Vegan Delight

Perusing some vegan recipes trying to get ideas for more veggie recipes, I decided to read the introduction to Vegan Delight.  Right there in the first few pages were some of the same insights from Fit For Life, albeit very abridged.  Here were some of the revelations from the author:

1. In food combining, it is OK to eat grains and legumes together
2. Eat raw veggies with your meal, it aides digestion
3. Eat cooked fruit with carbs
4. Avoid 5, 7 & 9 grain breads (I am not sure why but I have heard this elsewhere, including Fit For Life)
5. Eat fruit alone
6. Eat melon and grapes by themselves
7. Eat citrus alone or with vegetables

It was a confirmation that this is not just one man's opinion.  It also signaled to me that perhaps people can be confused about what is "healthy".  For instance, the swith from white to wheat bread is a common misconception in terms of health benefits. White flour is stripped of all nutrients through a process called "refining"and then enriched to try to put nutrients back in.  It is refined so that is has a shelf life and bugs will not eat it.  Many think that they are eating healthy by buying whole wheat.  But there is a difference between whole "wheat" and whole "grain".  Whole wheat is just that, whole wheat, but not whole grain.  Whole wheat is usually refined and enriched and uses molasses to color it.   Whole grain is as it states, whole grain.  It should be the 1st ingredient, and 1st choice if you are trying to get get grains into your diet as a source of fiber.

I would recommend Vegan Delight for anyone looking for alternatives to mainstream food, such as gravies, dressings, sauces and desserts.  The vegetable recipes are very basic, but it is also a great introduction to unfamiliar ingredients such as arrowroot, sea kelp and kombu sea weed!

The two recipes that caught my eye were VERY simple, so simple, I never thought of it myself!

TURNIP FRIES
6-8 medium turnips, peeled or unpeeled
Natural Oil (I am assuming olive)
Sea Salt
Preheat oven to 350.  Chop turnips into "fries" and lightly coat with oil.  Place on oiled baking sheet and lightly salt.  Bake for 20 minutes or until tender.

STUFFED AVOCADO SALAD
1/2 avocado on a bed of spinach
Fill with marinated vegetables!!
I am assuming the veggies can be raw, steamed or roasted.

So easy but it sounds so yummy!

Apple Cider Vinegar A Day Keeps It All Away!

 There have been many testimonials for apple cider vinegar flying around over the last few years, or at least that I am aware of.  I am sure longer than that!  I was reading an article in the Farmer's Almanac and it peaked my interest again.  I am not talking about the kind of watered down version they sell at supermarkets.  The healing is in the "mother", which is a cobwebby brown residue at the bottom of the bottle. You will need to find a local health food store for this one.  It is Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar, from the same people who sell Liquid Amino's that can be used in place of soy sauce.

If some of these symptoms are part of your daily living, you may want to try this natural juice:

High Blood Pressure
Sluggish Metabolism
Fight Colds & Cough 
Relieve Leg Cramps
Soothe Aching Muscles
Relieve Headaches
Soft Skin Elixir
Lower Cholesterol
Boost Immune System to prevent disease
Liver Spots
Arthritis Reliever
Eye and Ear Problems
Destroy Bacteria in Food
Relieve Itches, Insect Bites
Skin Rashes,  Athlete's Foot
Heart and Circulatory Aide
And much more!


To contact Bragg's for information about how it's product can help you, call 1-800-446-1990. 

Some of my clients suffer these symptoms, I would be interested to see a true test trial for the results, comment if you have a testimony!!

The skinny on skinny

I recently read an article on habits of thin women.  Believe it or not, they DO have methods, it's not all genetics.  I always envisioned thin people eating whatever they want while I am sucking on cardboard.  Not the case.  While indulgence is a part of the repertoire, it is the exception, not the rule.  Here's the skinny, on being thin, with some commentary added in!

BE PREPARED Plan your meals, shop, and cook at home.  You are less likely to order pizza if you have a plan.  This is absolutely the truth.  No plan is a plan to fail.  Come mealtime, if I don't know what's coming, I start to look for open cans of frosting.

LEFT OVERS Instant lunch!

EAT SEASONAL Join a local CSA or support your local produce stand.  Pack your meals with produce, lean meats and fish.

OATS Oats are a staple.  Steel cut have more soluble fiber so it sticks around longer.  Some suggestions that I thought were interesting were to add pumpkin puree and flaxseed oil.

DON'T FORCE FEED This means wait until you are hungry to eat.  Don't punch a time card to eat.  This may not work for everyone, if you eat less with scheduled meals, then go for it.  But if you are eating 6 meals a day "just because", you may be taking in unnecessary calories.  Your body knows when it's out of gas!  Learn to know what true hunger feels like.

INDULGE Give yourself a break.  If you have an occasion coming up, don't stress.  Eat reasonably, but enjoy.  Sometimes I will have my husband eat the dessert first and tell me if it's worth the splurge!  If it is, I wait and he let's me have the last bite.

SET A LIMIT Two hors d'oeuvres, 2 drinks, done

AVOID BREAD Treat it like a difficult relative, keep a respectful distance.  If you have to cross paths, take a nibble and politely move on!

LEAVE CARBS LAST Get in the salad, protein and double veggies.  By the end of the meal you may have no room for the carb!

MORE VEGGIES PLEASE When eating out, ask for a double portion of vegetables instead of starch

SNACKS Keep healthy snacks around in case someone brings in donuts, that way if you run to food, it will be the kind you can feel good about and not feel left out

GO NUTS!  If you are craving carbs, eat a few almonds instead.  It will satisfy the urge to "crunch".  But don't go crazy, just a few.

100 CALORIE SNACKS Stay clear of this marketing ploy.  This is processed food and should not be treated as a healthy choice just because it's 100 calories.  Psychologically it seems reasonable, so it's may be hard to stop at one.  Then 100 turns into 300!

WATER And lots of it!  Try to get in at least 2 liters.  Limit or eliminate carbonated drinks.  Coconut water has become popular.  Add lemon, lime, oranges or cucumber to a pitcher of water and put in the fridge.  Instead of adding Crystal Light flavoring to bottles water, add Emergen-C.  You get flavor AND a boost of vitamins!  Mint is also a natural appetite suppressant.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Try saying no, the more you do it, the stronger your resistance becomes.

SET LIMITS If you have a food that is a snag for you, set limits.  Limit it to once on the weekends.  Eliminate food trends, like fried foods.  If saying "I'll never" to a certain food is a set up for failure, than set a limit to it, have ONE

VARIETY, THE SPICE OF LIFE?  Actually, variety creates palette excitement, causing you to want to over eat!  Limit the number of food options on the table.  Keep it simple. Create a ritual.  Oats in the am, salad for lunch, apple for snack etc.  OR...

ROTATE MEALS Keep it simple, but keep it from going stale.  Have a food routine, but then rotate it

Fast Food? Forget About It!

I ran across some fast food facts and thought I would pass them along in case you were in denial about some of your favorite quick stops!!

Burger King Whopper  990 cal, 64 grams fat
Taco Bell Beef Burrito  432 cal, 19 grams fat
Papa John's Cheese Pizza  286 cal, 11 grams fat
Wendy's Big Bacon Classic Hamburger  580 cal, 31 grams fat
Hooter's Buffalo Style Wings (5 wings)  866 cal, 62 grams fat
McDonal's Big Mac  560 calories, 30 grams of fat
KFC Bucket of Original Recipe Chicken (roughly 1 pc.!)  400 cal, 24 grams fat
Arby's Roast Beef 400 cal, 20 grams of fat
Subway's Steak and Cheese Sub 362 cal, 13 grams of fat
Pizza Hut Pepperoni Pizza 250 cal, 11 grams of fat

That...is....disgusting.

Motivation Lost and Found

I love to start a week with renewed motivation.  I ran across this video and felt it touched several different aspects of fitness.  Mind, Body, Soul.   The change for this gentlemen was not just physical, it changed everything in his life.  I think it is a law of nature!  It is a great testimony and reminder that we really are the master's of our own destiny.  We manifest what we think, and that can be for the good as well!!

http://youtu.be/ygCnL6HtYCY

The Barbell of Heaven

This teaching is so powerful, I simply must share.

I will preface prior to "preaching", that in every way I have been broken.  There is no wisdom here that I do not need to hear every minute of every day.  Sometimes, we just need to hear it from a different source to penetrate in a new way.  I was very humbled by this teaching, and at the same time completely encouraged!

You must break through the limit of your present capacity, in order to build greater capacity.  This particular teaching, was referring to manifesting God's kingdom.  I thought it was interesting that the process of building muscle was part of the illustration!

Training implies pain.  If you want to build a muscle, it's a process of tearing down the existing development to build a new capacity.   You condition muscle by exercise, you grow muscle by pushing past your current capacity.  It made me think of an instance over the weekend during a circuit training.  The weight was heavier than one of the girls had ever used in that particular exercise.  She had assessed her current capacity and had never tried to lift heavier.  The heavier weight was a challenge, but her new knowledge took her out of conditioning, and into growing!  And she was pretty excited about it!  Training will take you right up to the place of discomfort and push you past it to build!

If you are not willing to be uncomfortable, you will never grow.  Are you surrounded by people who reinforce your comfort zone?  Are you buried somewhere in the middle of someone ahead of you, and someone underneath you?  If you want to grow, you have to be intentional!  Break into relationship with someone who has achieved a measure of the success that you wish to achieve, and let them speak into your life with love, and listen!  And I am not just talking about weight training.  If you want to know God's glory, He can not play big, if you play small.

It is with much tribulation that we enter the kingdom (paraphrased) Acts 14:22   This is not for our defeat but to expand our capacity to manifest the potential inside of us!  We are sent into a battle we are ready for, yet would rather avoid!  Patience is developed through practice in trying situations.  We are set before people we can hardly tolerate to learn how to love.   Life is our holy sandpaper by which we learn how to grow in character.  How can we have faith for provision if we are never in need?

Stage one: The dream

Stage two:  Distress!!  It is the process of expansion!

Transformation is a process.  It is not made by continual perfection.  It is made by blowing it enough to know how to master it!  Mistakes are not failure.  If you have never failed, then you haven't been doing it enough!  Jesus trained the disciples for 3.5 years, and there were a few times, by his commentary, it was obvious, they were blowing it!

If your road is beset with side tracks, flops and fumbles, take heart!  You are on a path to being transformed if you allow it to be.  I have been tracking my food and exercise on Facebook for buddies of Boot Camp Academy 101.  I admit, the last few weeks I have had some major fumbles.  Keeping a record not only keeps me accountable, it hopefully sets an example, AND shows me where I am struggling myself.

I wish I could take credit for this teaching, I only put it into the context of what it meant to me with regard to fitness, I would need a whole other blog for what it meant to me spiritually!  I hope it will mean something to you too!  A little heavier that a quick fit tip or recipe, but lighter than a kick in the teeth, eh? Amen?  Amen!

PATRIOT GAMES AWAIT

With the Patriot Games Mud Run coming near, we've taken Boot Camp to the limit!  Yesterday we took a wade in the creek then climbed up for some obstacles to be ended with some jacks in the mud we created with a dirt patch and some bottled water, and then a run around the field with a watermelon!  Campers went through 2X!!!  How's that for some creative training!

Sometimes you have to help people stay focused.  And I don't mind doing it.  My latest passion is the Zumba craze.  This will be a new rotation on the horizon.  Yesterday a camper introduced me to some Zumba moves and I have been feverishly searching out dance routines and music.  If anyone has a favorite resources, be sure to let me know!  I can see that I have my own style and the workout is going to be a lot of fun, I am so excited!  And it WILL be a workout!  Sometimes you have to search out new things to keep it motivating.  We are all the same there!