most of us live in the real world (except for the the lady who couldn’t exercise because her kitchen was being remodeled-I’m not sure what crazy culinary world she is living in). Since when can anything of worth be accomplished without hard work?
I can’t tell you how often I hear, “I can only workout 2-3 days a week. That’s all I have time for.” Well guess what? That’s not enough!
When you began a new job or career I am sure you wanted to be successful. When you were hired did you tell your boss that you are thrilled to have the job but you can only commit to 2 days a week because that’s all you have time for? Why not? Because there would have been consequences…like getting fired!
When you had kids (if you have them) did you only feed them and care for them 3 days a week because your schedule was just too chaotic? No, you made the kids a priority so their needs were always met. Had you not there would have been consequences.
When you got married did you say “I promise to take thee in sickness and health…but only when the schedule allows because work is bananas these days”? Of course not… Unless your name is Tiger Woods you make time for your spouse because the consequences of not doing so are huge (i.e. an unhappy marriage or divorce)
So I ask, what are the consequences of neglecting your health and fitness? Are they not equal to or worse than what I described above? While most of the consequences of this neglect are well known: obesity, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low energy, increased risk of heart disease, trouble sleeping, low self-esteem, DEATH, etc; there is one consequence that is often over looked…happiness or lack thereof.
This may seem silly or a bit generic but isn’t happiness the one thing we are ALL in search of? What is life without happiness? I will submit to you that ultimate happiness is not attainable unless you have health AND fitness. This may seem a bit trite coming from a health and fitness professional but the facts here are indisputable. How happy can you be when you feel like crap? How happy can you be when you have little to no self confidence due to your weight? What kind of life is it when you struggle to look in the mirror? Can you really be the best wife, husband, mother, father, son, daughter, or friend under the circumstances? There is absolutely no way.
I think sometimes people convince themselves that they are happy being overweight. They brag that they are “large and in charge and proud of it”. When I hear this I am reminded of an interview I saw a few years ago with Queen Latifah (you know the budding actress and hip-hop “Goddess”). She is overweight and was asked how she feels about it. She gave the typical, “I love my body”, “I am happy being overweight”, “I feel that I am a role model for curvy women everywhere”, etc. Not one calendar year later she became a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.
How happy could she have been to become a spokesperson for a weight loss company. Sure she got paid but do you really believe she was happier being overweight? No, she just convinced herself that she was.
I believe that when people come to me for help with their health and fitness it is not weight loss that they are truly looking for. Sure they want to lose 10, 15, 20 lbs or more but what they really want is to be happy. They hope that losing weight and getting fit will bring them the happiness they had earlier in life or never had at all. The problem is that most people quit before happiness is attained. Take minute to think about this. Does this apply to you? No…don’t keep reading. Stop and think, I’ll wait… : )
If it does apply to you then everything I wrote above should make sense. I am not trying to say that being healthy and fit alone will bring you ultimate happiness but is sure helps. It’s like when people say that money won’t buy happiness, well it doesn’t hurt. I am just saying that being happy without it is next to impossible.
I’m sure there are some who are reading this and vehemently disagree and that’s okay. I don’t expect everyone to agree with everything I say. But for those who get it and truly want happiness, your health and fitness is a great place to start.
So that’s why I say enough is enough. If the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc are not enough of a motivator (and apparently they are not because obesity rates continue to sky rocket) then how about happiness. The fact that we as a society can turn our backs on health and fitness when the benefits are so vast is beyond me, but that is exactly what we are doing.
The ultimate quest in life for human beings is happiness and health is a necessary tool in achieving it. So rid yourself of excuses. Do not allow yourself to sabotage your life’s dream. And sabotage is exactly what it is. Whether you are remodeling the kitchen or you find sweat to be yucky, let nothing stand in the way of you becoming a better wife, husband, mother, or father. Let nothing stand in the way of achieving health, fitness, peace of mind, serenity, and above all else…happiness.
Okay, I just stepped off of my soap box. Hopefully this rant has inspired somebody to get up, take control, and go find happiness. Because it is not going to come find you!
Cheers!
Jason
P.S. To register for your FREE BodyBack! Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:
www.BodyBackBootCamps.com
Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works! There is no better time to begin getting fit than January. Be sure to register now as spots fill up VERY fast this time of year!
If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!
Want to annoy a fitness trainer? Repeatedly tell him or her you don’t have any time. Here I go again, gotta stop before I offend. Really though…it’s not so much that we get annoyed, it’s more out of frustration of knowing what we know, teaching, and seeing the consequences of the self sabotage of “not having enough time”. Think about it. How often do those words come out of your mouth? I’ll bet quite a bit. Along with the old, “things were just crazy this week”, and “I was going to, but….”. Now, don’t misunderstand, I get it. I’ve been there. I am there. I do understand that there are time constraints to your daily and weekly routines, and sometimes they really throw you for a loop. We trainers are guilty of falling into the same traps…so you’re not alone. What we do know, and I can speak from experience, is that the more these excuses come out of your mouth, the more the body fat goes up. That’s where we come in….
I know what you’re looking for. You want life to be convenient. We all want that. Problem is, there are not always easy solutions to complicated problems…like fitting in exercise and a healthy eating regimen into your life. So, in the spirit of offering solutions to time issues, I’ve come up with a bunch of time-saving tips that can aid you in your fitness quest. Some of these may be obvious, and some not so much, but at least if you take a few of these and apply them…you’ll be much better off. Here they are…
First, let’s start with cardio. It’s easy to skip cardio on a day that you don’t have a date with a trainer. What does that tell you is the problem? Yep, the appointment. You have a calendar for everything else, so schedule your cardio sessions with yourself, just as you would with your trainer. That might eliminate many problems right there. OK, now let’s assume you are booked to the brim on cardio day. A few things you can try…
1) Cardio at kids sporting events – most of these events have grass fields, and/or bleachers. How bout some sprints? You’ll most
certainly have some time during warm-ups to give yourself a quick 10-15 minute burst. You might even start a trend.
2) Cardio during your lunch break – I’ve often seen folks walking/running in the parking lots of various businesses during lunch breaks. Clients have often talked to me about running stairs in their office buildings, if they have them. Another thing, too, you might even be more productive at work if you can step away for a half hour and get your body moving. If nothing else, take 10 minutes during a lunch break in your office and stretch. (for you sedentary job folks)
3) Cardio before breakfast instead of coffee time – nothing wakes you up better than an invigorating workout. Many of us rely on the false “energy” of a cup of coffee. You could get a great interval workout in the time it would take you to sit awhile and drink a cup of coffee, and you might ween yourself off the dehydrating beverage (as tasty as it is)
4) Cardio while you are watching Grey’s Anatomy – an obvious one, but why not use the time that you sit to watch your favorite shows as a fat blasting cardio session?
Next, let’s talk a little nutrition. If someone asked me the question I get asked the most from a nutrition standpoint, it would be….”what bars are good?” I know why I get asked it. All you have to do is unwrap the little package and go to town. Truth is, and we’ve talked about this, is the more you live out of a wrapper, box, can, etc, etc, the worse off your body’s ability to burn fat will be. There are some decent options, many of which we have, or will talk about during our grocery tours, but from our teachings you know that 15 grams of sugar, or 6 grams of saturated fat are hardly a recipe for burning fat all day long. So, the first thing I will do is give you a list of tips that can help you throughout your day, then I will give you a few examples of actual snack combinations you can roll with to make things a bit easier.
1) Cooler in the car – took me awhile to get to this one, but for Christmas my wife bought me a cooler for the car that plugs into the little outlet thingy. I think Igloo makes it (who else). Some days I’m in the car for 3 or 4 hours, driving all around town. Can you relate? At least if I have something to keep some healthy food cool, I’ll be less apt to stop at a Chik-Fil-A.
2) Planning ahead – sounds silly, but this might be the thing that gets us in trouble the most. If you go into your day not having any idea about how your eating regimen will go, odds are the outcome will be “ehh”. Not saying you have to pull out a spreadsheet and plan to the tee, but an idea of how your day will go can be huge, and might be the thing that can help you the most.
3) Cooking the night before, or on Sunday – an old practice of Kelly and I is to cook a few meals on Sunday night for the week ahead. If you were planning on cooking every night anyway, why not double, or even triple up the recipes so you have lunches and snacks for the days ahead? That way you are not scrambling for lunch the next day. Doesn’t even have to be full meals too, as you can boil up some eggs for breakfast so you don’t have to stand in front of the stove the next morning while getting the kids ready.
Here are some quick, healthy options to keep you fueled when you’re on the go…
1. Cottage cheese and fruit - preferably lower, sugar, higher fiber options like berries and apples
2. Low fat cheese and low fat Triscuits – Cabot has a great 75% leaner cheese that you can slice up and take with you in your new cooler
3. Low fat cheese and fruit
4. Boars Head Lean deli meats with fruit, or Triscuits – stick with only a serving of the triscuits, as the carbs can add up
5. Bars – though I am not crazy about them, some are OK every once in awhile. Try to use them only as a last resort. Pure Protein, Zone, Kashi Roll Bars, Luna, and South Beach are some of your better options, but again, even these may have a bit too much sugar as compared to protein and fiber. Shaklee puts out a pretty healthy bar, and can be ordered through me, if you are interested.
6. Deviled eggs with hummus – instead of the traditional recipe for deviled eggs, use hummus instead of the usual concoction with the egg yolk. The hummus, though still high in fat (the good kind, at least), is a lower saturated fat option, and offers a good source of carbohydrate (with having a chick pea base)
7. Non-Fat Greek Yogurt -seems to be the rage. Truth is, this stuff tastes like sour cream. So, the trick is to drizzle a little honey (and I mean a little drizzle) and add some walnuts, and maybe a little fruit if you don’t like honey. Greek yogurt is packed with protein, so it can be a great snack or mid-meal source of the stuff.
Finally, what about actual resistance workouts? Sometimes we just can’t make boot camp, be it because the kids are sick, or you are out of town. What do you do? For starters…
1) Body weight workouts – you can do wonders with your own body weight. You can get a great workout in 20 minutes in a hotel room, or in front of the TV by using your own bodyweight. While it may not be as great as a full hour workout at camp, you can at least do enough to 
keep pace and not lose a step. Squats, hip raises, situps/crunches, and dips are just some of the basics you can blast your body with in a short period of time. See your trainer for some ideas in this realm.
2) Basic weight circuits – take some time to learn the basics of weight training…ie squats, pulls, rows, etc so that you can do your own workout with free weights or machines if you have them. You can also use resistance bands. They are light weight and portable so you can take them along on trips. Again, your trainer can give you a basic circuit to do if you are out of town, or have some weights in your basement.
3) Practice while you cook or are hanging around the house – this may seem silly, but you can practice some moves that you might be having some trouble with in your kitchen while you cook. Beginners can practice squats with the help of the counter to stabilize. In addition, those of you who have balance issues can work on this aspect of fitness by simply standing on one leg at a time for a given time period, and use the counter to keep you from falling. Working on these things at home can make for much more effective workouts during boot camp.
There you have it. All of this seems simple, but you must take the time to apply some of this stuff. Sometimes it’s the little things that hold us back from achieving the body we want. Use some of these quick solutions and get a little momentum going. If you are still having trouble, ask yourself the question…was time really the issue, or something else? Something to think about the next time you tell someone, or yourself that you don’t have time. Perhaps that makes you uncomfortable? That’s OK..it’s how we grow. So start out with one or two of these, and let the good habits perpetuate. Good luck!
Your trusted health and fitness expert,
Jason
P.S. To register for your FREE BodyBack! Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:
www.BodyBackBootCamps.com
Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works! There is no better time to begin getting fit than January. Be sure to register now as spots fill up VERY fast this time of year!
If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!
Client Contest
We are approaching week 4 of our client contest! Time flies when you are having fun! If anyone would like to schedule an assessment for the half way mark, please e-mail Katherine (Katherine@bodybackbootcamps.com). I prefer to do them on Tuesday and Thursdays but if those days don’t work, we can work it out! Everyone is doing such a great job and have really increased their intensity! Awesome! Here are some recent pictures from boot camp from last week.
Marietta 5K
Many of you are signed up for the Inaugural Marietta Mardi Gras 5K Run on Saturday, February 13th! We will all try to meet before the race (location TBA) and be sure to wear your BodyBack! t-shirts! Way to represent! www.marietta5k.com to get signed up! Join us in the fun!
Warrior Dash
If you haven’t heard of this yet, then buckle up! This is going to be a wild ride! Me, along with several boot campers (and their friends and family) are getting signed up for the Warrior Dash on May 22nd in the north Georgia mountains. What’s better than running a 5K muddy obstacle course in the mountains with your fellow boot campers? I can’t think of anything! : ) www.warriordash.com for more details and registration.
What is the most vital element to humans on earth? Yep, you guessed it…oxygen. Our body’s cells require oxygen to function. You probably already knew that, right? The thing is, however, that most of you are probably not getting enough oxygen in your lives. What do I mean? Well, for starters, you people are shallow (breathers, that is 
What do I mean by breathing shallow? It means that you are breathing in a way that does not exercise your diaphragm, or does not draw oxygen into the body optimally. The diaphragm is your primary breathing muscle. It’s located between the thorax and abdomen. Most of us are “chest” breathers. We take in oxygen by just filling up our lungs, and not from the diaphragm up (explained later). We probably only take in a few proper breaths per day, and usually it’s by accident. There are a variety of problems that arise from not taking long, deep breaths on a regular basis. Some of them include…
•Cardiovascular issues – breathing and the heart go hand in hand – through diaphragmatic breathing, circulation is actually improved. In fact, there have been many studies that show a direct correlation between regular diaphragmatic breathing and decrease in incidence of heart trauma such as heart attacks.
•Stress – the body likes oxygen.
•Visceral issues (gut) – believe it or not, movement of the diaphragm actually massages the gut, and promotes regularity.
•Orthopedic issues – starts to arise through bad posture, even though posture can be both a cause and effect of prolonged poor breathing techniques
Some of the things that cause us to breathe improperly are…
• Walking surfaces – Flat walking surfaces force you to shift breathing muscles to be used to stabilize other body parts. That action takes away from your body’s ability to breathe deeply and properly.
• Stress - stress (any kind) causes us to breathe primarily from the chest.
• Posture – Bad posture causes our diaphragm to work improperly. Inevitably, other accessory breathing muscles have to pick up the slack to compensate. In many cases, this causes a variety of nagging health issues such as muscle tension and headaches.
• Poor Nutrition – Even though your diaphragm massages your gut (including the stomach, intestines, kidneys, etc), the gut can still become inflamed due to the poor quality of the food that we eat today…namely through additives and preservatives, pesticides, hormones, etc. This stuff wreaks havoc on our vital organs, and the subsequent inflammation of these very organs pushes on the diaphragm, decreasing its effectiveness.
Breathing during exercise…
There are a few things to consider when determining how to breathe during exercise. The first being what kind of exercise you are doing. Take weights/resistance training for example. The old school train of thought was that you were to exhale when you contracted during an exercise, and inhale on the relaxed part of the exercise. I’ll use the shoulder press as an example. When you push the two dumbbells up over you head, you exhale. When you lower them, you inhale. The theory behind this is that you bring more power to the move by activating your core muscles a bit more. This is actually a pretty good rule of thumb, especially if you are a beginner. It will allow you to train in a way that develops a breathing pattern that is normal during exercise.
Things will progress, however, and your breathing pattern might have to change a bit as you get fitter, and become more experienced. The problem with the “exhale upon contraction” theory is that it doesn’t account for variations in the speed of the exercise you are doing. Let’s say you were doing a particular exercise rather quickly. It wouldn’t really make sense to breathe in and out really quickly to keep up with the pace of the contractions. You’d hyperventilate! So what’s an athlete to do during exercise?
Well, first and foremost, you need to breathe. Sounds silly, but anyone who has gone through a tough workout has held their 
breath for longer than they should have at some point or another. It’s a natural reaction to stress. Problem is, when you hold your breath, the pressure inside your body increases quite a bit. At the very least, you can feel a little dizzy, or even pass out. At worst, it could cause a stroke, which can obviously be fatal. This would be an extreme circumstance, however, and would only happen during a period of extreme stress. They call this the Valsalva maneuver, and it happens when there is a forced expiration against a closed airway, raising your blood pressure in a major way. Why take the chance though?
So how should you breathe? The simple answer is normally. Don’t worry so much about the “inhale on the contraction” and “exhale on the relaxation” portions of whatever exercise you are doing, (especially when doing a lot of functional-type training like we do in boot camp). That’s more applicable to the traditional weight training moves that are slower and more controlled (and there are some exceptions with certain moves). It’s more about remembering to do so, if not every repetition, then every other repetition. If you are going fast, perhaps it’s every 3 or 4 reps, but the point is that you are getting a regular, deep breath on a frequent basis.
During cardio, it’s important to pay attention to whether or not you can get a deep breath. If you are unable, you might be working too hard, or perhaps have started too quickly without getting into a rhythm. It might take a little time to figure out a comfortable breathing pattern for you during a steady-state, longer duration cardio session (i.e. 20-30 minutes). Sprints are a different story, as in an all out sprint; your body is going to probably only get in a deep breath or two.
So How Can We Breathe Better?….
First we start with the practice of breathing diaphragmatically. First, it is important to know that the breathing this way helps the body to absorb more oxygen (good news). When you breathe through your chest (as most people do), there is not as much oxygen exchanged in the lower part of the lungs (or not as much with each breath). When this happens, you increase the rate of breathing. Essentially, through diaphragmatic breathing you decrease the work that your lungs have to put in to get the oxygen you need. A diaphragmatic breath is marked by an expansion of the abdomen. The old school test would be to place a small bottle of water on your tummy while lying down. If the bottle rises and falls, kind of like sticking your tummy out as you draw in a slow breath, you are engaging your diaphragm. The perfect breath of fresh air would be diaphragmatic breath at the first part of the breath, and an expanding fill of air into the chest at the last part of the breath. Then you’re good to go!
I’ll give you the best example of how good oxygen flow can improve your overall state of being, and quite frankly make you feel better in a matter of seconds. Whenever I’m feeling a little run down, I take a couple of minutes to focus on my breathing. I take 10 slow, deep diaphragmatic breaths, and voila, I immediately feel more refreshed, relaxed, and focused. Let’s face it, wouldn’t most of the tasks we do on a daily basis go ten times smoother if we were at least a little more refreshed, relaxed, and focused? So, my challenge to you would be to take a minute or two whenever you are feeling a little run down, and practice this technique. I defy you to tell me you don’t feel much better. Funny things happen when you give your body what it wants. Things start kicking on all cylinders.
Just some thoughts about something that we totally take for granted. Start with 5 minutes early in the day, and 5 minutes later on in the day to practice diaphragmatic breathing, and it will become second nature.
To Your Health,
Jason
P.S. To register for your FREE BodyBack! Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:
www.BodyBackBootCamps.com
Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works! There is no better time to begin getting fit than January. Be sure to register now as spots fill up VERY fast this time of year!
If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!
I often hear people blaming their metabolism, or lack thereof, on why they are overweight and out of shape. While it is indeed true that the metabolism slows as we age, this is not a sentence to a life of obesity nor is it an excuse to give up hope and let yourself go. The decrease in metabolism is slow and consistent and does not just happen overnight. There is hope and there is a way to completely change your metabolism starting today!
The truth is we are not victims of our metabolism; we are the creator of it. Whatever type of metabolism we have is almost always because of the lifestyle choices we have made. I say almost always because there are medical issues and metabolic disorders that can cause a sharp decline in metabolism and that are completely out of our control. But that is a relatively small percentage of us.
The good news is that whatever life choices you have made to get where you are, they can be changed and your metabolism can be reversed.
There are several reasons that our metabolisms begin to slow once we get into our late 20’s and early 30’s. Some are obvious while some may not be. First, our muscles begin to atrophy (burn away) naturally once we get into our 30’s. Lean muscle burns fat and increases the caloric expenditure in the body. When you lose it, you burn fewer calories a day thereby lowering your metabolism.
Second, when we get into our mid 20’s we suddenly have way more responsibility (i.e. a job) and less free time. This leads to inactivity. It’s far easier to get out and exercise and play sports when you don’t have a 9 to 5 weighing you down.
On top of having a job, the mid 20’s/early 30’s is when most get married and begin having children. Nothing zaps away free time like a job and family. It becomes increasingly more difficult to squeeze in a workout and prepare healthy meal s when you are spending your time at work and/or changing diapers and cleaning up the endless mess around the house.
Not only do these things take away our free time, they also increase stress. Stress is lean muscle’s worst enemy and body fat’s best friend. Stress causes the body to produce more Cortisol which robs the body of muscle tissue and signals the body to store more fat.
Adding to the stress is the fact that we get less and less sleep as our responsibilities increase. Lack of sleep also causes a spike in Cortisol and leaves us feeling lethargic which makes it even harder to exercise.
Last, and certainly not least, everything I said above combined with poor nutrition (and /pregnancy child birth if you are a woman) throw your hormones for a loop. If you want a quick way to pack on the pounds and lower your metabolism, allow your hormones to get out of whack. Stabilizing hormones is essential if you want to be lean and fit.
As you can see, it’s pretty obvious why our waist lines expand as we age. But hopefully you can see how it is 100% controllable and fixable.
It all goes back to being healthy and sticking to an exercise and nutrition program. You can avoid muscle atrophy by doing resistance training workouts 2-3 times a week. Resistance training builds lean muscle which helps keep your metabolism humming along.
You can reduce stress in your life by forcing yourself to get more sleep. This is tough for some but the payoff is huge. Your goal should be 7-9 hours a night. The result is less stress and more energy…not too shabby!
Committing to a regular exercise program will also reduce stress. Exercise releases stress reducing endorphins which elevate mood and help make us happier people! Cap this off with quality nutrition and you will have the metabolism of a twenty year old and all your friends will grow to hate you…but at least you will look good : )
So there is hope. You can have the metabolism of your dreams! All you have to do is commit to being healthy…is that too much to ask?
Fish Oil vs. Flaxseed Oil
Health food stores are jam packed with flaxseed oil and fish oil. These supplements are exploding in 
popularity and for good reason. We are not getting enough of these essential fatty acids (EFA) in our everyday diet. I am a big fan of EFA supplementation. EFA’s do so many wonderful things for our health and they can even help you burn body fat : ) We need to consume EFA’s but we need to consume the best and most complete ones.
That’s why many experts say that fish oil is superior to flaxseed oil. Fish oil is a complete omega-3 fatty acid while flaxseed is not. This means fish oil will be more effective once inside the body. There is also research that states that too much flaxseed oil can increase the number of free radicals inside the body. Free radicals in the body can lead to many different diseases including cancer.
Research on this is relatively new but for now choose fish oil over flaxseed oil to be safe. As I said in a previous article, if t he taste of fish oil is just too nasty for you, krill oil is a great substitute. You can also get fish oil in a capsule which eliminates the fishy taste.
Quotes of the Month
“If it wasn’t for dogs, some people would never go for a walk”
“So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.” A.J. Reb Materi
To Your Health,
Jason
P.S. To register for your FREE BodyBack! Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:
www.BodyBackBootCamps.com
Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works! There is no better time to begin getting fit than January. Be sure to register now as spots fill up VERY fast this time of year!
If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!
We are always looking for more ways to burn more calories and in turn burn away more stubborn fat. Common sense says to exercise and eat better and rightfully so. While that is the right way to go, there is a super sneaky way to burn an extra 2000 calories a day without adding any additional exercise to your routine.
How is this possible? Introducing…N.E.A.T.
What is N.E.A.T.? This is a relatively new acronym that is gaining steam very quickly. N.E.A.T. stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenisis. Although it sounds complicated, the concept is not. The meaning is actually very simple: spontaneous activity. Spontaneous movement is any movement that you perform in a day. For example, getting up and walking to the restroom is spontaneous activity. In fact, every time you stand up and move you are engaging in N.E.A.T. and you know what else…you are burning calories. Every time you move you burn calories.
It stands to reason that the more you simply move, the more calories you burn. This may sound too 
simplistic to be effective but nothing could be farther from the truth. We are just beginning to realize the power of N.E.A.T. As I said above, if you make a concerted effort to move more throughout the day, there is potential to burn an additional 2000 calories a day. That is a staggering number!
Recent studies show that:
• Obese people sit for 164 minutes longer than lean people
• Lean people were upright for 153 minutes longer a day than obese people
• The lean group burned an average of 350 extra calories each day (36 lbs a year) by walking and standing more throughout the day.
If that isn’t enough to get you off the couch or out of the chair, then I don’t know what will.
In the study neither the lean people nor the obese people participated in any additional exercise. The calories burned were a direct result of simply…moving more.
Here are some ideas that you can put into practice today to help you achieve the extra 2000 calorie burn and start burning the calories now:
• Get off the couch and play with the kids
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator (You’ve probably heard that before but now we know just how powerful that is)
• Park further away from your office or the shopping center.
• Do house work (My wife has been telling me to do this for years : )
• Take a walk at night with the family
• Stand up and move around as much as possible (when at work or at home)
In order to burn a whopping 2000 extra calories a day you must commit to this. That means making a real effort to get up and move whenever possible all day long. If you can do this, the long term results will be well worth it.
Please do not take N.E.A.T. as a replacement for exercise. That is definitely not the point of this article. Resistance training and cardio do FAR more than simply burn calories. N.E.A.T. is just a way to ramp up the calorie burn when not engaged in exercise.
So, why are still sitting in front of your computer? Get up already! : )
Fat Loss Myth of the Week
Myth: Sweating equals weight loss
Truth: Perspiration has no relationship to weight loss when exercising – it serves as a response to cool down the body when it heats up and is not an indicator of calorie or fat burning.
Quote of the Week
Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness
-Earl of Derby
To Your Health,
Jason
P.S. To register for your FREE BodyBack! Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:
www.BodyBackBootCamps.com
Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works! There is no better time to begin getting fit than January. Be sure to register now as spots fill up VERY fast this time of year!
If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!
We are kicking off our first official week of BodyBack! Boot Camp’s Client Contest! We have 25 participants that are ready to get a great jump-start on 2010 and get motivated! We are (re)-focused and ready to continue to get our awesome results that we work so hard for! If you haven’t signed up, get on board and get in the game!
Today I am going to talk about a subject that is a little confusing to many. That subject is cardiovascular exercise and how exactly it should be performed. If you have ever been frustrated in your attempts to burn body fat, then it’s possible that your cardio routine could be the culprit. My goal is to teach you the RIGHT way to do cardio to ensure that fat loss frustration is a thing of the past.
First, like anything else in exercise, variety is the spice of life. There is a reason why we frequently switch up your routine at boot camp. It’s the best way to get the fastest results possible because it provides the best chance at avoiding plateaus (provided you are eating well). So let me preface this by saying that I am not a proponent of one form or the other all the time. What I will say, however, is that there is a reason that a lot of what we do in boot camp skews on the side of short, high intensity bursts of whatever it is we are doing…be it with the weights, or with anything cardio. You also might have noticed that most of the cardio workouts that we send you on a weekly basis are typical interval workouts, as well. Frankly, the results are flat out better when done properly (at least if we are looking at fat loss as a goal – which I think most of you are).
I’ll use the old example of comparing a sprinters physique to a long-distance runner’s physique. First off, I have tremendous respect for long distance runners. The mindset that you have to get yourself into to do a 10 K or marathon is pretty remarkable. So props to all you runners out there.
I’m sure most of us would agree that a sprinter’s body looks leaner and more toned than most long distance runners (think ripped to shreds Michael Johnson versus any number of marathon runners you’ve seen on 
T.V.). Many runners develop physiques that are what a trainer calls a “fat skinny”. They might be at a desirable weight, but there’s flab and loose skin upon close examination (not to mention various orthopedic issues as well). The reason for this is because even if they do some resistance training, they are unable to keep lean muscle on their bodies because they are using that very lean muscle tissue for fuel during all the long cardio sessions. The reason most fitness experts recommend a moderate duration of cardio (no more than 35-40 minutes MAX) is because after about 25 minutes you have essentially burned up your last meal and your blood sugar (glucose). Once that fuel is gone, your body turns to other fuel sources to get through the workout. Yes, it burns fat (during the workout), but it also burns away lean muscle tissue. Guess what that does? It lowers your body’s metabolism and hampers your body’s ability to burn fat on a DAILY basis.
In fact, it’s the same phenomenon of the lady who you see in the gym week after week on the treadmill or elliptical who never changes her shape. Not coincidentally, she never picks up a dumbbell either. Constantly burning away muscle tissue, and not trying to build any. Doesn’t seem fair does it? She is busting her butt, and not reaping the rewards. Not her fault, she just doesn’t know yet.
Over the years, and especially recently, there has been a shift to training in a way that challenges our clients in a more anaerobic way (meaning without oxygen, or short bursts of intensity in a short period of time). Without oxygen means that while doing an exercise your heart and lungs are unable to supply the muscles with ample amounts of oxygen, so the muscles give out and tire very quickly. An example of an anaerobic exercise would be pushups. How long can you perform pushups before you give out? A minute? Maybe two? There is no way you can do it for 30-40 minutes like jogging. The reason is that the muscles need oxygen to continue doing the pushups and it needs it very quickly and consistently. The heart and lungs are unable to oblige, the muscles quickly ”fail” and you can no longer perform the exercise.
So, why do we do this?
Well, I’ll defer to the famous Dr. Izumi Tabata (from the National Institutes Of Health and Nutrition in Tokyo) to answer that question. Dr. Tabata was in search of a training method that could burn more fat. Not too long ago, he and his team did some testing on some athletes in sports that required high levels of both aerobic and anaerobic capacity…namely speed skaters.
Dr. Tabata, through the means of testing two groups, one using moderate cardio, and the other in more of the realm of training like a “speed skater”, was able to prove that the anaerobic capacity increased 28% (of the trainees who trained with a higher intensity for a shorter period of time), and their ability to consume oxygen (VO2 Max) increased 14%.
What does this mean for you? Well, many fitness experts believe that VO2 Max is the best available measure of overall physical fitness. It stands to reason that the more oxygen you can consume, the harder and longer you can work out…and if you can work out harder and longer, guess what? The results are better. The leanest athletes have the highest oxygen capacity and consumption.
And here’s the best part…
When you work out aerobically (say on a treadmill for an hour), you are burning calories, and perhaps some fat. That is DURING your workout. What happens, though, once your workout stops is your calorie burn starts to drop at a very quick rate. The beauty of higher intensity cardio and overall exercise is that you actually burn up to 50% more calories and fat AFTER your workout, even more so in that first hour after stopping (this is why I tell you to wait an hour before eating after a high intensity or HIIT workout). Ever hop out of the shower after a tough workout, cool down, and still be sweating even an hour or two later? That’s the continued calorie burn!
So, how hard are we talking when we are referring to intervals and sprints? That will vary. Much of what a trainer will tell you to do is subjective. Like the scale of intensity of 1-10 that we tell you to use. At the very hardest, we are talking all out sprints that last 20 seconds. That means for that 20 seconds you are running as fast as you possibly can for those 20 seconds…guaranteeing that at the end of those 20 seconds you absolutely cannot go any further at that pace.
Keep in mind that all sprints do not necessarily mean running. Sprints can be performed with different methods. So it’s not all about the running. What it does mean is that you are moving as fast as you can for the allotted time period (usually 20 seconds to a minute or so). The shorter the period, the faster the pace. Bottom line…the faster and harder, the more fat you will burn. That’s something we can all get behind as you lose your behind.
A little side note, if you feel like you are trying to increase intensity, but are not improving…consider post-workout and overall nutrition as a potential culprit to lack of energy to give more. See your trainer to discuss these issues…there is almost always a solution.
Here’s to huffin’ and puffin’ your way to a leaner you!
Motivational Quotes
“The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results.”
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
To Your Health,
Jason
P.S. To register for your FREE BodyBack! Boot Camp session, click the link below and register now:
www.BodyBackBootCamps.com
Come and join us for a fat burnin’, calorie churnin’ workout with other people who have the same goals as you! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it works! There is no better time to begin getting fit than January. Be sure to register now as spots fill up VERY fast this time of year!
If you would like more fitness and weight loss tips click the “Free Report” link to the right of this article and get my latest reports “Finally…The Truth About Weight Loss” and “10 Ways to Lose Weight…FAST!” They will be emailed to you immediately!
