Healthy Cooking with Herbs and Spices!

Did you know that herbs and spices can add flavor to your food while keeping them healthy?  It is so common for people to just dump salt on any dish to give it a boost of flavor but really there are so many other spices that are good for you that will liven up a dish. Some even add healthy benefits to your food!

Chicken – you can use rosemary, lemon and pepper or tomato sauce and oregano – each will give it a completely different flair.

Garlic – not garlic salt is a great way to flavor everything from meats to potatoes and vegetables!

Vegetables – adding a sprinkle of lemon to steamed vegetables is delicious and so good for you!

Other options include adding a dash of chili powder to scrambled eggs, experimenting with spices like cumin and tumeric and you can even add cinnamon to your coffee instead of creamer!

There are tons of options when it comes to spicing up your food and keeping it healthy so start experimenting and taste the benefits.

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Talk of the Town Segment: How to Fight Holiday Weight Gain Before It Starts!

Stop Holiday Weight Gain Before It Starts!

Arm Exercises! Going to the Next Level!

Bored with arm exercises – I’ve got 3 moves that will rock your arms in no time!

Today we are throwing out our boring tricep and arm exercises and adding in some new more challenging ones! Let’s get started with…

3 legged crab: This bodyweight move works the triceps, shoulders and the core by challenging your balance as well! This is an intermediate move but the results are worth it!

Medicine ball pushup pass: This medicine ball pushup variation works the chest and triceps and helps to improve muscle coordination!

Pushup with your hands on the stability ball: Guaranteed to tone those triceps, this muscle (and balance) buster will give you the sleeveless look you’ve been craving.

These are just a few moves that will take your triceps and arms to the next level! Let me know what your next level arm exercises are!

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Fitness Gadget Review: Fit Bit

This is a techie gadget that is easy to use! It tracks how many steps you take, how many calories you burn, your sleep patterns and gives you the data so you can work toward your weight loss and fitness goals. Plus if you do have an inner nerd and a smartphone, you can get apps that work with the Fit Bit to make it even more robust! The cost is $99 and if can be found at Fitbit.com.

Steps: How many steps did you take today? Notice the difference in calorie burn. Set a goal and then meet it! The more steps you take, the healthier you are!

Burn: How many calories did you burn today? It’s fun to see the number right there on the screen for you – no more waiting until the end of the day to see you didn’t meet your goals! This means you can watch it throughout the day and then keep yourself accountable to meet your goals.

Stairs: How many flights of stairs did you climb today? You can set up fun goals for yourself to help you reach your weight loss goals and challenge yourself!

Sleep: How many times do you wake up at night? How long did it take you to fall asleep? The Fit Bit tracks all of this and gives you the data so you can see your patterns. You might find that you should be waking earlier or going to bed later! You might also see patterns such as, when you have a healthy snack before bed, you sleep better… You won’t know unless you test it!

Flower: Your flower gets more leaves the more active you are. This is a fun visual for when the numbers just don’t matter to you. The goal is always to keep the flower healthy and growing!

I didn’t dive into the apps but from what I’ve read, it’s a pretty cool feature.

This device went over so well that my partner has been wearing it for weeks and won’t give it back! He is obsessed with keeping the flower at full power! If you want to track your activities, for $99 at FitBit.com – this is a great investment!

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Do You Know Where Your Calories Are Coming From?

Guest Blogger Post

When we speak of weight loss, the majority of people immediately think calories. True, calories become a major consideration when you are trying to lose weight. In fact, there will be no weight loss at all if you cannot create a calorie deficit in your body.

A calorie deficit simply means you are using up more calories than you are taking in. To illustrate how a calorie deficit is achieved, let’s take the example of a slightly overweight woman in her forties who leads a less active though not completely sedentary lifestyle. Without much activity except for little chores around the home, she will need around 1,800 calories to maintain her present weight. Anything more than that will cause her to gain weight and anything less than that will allow her to lose some weight over a period of time.

One pound of body weight is equal to about 3,500 calories. Yes, that’s how much you will need to burn to lose a single pound! Assuming that the woman mentioned above has been maintaining a 1800-calorie daily consumption, she will need to drop that to 1,300 calories if she wishes to lose one pound each week. By reducing her calorie consumption to 1,300 calories, she is creating a calorie deficit of 500 each day. Multiply 500 by seven days and that amounts to 3,500 calories in a week which is equal to a pound of body weight.

However, weight loss is not simply about counting calories. It’s also about where your calories are coming from and what you do to burn them. Among the leading reasons why obesity is fast becoming a global concern is that we are making the wrong food choices and leading more sedentary lifestyles in this era.

People these days engage in less physical activity with the conveniences afforded by modern day gadgets and equipment. On top of that, we are getting most of our calories from carbohydrates and fats, the two main culprits of weight gain. The body turns to carbs and fats for needed energy and they are highly essential in a healthy and balanced diet. However if there is an excess of one or the other, they get stored as body fat.

Not too many people are aware that there are actually two types of carbohydrates – simple carbs and complex carbs. Simple carbs are usually found in processed food such as those made from white flour and refined sugars. They are high in “empty calories” which provide very little nutrients, vitamin and minerals. They can cause highs and lows in your blood sugar levels which can lead to food cravings. A high intake of simple carbs will lead to weight gain.

Complex carbs, on the other hand, are the healthier carbs. They come from most fruits and vegetables and are rich in fibre and low in calories. They provide consistent energy, help stabilize your blood sugar levels to quash those cravings and keep you feeling satisfied for longer periods.

By simply distinguishing between the unhealthy effects of simple carbohydrates and the health-boosting advantages of complex carbohydrates, you can begin creating that calorie deficit you need to trim off those excess pounds.

Knowing where your calories are coming from is one big step to successful weight loss. By learning to make healthier food choices and feeding your body with the right calories, you will be able to drop the extra weight and keep it off permanently.

Author Bio: Sean Byrne is the Sole Founder Of ItsAboutTreadmills.com. His Site Reviews Popular Products in the Treadmill Market such as the Sole F80 Treadmill and the Sole F63 treadmill. If Your looking for treadmill reviews, come check out his site.

Functional Fitness

You guys know that I’m all about being efficient and I’m always trying to get too much in to each day. There’s been a couple of times this spring that I’ve been able to jog to the store and run and errand while getting in a quick workout and it’s been great. We took it to the next level on Friday though and I’m really proud of it. We had 2 hours to workout, go to the bank, post office AND we really wanted to go to the studio and put a final coat of paint on the white cyc. So we decided to ride our bikes to the bank and post office and then right over to the studio, painted and rode home all in 2 hours! We got in a 10 mile bike ride and got all of the errands/tasks done – WIN!! Plus, there was the added bonus of saving gas money!

Since it was such a success, we are going to try to do things like this more often this summer. It is really hot already and I’m sure that will deter us on some days but overall, I love that its an option and we aren’t bound to the gym to get in a workout. If we could all do a bit more functional fitness, then we might all be a bit healthier (and think of the money and pollution we’d save!)

Fitness Tips and Exercise Videos at WithAmyMac.com

How to Make Weight Loss Water!

Drinking water is good for you and helps with weight loss, if it’s cold, its even better for your weight loss goal, if it has other additives, it can help you look thinner and feel better in as little as a day! I get a lot of questions from people wanting to know how to get started with weight loss and I think this water is the perfect jumpstart. It’s from Prevention Magazine’s Flat Belly Diet and I think its so refreshing and delicious – everyone should enjoy this beverage!

8 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon grated ginger  (relieves bloating)
1 medium cucumber, sliced thin  (natural diuretic)
1 medium lemon, sliced thin (eases digestion)
12 leaves spearmint (anti-inflammatory)

THE Diet Trend of the 2012 – Juicing!

It’s time to reveal THE Diet Trend of the 2012!

Juicing fruits and vegetables has been around for a long time- I’m sure you saw late night infomercials with Jack Lalanne and his juicer at some point. Well this year – it is the hot ticket to looking and feeling great so I tried it!

The benefits of juicing as opposed to eating lots of fruits and vegetables is that:

1) when the juice is broken down, your body can start absorbing the nutrients almost immediately
2) you use a lot of veggies to make a glass of juice – its possible to put 2 lbs into a glass of juice! not even i would eat that much otherwise
3) because juice doesn’t have to be processed or broken down by the body, your body gets to heal and cleanse itself – think of it as a reset for all ofyour systems.

Now we did a 5 day all juice only diet and it was tough because we wanted to eat. We weren’t hungry or weak or confused, we just wanted to chew! After those 5 days, we decided to keep drinking juice but add small meals back into our diets.  It allowed us to cut calories and processed foods and also gave us tons of energy from all the nutrients. Even if you don’t go extreme, you can still make smoothies in the blender or add juices to your day.  It takes a bit of prep work, but in the end, the benefits made this dieting fad a keeper!

Here’s a quick recipe to get you started: amazing fresh lemonade

3 apples, 2 carrots, 1 lemon (taste will vary on vegetable sizes)

This is our juicer and we love it. It does exactly what we need it to do and it’s under $100!

Breville BJE200XL 700-Watt Compact Juice Fountain

Healthier Lunch on the Go

Fast food, drive-thrus, grabbing food on the go – it’s going to happen. Sometimes, life gets out of control. But! You can have control over WHAT food you grab on the go. Subway restaurants have been a healthier option for several years and now they’ve got a couple new Turkey sandwiches that will melt in your mouth! The Turkey Melt and BLT are just 2 more healthy options that you can pick from at Subway!

I wanted to see how healthy they were for you so I went in to their site and found the option to calculate YOUR sandwich on the nutrition pages. I love this! You never think about it but when you pick your bread, add cheese, condiments and maybe even bacon, the calories and fat can really go up and then your healthy option turns in to a not so healthy option. I encourage you to take a look at their site and calculate your sandwich to make sure you are making the right choices when you order! Plus, be careful about over-adding to your meal – chips, cookies and soda can all add up. Thanks to Subway for the gift cards to try their new sandwiches. You should check them out or ask them yourself!

• Subway Nutrition
• Subway Twitter: @subwayfreshbuzz

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My Vegetable Juicing Journey

Now. My vegetable juicing journey.

I’ve been drinking ONLY vegetable juice for the past 5 days and I’m hoping to go another 5… we’ll see. Many people do it to lose weight and others use it to give their bodies a break from all the processed, pre-packaged or difficult to digest foods (dairy, meat) that we typically ingest. Yes, many people call it ‘detoxing’ but it’s not that your body is getting rid of toxins, it’s that you aren’t taking them in during this time. Therefore, your system can take a breather and get realigned. Let’s call it a’Reset’ instead of ‘cleansing’ or ‘detoxing’ because those terms are overused. The idea behind juicing is that you are only consuming raw vegetables and some fruits in its simplest form so that the body can absorb all the available nutrients as quickly as possible.

I did this whole crazy experiment because 1) some friends wanted to try it for weight loss and I was curious and 2) I watched the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and was curious. After doing lots of research and purchasing an affordable kickass juicer, we set out on our journey.

The Goal: 5-10 days of only vegetable juice.

According to what we’ve read, your body is adjusting for the first 5 days and then in tip-top shape for the last 5 days. Everyone seems to struggle with Day 3. The claims are weight loss, mental clarity, better skin, more energy, happy digestive system, etc.

My Experience:

Pre-Juice: Instead of easing into the juicing thing, I went out with a bang eating everything I wanted because I knew I’d be deprived for 10 days. This was probably not my best idea because it made Day 1 harder. However, it did cause me to gain weight, which was then easily lost in the first couple of days – a mental boost!

Day 1: This was an OK day. No, I was not running to the bathroom, but I didn’t feel awesome either. I was extremely tired (maybe just a tough weekend?) and then became light-headed and very yucky. We later attributed this to taking all of my usual allergy and asthma medications on an essentially empty stomach. I slept most of the afternoon and then felt better. Weight: 109 (usually 105-6 but thinking the junk food and carb-alicious weekend did me in!)

Day 2: Felt a little flu-ish. Might just be the lack of allergy medication in my system (plus the withdrawal of meds and hot tea)! Every time I was hungry, I drank a juice. They really seemed to taste like lawn clippings on this day. Ugh. 10 days is a long time but somehow I felt good at the same time. Weird. (Don’t stop taking your meds unless you speak to your Dr. first!) Weight: 105.6

Day 3: I was expecting to be yucky on this day. However, surprised to find that I felt pretty good. Of course, I did end up sleeping for 10 hours the night before, crazy! My body needed the rest, I guess! Not hungry. Pretty energized. Did manual labor for a few hours and this was better than having to think. My brain does seem to have adjusted though and the flu symptoms have subsided. This isn’t so bad after all. The biggest thing is that it’s annoying not to eat food. I’m not tempted to cheat, I just want to eat very specific, fresh, delicious foods. Weight: 104.8

Day 4: I’ve been working out pretty hard this week and yes, was able to even on juice alone! However, I was hungry on this day. I thought I was drinking enough but at the last count, I didn’t take in enough, especially for as much as I was burning. Thinking I need to do a schedule instead of waiting to be hungry. My brain is back to working although I do go in and out of focus with the hunger. Weight: 103.8

Day 5: Might’ve been the worst day yet. Woke up hungry and whenever that happens, I can never catch up, especially on juice alone! Felt light-headed and almost caved in at lunchtime but had a stalk of celery with peanut butter and it helped immensely. Yes, it’s cheating but it wasn’t a burger and fries- it was a STALK OF CELERY WITH PEANUT BUTTER! Was still hungry most of the day. Been complaining a lot today and I’m sure everyone is tired of hearing it but I really didn’t feel awesome today. However, the one thing that kept me from bailing was the when I had some juice, I did feel awesome. So once again, we are thinking that I’m not drinking enough juice or water. Ugh, so still my fault. It’s so weird. I want to bail and yet, when I feel good, I feel REALLY GOOD. I skipped a workout today just because I think my body is repairing and doesn’t need any additional stress. Weight: 104

I won’t do another day like today. If I feel the same tomorrow, I’m done. However, maybe I’m really close to getting to the good stuff?! I don’t know but I do know that I’ll cave if I think it’s an actual health problem and not just my mental state dealing with my apparent food addiction! I’ve always said, “I eat to live, not live to eat.” After this week, I think that I’ve been lying to myself for a couple of years. I use to eat plain, boring, healthy foods to survive, but in the last few years, I’ve enjoyed excellent cuisine and gourmet ingredients and have really grown to appreciate them.

Everyone else seems to be feeling about the same. Some weight loss, some flu-ish symptoms, highs and lows for sure. I would strongly recommend teaming up for an experiment like this because the accountability is ridiculously awesome! We have an ongoing group text that has kept me off the ledge a few times!

Here’s my take so far:

I think juicing is powerful and awesome. I think that incorporating it into my daily life will up my energy, make me look and feel better and maybe even help me focus without caffeine. I might even juice all day for a day or 2 every now and then to reset myself and maybe drop a couple of pounds (holiday weight – never again!).  It would also be great before a photo shoot or special event! I’ll keep you posted on the rest of our journey. Now, someone cue Bon Jovi!

Update:

Day 6: It was a Saturday and I never realized how much eating has to do with our weekend! We had plans for dinner, a hockey game, after game drinks… and we were juicing. Depending on how you look at it, we cracked. Or maybe we just decided to live life, who knows. But, we decided to take 24 hrs off from the juice and enjoy our plans. It turns out, when you juice all the time, food tastes absolutely amazing. We had SMALL portions of everything, savored every bite and it was a complete win. We decided that we enjoyed juicing so much that we were going to do juices all day (when we can) and then eat a light dinner. I’m also having a small lunch. Then, when we eat out or have plans, it’s no big deal. We enjoy it and then get back to the plan.  Weight: 102.4

Day 10: While our house cracked on Day 6, our amazingly hardcore friends made it to Day 10 and we had the healthiest splurge meal I’ve ever seen to celebrate! Fish, kale salad, salad and tabouleh, with delicious energy bite no bakes for dessert. Everything was amazingly fresh and delicious. Weight: 104

Today is almost a week after our 1st splurge and I’m amazed at how we’ve incorporated ‘the vuice’ into our daily lives and yet still aren’t those weird people that can’t be social… you know who I’m talking about! :) We’ve continued our 2x day workouts, we’ve been eating a bit of food, me more than Nik because he really wants to lose more weight. I made an amazing vegan chili and we even broke down and ordered a pizza one night after a very thought-intensive brainstorming day! Overall, though, our bodies are nutrient happy and the lack of calories has Nik losing weight and me holding pretty steady at 102.6 – lower than I’ve been in years without being hungry! It’s just crazy. I think we are really going to just keep on with this as a lifestyle and I’m sure we’ll drop off for a week or two every now and then and have to reset ourselves so we can get back on track but we feel better, look better, sleep better and all food smells and tastes better so I just can’t find anything wrong with this scenario!

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