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3 Ways To Survive The Eggo Shortage.

Nov 19th, 2009 by admin

I’ll make this really quick.

Is this really what it’s comes to?

Has the general diet of our country become so miserably bad that a “shortage” of a multi-processed synthetic compound filled frozen disk passing for food garners national attention?

Read about it here!

If you have children that have actually become so addicted to the chemicals in products such as Eggo waffles…

Then now is your “golden” opportunity…

Check out these healthy waffle recipes you can make at home thatwill virtually annihilate anything frozen in the taste department.

1. Mulit-Grain Apple Waffles

(6 servings)

  1. 1/4 cup cornmeal
  2. 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
  3. 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  4. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  5. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  6. 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  7. 1/2 cup non fat plain yogurt
  8. 2 eggs
  9. 2 tablespoons water
  10. 1 tablespoon canola oil
  11. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  12. 1 cup finely diced red apple

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, buckwheat and whole wheat flours, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, eggs, water, oil and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients. Stir in the apples.

Use 1/3 cup batter for each waffle. If necessary, thin the batter with a little more water.

2. Basic Blueberry Waffles

(6 servings)

  1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
  2. 1 and 1/3 cups milk
  3. 1 cup fresh blueberries (frozen works too – just thaw and drain away excess liquid)
  4. 1/2 cup melted butter
  5. 2 large eggs
  6. 4 teaspoons sugar
  7. 2 teaspoons baking powder
  8. 2 piches of salt
  9. 1 pinch of cinnamon (optional)

Makes 6 to 8 waffles.

Separate egg yolks and whites. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

In a medium-sized bowl, add egg yolks, milk and butter. Stir well.

Sift all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the yolk/milk/butter mixture and whisk until smooth. Gently fold in the blueberries a Tablespoon at a time. Fold in the egg whites.

Cook in a well-greased waffle iron heated to its medium-high setting.

3. Gluten-Free Buttermilk Waffles

(4 servings)

  1. 1 cup rice flour
  2. 1/2 cup potato starch or corn starch
  3. 1/4 cup tapioca flour
  4. 2 teaspoons baking powder
  5. 1 teaspoon sugar
  6. 1 teaspoon salt
  7. 2 eggs or or 1/3 cup egg substitute
  8. 1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk
  9. 1/4 cup canola oil
  10. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat waffle iron to desired setting.

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, starch, baking powder, salt and sugar.

In a separate medium bowl, beat the eggs. Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mix well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well-combined and moistened.

That’s it. Hope this helps you survive our “Eggo shortage.”

By the way, if you have any killer waffle recipes then tell us in a comment. We would would all like to try them.

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How My Big Head Will Help You Celebrate Your Body Transformation

Oct 27th, 2009 by admin

I came across the story about the former Ralph Lauren model Filippa Hamilton essentially being fired for being “too fat” and the “touch up” they made to her photo which essentially made her a characature.

skinnymodel(Do you buy this as a beautiful figure?)

As a reader of this blog, I know that somehow…someway…what YOU see in the mirror may not be exactly what you may want. And no matter how much you work and diet you don’t allow yourself to see your progress and celebrate your accomplishments. Believe me your not alone.

Matter of fact I used to have this problem when I was a teenager copying  what I saw in bodybuilding magazines trying to do anything I could to emulate their “models” and pack on massive size.

It’s also what eventually led me to weighing over 250lbs. and being riddled with all types of nagging injuries from my back, knees, elbows and more. However, my issue didn’t involve feeling to small as much as feeling that my head was too big.  And no matter how much I gained…I never felt it was enough. It was never proportionate enough like those guys in the magazines.

I never allowed myself to just stand back and enjoy a victory.

wild-things(That was me on the left…)

Let me explain something…

Body image is important to us. It’s always been fascinating to me how one person can look at themselves in the mirror and see something totally different than what everyone else might see. Now keep in mind this is different than obviously being overweight and being motivated to do something about it while everyone else says,

“Your fine just the way you are…” (Who the hell wants a fine life anyway?)

It’s more like you lose 0.5% bodyfat in a week and still frown because you think your stomach still looks like it’s holding a beach ball.

It’s vital for you to give yourself a chance to enjoy all of the small victories that will eventually and inevitably lead to life changing ones.

Here are a couple simple tips to do that with a fitness transformation:

1.) Stay away from the mirror – “A watched pot never boils.” I know…I know…It’s cliche and you’ve heard it before. But in this case it’s true. For the most part making a physical transformation is a gradual process. If you watch yourself in the mirror everyday you won’t notice yourself change. Try not to look at your body for a week. As long as you stick to your plan (exercise, diet, get enough sleep, etc) then you should she a dramatic difference.

2.) Stay away from the scale – This is huge. All of the fad starvation diet and other unhealthy programs have society counting all weight loss equal and this just isn’t the case. To often I see people become discouraged about their progress when the “numbers” don’t go down as fast as they are led to believe they should even though bodyfat% is going down, sizes are going down, and energy is going up ). Do yourself a favor and repeat after me “THE NUMBER DOES NOT MATTER.” If the clothes fit better and you feel better…then you are making tremendous progress.

It’s that simple.

Now let’s make it happen!

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Posted in Fitness And Society, Fitness Community | No Comments »

Best Compound Exercises For Fat Loss and Toning Muscle…For Now

Oct 7th, 2009 by admin

As I’ve mentioned before…

Trying to come up with a favorite exercise is like coming up with a favorite movie or song. There are so many good ones, you can’t just stick with one

forever.

When I was younger, I used to workout with conventional bodybuilding parameters (see Muscle and Fitness or Flex magazine etc.).

However all it resulted in was a strong, 250lb 19 year old with chronic back pain.

Which led me to change study and change the way I workout.

Now there are a couple common characteristics I look for when I’m thinking of a good exercise for fat loss and muscle toning.

1. It must be a compound exercise. Why?

Because when your trying to burn fat and tone muscle you want an exercise that activated as much muscle as possible which increases your metabolism.

2. It should be functional. This is a personal preference of mine…

and I know this is kind of a fitness buzzword but

What I mean by this – is the movement of the exercise should mimic of come closest to mimicking something your body would do during an activity,

whether it’s sports or chores.

Here is a list of what some of those exercises are:

Exercise 1 – Power Clean + Thruster Combo – Kettlebells, Dumbbells, Bands, or Sandbags

Exercise 2 – The Swing – Kettlebells, Dumbbells, Med Balls, or Sandbags

Exercise 3 – Alternating Lunge + Curl to Press

Exercise 4 – Mountain Climber Push-ups – Valslide or Bodyweight

Exercise 5 – Woodchopper – Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Med Balls, Bands, or Sandbags

Exercise 6 – Kettlebell or Dumbbell Snatches

Exercise 7 – Turkish Get-Up + One-Arm Dumbbell Chest Press

Exercise 8 – Burpee with Overhead Press

Exercise 9 – Med Ball Snatch-Slam Combo

Exercise 10 – Single-Leg RDL + Row – Kettlebell or Dumbbell

Of course a complete exercise menu in a training program also includes exercises that address flexibility and core stability so stay tuned and I’ll also have some advice about exercises for that as well.

Use my advie to spark your training by introducing these 10 powerful total body exercises we use in my boot camp program. You are guaranteed better results in less time by consistently employing these movements into your workouts. Of course it’s ultimately up to you to do what it takes to shift your training and your body to a higher level!

Here’s a highlight reel of the above exercises so you can add them to your own training routines for better results:

CLICK HERE FOR EXERCISES!

I’ll be sharing more valuable exercises for those specific trouble spot areas (e.g. legs, butt, abs, chest, arms, etc.) currently making you frustrated in future days to come.

BLOG POST#2

Exercise 1 – Power Clean + Thruster Combo – Kettlebells, Dumbbells, Bands, or Sandbags

Exercise 2 – The Swing – Kettlebells, Dumbbells, Med Balls, or Sandbags

Exercise 3 – Alternating Lunge + Curl to Press

Exercise 4 – Mountain Climber Push-ups – Valslide or Bodyweight

Exercise 5 – Woodchopper – Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Med Balls, Bands, or Sandbags

Exercise 6 – Kettlebell or Dumbbell Snatches

Exercise 7 – Turkish Get-Up + One-Arm Dumbbell Chest Press

Exercise 8 – Burpee with Overhead Press

Exercise 9 – Med Ball Snatch-Slam Combo

Exercise 10 – Single-Leg RDL + Row – Kettlebell or Dumbbell

Posted in Exercise | 2 Comments »

Oct 2nd, 2009 by admin

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Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Free Days Instead of Cheat Days

Sep 14th, 2009 by admin

How many of you out there have “cheat” days?

I believe this term comes with an inherent sense of guilt and this leads to people feeling guilty whenever they decide to take one. From what my clients tell me, this can lead to falling of off the program.

So I propose that you no longer refer to these days as “cheat” days. Instead use the term “free” day. You will accomplish the same goal but also make a mental shift that could be a crucial step to helping you stay consistent on your program and help with long-term adherence.

cheating“Got any Oreos?”

What exactly is a “free” day and why do you need one?


If someone is following guided nutritional plan (like we all should), a free day refers to a period of time where an individual takes a planned break from his or her general program.

For example: Let’s say you’re trying to lose weight fast and have decided to follow a low-carb diet plan. You’re free day would include something that is not low-carb and preferably something that you like to eat.

eagle“Where did I see those doughnuts?”

Caution: A free day doesn’t not necessarily mean a gorge day. You still want to keep your portions under control, but also enjoy what you are eating.

Free days accomplish two things: 1 physiological and 1 mental.

Physiological - When you follow a nutritional plan (especially fat loss) your body begins to adapt to whatever you are doing by adjusting its hormone levels to accommodate. This leads to plateaus. By inserting free days into your plan you help counter-act the adaptation and maintain progress.

Mental - This is a question of adherence. Most of us have a problem with feeling as if we’re losing a freedom we previously had. The result is that we subconsciously do things to prevent this loss if it is perceived. There is a related term:

Psychological Reactance Theory – whenever free choice is limited or threatened, our need to retain our freedom makes us desire the freedom (or associated items like food) significantly more than before.

Inserting free days into your nutritional program helps to maintain your freedom. You don’t have to “take away” anything out of your culinary life. You actually gain more control and own it more by making what could have previously been a unhealthy vice into something that can actually work for you if timed correctly.

So from now on, “cheat” days are Free Days and try inserting them into your nutritional plans, avoid plateaus, and increase adherence.

Posted in Nutrition | 1 Comment »

Perfection Not Required for Fitness

Sep 8th, 2009 by admin

As a fat loss and fitness expert, I talk with so many people who feel they’re not ready to start a fitness program because they don’t feel like they can follow it 100% of the time. This is unfortunate because it just goes to show our society still has a grave misunderstanding of what it truly takes to follow one. This is another one of those cases of old outdated information stemming from the conventional bodybuilding fitness dogma. People observe or take diet advice originally meant for bodybuilders who diet to extremes in order to obtain body fat percentages as low as 2-4% and believe this his how anyone following a fitness program lives.

As the first post on the new blog focusing on real fitness info, I’ve decided to cover something important.

Enter The Pareto Principle.

Also known as The 80/20 Rule, which in general means 20% of anything is vital and 80% of the rest is trivial. The rule has been applied to everything from economics to quality management systems. In our case we can use The Pareto Principle to focus our efforts on what is important and ignore the rest of the minutia.

So what does this mean?

Now consider the all-or-nothing attitude, which is a big reason why so many people fail to make a permanent changes to their fitness and health. People believe they should workout everyday for hours and totally fall of the wagon if they just miss a single workout. They also believe a “clean” diet consists of salmon, broccoli, broiled chicken breast, etc. Then…if they “cheat” (Why should you refer to “free” days instead?) on their diet at all, they figure they might as well quit the whole thing.

Using The Pareto Principle we perform only critical exercises that do the most in the least amount of time (What types of exercises should you do?). We can have a free day with our diet and realize we are still being true to our program. This leads to long-term adherence and eventually results that last for a lifetime.

So the next time you’re stopping yourself from getting healthier just because you don’t think you can be “perfect” enough, remember The Pareto Principle (The 80/20 Rule). Being fit doesn’t require a perfect diet, just a lifestyle change which includes the correct exercises on a constant basis and healthy eating and all while living your life at the same time.

I time my free meals for after workouts if possible and remember to get right back to eating clean because of the Pareto Principle.

Please leave a comment and tell us what some of your favorite free meals would be?

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Posted in Exercise, Nutrition | 1 Comment »