How do you like your lemonade?

“When you can make lemonade from life’s lemons, your glass will always be full.” – Nancy Carlson

(Editors Note: I am attributing that to Nancy ’cause I never heard it before!)

Life always throws us curveballs. We are not in control of so many things that each day we have to adjust and make new plans. In the long run, most of these are just small irritations. But these small irritations can have a big affect on our waistline!

You have heard us say it before – all of us are emotional eaters on some level. We eat when we are happy, we eat when we are sad, we eat to be social, we eat when we feel like being anti-social.

On the purely foundational level, we need to eat to survive – to keep the biochemical reactions in our bodies functioning at a high level.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t sit down before I eat and think – “How will this bowl of ice cream affect how I feel tomorrow”. More likely it’s something like “These kids are driving me nuts, and I need that bowl of ice cream to keep from throwing them out the window”.

When you eat are you eating to nourish your body or just to alleviate stress?  Part of the challenge is we often really are hungry during those emotional times, and we reach for the “comfort food”.

The #1 tip I can give you? Don’t have your favorite “stress reliever” food in the house, or office or car, or wherever. You WILL eat it. You don’t need to eat junk, and neither do your spouse or kids. The “my kids like it” excuse doesn’t fly. If it’s not good for you, what makes it good for them?

Eating 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day will help alleviate those insistent hunger pangs that creep up at the worst times. If your body has been consuming quality nutrition through the day, you are less likely to binge.

But what happens when you are out, planning on being home at a certain time then road construction blocks your path? Or you have to wait in a very long line at the bank and that is only your first stop?  What about when the meeting at work goes over and you are not able to take a lunch break? Bring healthy snacks with when you are out so you aren’t tempted to stop at a fast food drive-thru or visit the candy machine. You never know what life will throw at you but you can be prepared.

Easy snacks that travel well

• ¼ cup of almonds in a zip lock baggie
• Carrot sticks, celery sticks, and green peppers
• Trail mix- walnuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, coconut, almonds, craisins sealed in a zip lock baggie (avoid the store bought blend as they tend to add chocolate chips, think of that in a warm car)
• One scoop of your favorite protein powder to be mixed with the water in your water bottle
• Dried fruit – prunes, apricots, raisins, etc…. again watch for added sugar.
• Mixed nuts in a ziplock bag

Don’t forget to carry a water bottle with you too.

Remember you don’t have to always eat just to satisfy your stomach, eat to satisfy your health.

Make It Happen,

Dean & Nancy

Eat Raisins, Don’t Look Like One!

Human beings are made up of 2/3 water. We need to drink plenty of water to maintain an over all healthy body. Our organs need to stay hydrated to function properly.

Did you know that your skin is the largest organ of the human body?

Your skin is crying out for water too!

Dry skin is usually associated with winter but summertime also has its drying elements. Sun and wind are the two main contributors to dry parched looking skin. I love being outside in the summer. I enjoy basking in the sun and if I can do it while enjoying an ocean breeze – Wow!

I don’t want to look like a dried raisin though. If we are to understand how to moisturize our skin we need to understand skin.

There are three layers to our skin.

1. The deepest layer is where our body stores all the fat we use for energy, it also helps regulate our body’s temperature and it protects our inner organs.
2. The middle layer is the thickest layer. Here we find all the nerve endings, blood vessels, sweat glands and hair follicles. The dermis also holds the oil glands that keep the skin properly lubricated and impervious to water. Two proteins, collagen and elastin, found in the dermis support the skin’s top layer and provide shape, tone and flexibility.
3. The top layer is our protector. It is a barrier against the outside elements like the sun, wind and temperature. Just as important is its ability to protect us from outside invaders like germs and viruses.

Obviously, anything that affects the all-important top layer can dry out your skin-sun and wind both rob skin of moisture. Adding a topical moisturizer helps add moisture back to this layer but what about the underlying layers? What can you do to help keep your skin soft and touchable?

As your body’s largest organ, your skin depends on the nutrients in your diet. You have to feed your skin well if you expect it to stand up to wind and sun.

• Eating fish, rolled oats and ground flaxseeds frequently as these foods are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which help the skin retain moisture. Include other healthy oils, such as safflower and olive oil, in your meals. Supplemental omega-3s, in the form of flaxseed or fish oils, can also help.
• Taking a quality vitamin that contains vitamin A, B, and C are vital. Vitamin A helps with skin growth and repair while Vitamin B is a powerful antioxidant. Vitamin C promotes the growth of collagen, which provides skin with its structure.
• Bathing or showering for too long, or using water that’s too hot, can actually cause your skin to lose moisture. Prolonged visits in a bath or shower washes away your skin naturally oils that hold in moisture. When you do get into the tub or shower, don’t scrub your skin and don’t use harsh cleaning agents. Instead, go for natural cleansers that feature such skin-friendly ingredients as glycerin.

Drink plenty of water. Keeping your body properly hydrated is like providing the fuel for the car. Your body knows what to do with the water you intake.

By all means, enjoy the summer sun. Just make sure your skin enjoys the summer too, by staying hydrated and happy!

Make today your best day ever!

Nancy

Water You Waiting For?

Julie of 5:00 am bootcamp fame sent me the following “fun facts to know and tell about water”, and it is absolutely worth sharing.

We’ve talked about the importance of drinking enough water and how it affects muscle soreness and fat loss.

Here’s some more good reasons to keep that water bottle handy…

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world population)
2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is mistaken for hunger.
3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as 3%.
4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.
5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%., and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

Are you drinking the amount of water you should drink every day?

Make It Happen!

Dean

Fast Food Balderdash

By now, I am sure you have heard all about this new Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

And while I have no doubt that this is a better option than the fried chicken alternative, it’s still nowhere near an ideal food choice.

Congratulations! You are eating “grilled” chicken with a bunch of garbage on the side. Heaven knows that mac and cheese and biscuits aren’t going help you look and feel any better!

KFC says the grilled chicken has significantly fewer calories and fat, plus much less sodium, than its Original Recipe fried chicken that launched the brand more than a half-century ago.

After all, just as, if not more, damaging to our waistlines are the high calorie side dishes accompanying the chicken which are filled with refined starches and sugars and unnecessary amounts of saturated fat.

To me it’s like covering garbage with a newspaper- it still stinks!

For too long now the fast food industry has made a killing on misinforming consumers about what is and isn’t healthy.

KFC claimed that it recently did switch cooking oils to eliminate all trans fats from their products- a noble effort indeed, and one we support.

But upon further review, this does not look to be the case…

Here are the ingredients directly from their website:

KFC ® Grilled Chicken

Fresh Chicken Marinated with: Salt, Sodium Phosphate, and Monosodium Glutamate Seasoned with: Maltodextrin, Salt, Bleached Wheat lour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Monosodium Glutamate, Spices, Palm Oil, Natural Flavor, Garlic Powder, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Wheat, Salt), Chicken Fat, Chicken Broth, Autolyzed Yeast, Beef Powder, Rendered Beef Fat, Extractives of Turmeric, Dehydrated Carrot, Onion Powder, and mot more than 2% Each of Calcium Silicate and Silicon Dioxide Added as Anticaking Agents.

Contains Wheat and Soy

I don’t know about you, but this certainly doesn’t sound like a nutritional powerhouse. First of all, “Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil” is not good for you and is a form of transfat.

Trans fats are synthetic fats that are essentially foreign agents in our bodies. There is truly no room for them in a healthy diet.

Plus, a great rule of thumb is that the fewer ingredients in a food item the better it is for you, ideally less than 5 ingredients being a good marker. Well, if you count the ingredients in this “health” food, there are well over 20!

Fast food and convenience store marketing campaigns make it very hard for us trainers to do our jobs.

When a company says:

“Our _____ (name of product) is good for you because it’s low in fat or fat-free”

OR

“Our _____ (name of product) is good for you because it’s got no sugar”

OR

“Our _____ (name of product) is the perfect snack because it’s only 100 calories.”

In general, here are some great user-friendly guidelines to cut through all of the junk:

Beware of “Fat-Free or Low Fat” Foods:

These food choices are often high in sugar or contain added sugar to make up for taste lost which wreak havoc on your energy levels and prevent fat loss.

Look Out for “Sugar-Free” Products:

These food choices are typically made with artificial ingredients and sweeteners and/or are sometimes higher in fat to make up for taste lost and/or often contains sugar-alcohols that tear up your digestive system.

Stay Away From “100 Calorie” Items:

These low calorie bags contain ZERO nutritional value with little to no protein and are low in fiber and natural, healthy fats. Plus, these weight-gainers by another name do not fill you up between meals.

Probably the most infamous “healthy” marketing campaign is 100-CALORIE SNACK PACKS.

Which is better for you body: 100 calories of broccoli or 100 calories of mini-muffins?
GET IT?

I know personally I could easily eat 10 of these packs without getting stuffed- I guess that would be a 1,000-CALORIE SNACK PACK 🙂

Unfortunately, we live in a calorie-conscious society, and marketers truly take piggyback on this.

But you don’t need to be a dope like the rest of them.

Educate yourself.

Educate your friends.

Educate your family.

Remember, the market determines the direction companies will go. If we choose not to put this garbage in our bellies anymore, they will make less of it!

Make It Happen!

Dean

PS- I just know you have got something to say about this hot button issue. Please make a comment to this blog post about what yout think about this KFC Grilled Chicken, or any other of these tactics and marketing “techniques”…

Overfed, Overweight, and Undernourished

As many of you know, here at Get Fit NH Bootcamp we are big fans of Dr. John Berardi, whose nutrition strategies we have both successfully used for many years and who influence permeates our nutritional guidance to our clients.

Today’s guest post from Dr. B explains why most North Americans are overfed yet undernourished. Read and re-read this article – then implement just one strategy today that will help you feel better, look better, and perform better.

Make It Happen!

From North American to Nutritious
by Dr John M Berardi, CSCS

Good nutrition, nutrition for optimal body composition (fat loss, muscle gain), optimal health, and optimal performance (sports or everyday) usually requires a move away from the typical North American dietary habits and a move toward more nutritious, physiology-friendly habits.

To shed a little bit of light on what I mean by the typical North American Diet, let’s consider for a moment how the average North American lives each nutritional day.

1. Our typical North American wakes up too close to when they’ve gotta go, leaving little time to prepare, eat, and digest a good meal before work (whether “work” is an office job or it’s training for sport). Also, our typical North American complains that they’re “not hungry” in the morning.

2. Our typical North American opts for scarfing down a quick, fast digesting breakfast that’s low in calories, missing a significant protein portion, low in micronutrients and phytochemicals, low in good fats, and rich in processed, high glycemic index carbohydrates.

3. Our typical North American heads to work relatively poorly fed.

4. Our typical North American is fairly inconsistent with his/her mid-morning snacks. Also, “snack” usually means more processed carbs and sugar without much in the way of fruits and veggies, quality protein, or good fats.

5. Our typical North American, during his/her lunch break, opts for a small amount of protein (a couple of slices of lunch meat and cheese) between a few slices of processed bread. So again, we’re stuck with low protein, low fruit and veggie intake, and very little good fats.

6. Our typical North American is fairly inconsistent with his/her mid-afternoon snacks. Also, “snack” usually means more processed carbs and sugar without much in the way of fruits and veggies, quality protein, or good fats.

7. Assuming dinner is eaten at home, after work, our typical North American has a decent, nutritionally balanced dinner with a good protein source, good carbohydrates, their first larger fruit and veggie portion of the day, and perhaps even some good fats if they’ve included olive oil or other sources of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats.

8. After their evening activities, our typical North American is inconsistent with their pre-bed snacks. These snacks, if they do eat them, usually are the worst of the day, consisting of larger servings of sweets or processed foods.

So, what’s wrong with this type of intake?

1. Breakfast has been shown to be a critical daily meal. After a catabolic overnight fast, a balanced breakfast helps to regulate blood sugar, helps to regulate energy balance, and helps to control late-day cravings that lead to overfeeding on processed, high fat, and high sugar foods. In both cases above, breakfast is either a very small feeding or is completely non-existent. This needs to change.

2. The bulk of total dietary energy is distributed later in the day. What this means is that hourly energy balance is hugely negative in the morning, and positive in the evening.

Studies at Georgia State University demonstrate that hourly energy balance is at least as important as total daily energy balance and should remain as close to neutral as possible throughout each of the 24 hours. This means a better distribution of calories throughout the entire day – not just loading up on a big dinner.

3. In the case of our example above, by lunch our individual is likely underfed in total and often underfed in protein. As discussed above, energy intake needs to be better distributed through the day.

4. Fruit and veggie intake, as well as protein intake, is very low until dinnertime. Just as total calorie distribution should be spread evenly throughout the day, so should macronutrient (protein, carb, fat) and micronutrient intake.

5. With blood amino acid concentrations low from the overnight fast and continually low throughout the early day (especially if the morning has two training sessions), catabolic conditions will predominate in the body, making recovery from and adaptation to exercise difficult without a higher morning and early afternoon protein intake.

6. Throughout the morning and afternoon, vitamin and mineral intake as well as dietary antioxidant intake is quite low, creating a deficit that’ll be hard to make up later in the day.

A fair number of athletes and recreational exercisers have been shown to be deficient in a host of vitamins and minerals, leading to impairments in nervous system function, metabolic processing, and oxygen delivery/consumption. It’s hard to get the requisite amount of vitamins and minerals in only one or two meals. Now, this doesn’t mean that folks should start popping multi-vitamins. It means they need to get more fruits and vegetables as well as other micronutrient dense foods with every feeding, not just with one or two feedings per day.

7. Many individuals who don’t actively pay attention to their protein intake tend to get too little protein for optimal recovery, preservation of lean body mass, and for the metabolic advantages associated with higher protein intake. Even many of the athletes I regularly work with would benefit from a higher protein intake.

Now, this doesn’t mean at the expense of good carbs and good fats. It’s in addition to those things. Most folks are getting a good, high protein dinner, but it’s difficult to take in enough total protein in only one or two protein rich meals. (Nor is it advisable.)

8. For both the physically active and even the sedentary individuals discussed above, dietary fat intake is usually out of balance in favor of saturated fat. Without actively choosing foods and supplements that contain mono and polyunsaturated fatty acid, fat balance is unfavorable. In our example above, our typical North American isn’t getting enough good fats.

9. With most of the meals above being rich in simple, processed carbs, the hormone insulin isn’t well-controlled. This means that individuals predisposed to fat gain will have a more difficult time controlling and/or losing body fat, even with higher training volumes.

10. With most of the meals above being rich in simple, low-fiber carbs, not enough dietary fiber is being ingested. This may mean constipation, poor blood sugar regulation, and poor GI health.

11. Our individual above isn’t actively taking advantage of the post-exercise improvement in insulin sensitivity and boost in post-exercise protein synthesis by eating carb and amino acid-rich foods right after exercise (assuming they have exercised).

With all of these dietary limitations, it should be clear that although these individuals aren’t dying of malnutrition, they’re certainly not laying the groundwork for great body composition, health and performance. So let’s talk about how to transition from the average diet to a nutritious one.

Step 1: Improve Workout and Post-Workout Nutrition
Step 2: Improving and Scheduling Breakfast Meals
Step 3: Adding good fats
Step 4: Improving lunch meals
Step 5: Improving dinner meals
Step 6: Increasing veggie (and fruit) intake
Step 7: Improve snacks.

Hopefully the message of this article has become clear. Whether you’re a high level competitive athlete or just a recreational exerciser, eating like the typical North American is bad, bad news. And despite your exercise habits, eating this way might have you ending up looking more like the typical North American than you want.

To avoid making the same mistakes other North Americans make, it’s important that you view each meal or snack as an opportunity to get a good balance of nutrition. This means making sure each meal has a good protein source, a good fat source, and a good amount of fruits and veggies.

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Success Secrets for Busy Moms

Mothers day is right around the corner, and it got me to thinking about all the moms we have had the privilege of working with over the past few years.

Without a doubt moms are the most selfless clients we have, and frankly, that’s not always a good thing. Because moms are by nature (and need) focused on everyone else, oftentimes her own physical, emotional and mental well being suffers.

A lot of great moms put aside their fitness ambitions aside because of all the chaos that goes on around them, thinking that it’s for the best. The reality is that a healthy mom is better prepared to take on all the stress that comes her way.

Every day we have moms that walk through the door and work their tails off, only to have their efforts sabotaged my the rest of the day. Here’s a few simple steps we can all use to make each day just a little healthier than the day before.

Step #1 – Eat Breakfast Every Day!

You get up, hop in the shower, get the kids ready, make sure they get something in their stomach before it’s off to daycare or school. Maybe your husband needs his shirt ironed (men are helpless!) and “forgot” to tell you the night before. Missing breakfast just becomes part of your day. This just sets you up poorly for the whole day, as you are more likely to reach for something unhealthy to fill that void in your stomach. Your blood sugar never stabilizes, you feel tired, reach for another cup of coffee and on and on it goes.

You have got to get something healthy in your stomach as early after you wake as possible if you want to achieve that dream body. Nobody expects a busy mom with a crazy schedule to get up an hour earlier to make eggs every day, but a Super Shake takes just a few minutes to make, tastes great, and gets your day started right.

Here’s a great tasting recipe that mixes in a flash and you can take with on your way out the door!

1 Cup Green Tea
1 Scoop Vanilla Ultimate Muscle Protein
1/2 Cup frozen berries (strawbewrries, raspberries, or blueberries)
1 Tbsp almonds
2 Tbsp yogurt
Additional water to suit your texture/thickness preference

Step #2 – Keep Your Training Appointment

You wouldn’t dream about missing a doctors appointment or soccer practice for the kids. If it’s on the calendar, you are going to make sure they are there – it’s just what moms do!

Mom, you need to take the same approach with your fitness. Put it on the calendar and don’t miss it! I am going to brag on our 5:00am boot camp class a little, because every woman in there is a super busy mom who doesn’t necessarily feel like getting up every day, but makes it happen because she knows it is the only time it will get done! In fact the moms in all our classes choose that time and keep that training appointment because that is her time – no excuses!

Step #3 – Don’t Make Sweets Your Solace (and lay off the booze)

Let’s face it, all too many moms are stress eaters (as are the rest of us). After another long day don’t I deserve to sit down with that bag of double stuff cookies or hot fudge sundae? No and No. Nightime is danger time for a lot of moms. The kids are off to bed and she has just had it. Half a bag later the guilt sets in, and what the heck, just finish the bag! Let me encourage you this way, that was a vicious cycle I was caught in for years, and it held me back big time! Don’t turn an occasional treat (or lapse) into an all out pig out.

The other danger zone at night is those glasses of wine. Alcohol and fat burning cannot and do not co-exist. I understand the stress release factor, but you can’t have it both ways. If you want to maximize your result potential, you are better off finding other stress release and relaxation methods in the evening. A hot bath, stretching, and foam rolling are all productive and relaxing, and enhance your fat loss efforts. And as far as the research that shows wine is full of anti-oxidants, etc. – get your full daily servings of fruit and vegetables first, and then get back to me.

Happy Mothers Day – I love you mom!

Dean

Nancy’s Top 5 Grocery Shopping Tips

Shopping, in particular  grocery shopping is one chore I actually look forward to every other week. I enjoy taking my kids out for a few hours to choose the foods we will be eating. They actually like to go to. With three pre-schoolers in tow, here are a few helpful, healthful tips to keep in mind.

1. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. This is where you will find the fruits, veggies, meats, seafood, and dairy sections. These are the healthiest choices while the inside of the store contains those items that are less perishable in boxes, cans, jars, and bags. Think of if this way, chose items that will perish in days or weeks instead of years.  It is scary to think of how long you can keep some items on your pantry shelf.

2. When choosing fruits and veggies, make a wide range of color selection. Think of eating all the colors in the rainbow. You can chose yellow summer squash, red tomatoes, purple cabbage, orange sweet peppers, blue berries, and green beans. Many grocery stores stock a wide range of fruits and veggies. Make it a habit to try one new variety each week.  Often stores have a recipe card section to encourage shoppers to try something they offer.

3. Meats are my next stop around the store. The USDA now requires meats to list their fat content on the packaging. This makes choosing lean meats easier. But check out the difference for yourself. Pick up a package of hamburger containing 75% lean meat and one containing 90% lean meat. Turn the package over and notice how many calories you will be saving by using the 90% instead of the 75% per serving. It is huge. Do the same thing with ground turkey and ground turkey breast. This will shock some of you. But ground turkey is white, dark, skin, and other parts of the turkey ground up while ground turkey breast is only the white lean breast part of the turkey. Do I have to tell you which one has the fewer fat calories?

4. The Seafood department is another one of those unexplored areas of the store for most people. Eating seafood provides you with some very beneficial vitamins and minerals as well as some fantastic fatty acids our body’s crave. Deep Cold water seafood like Salmon, Flounder, Herring, and Tuna.

“The biggest problem in this country is that we eat too little fish, not too much, and overall everyone would benefit from increasing their fish consumption,” says Joyce Nettleton, an expert on omega-3 fatty acids. “We don’t have anything in the marketplace that has the potential to benefit health the way fatty fish do.”

5. Now, this is not to say that I never buy food in the aisles. I do, but I try to keep with the healthiest choices if possible – whole grain items, frozen vegetables without sauces, canned tuna and salmon, etc. While we are on the subject of whole grain, be very careful of labels that read whole grain on the front. Always, always turn the package over to read the nutrition label. Only on the nutrition label will you see the truth. Choose items that are higher than 3 grams of fiber and less than 10 grams of sugar. Higher fiber and less sugar is the rule to keep in mind. There are better choices than others so don’t be fooled. Choosing the healthiest bread or cereal for your family will take some doing the first time out but after that you can avoid all the choices and just pick the ones you have already found to be high fiber and low sugar options.

There are so many options in a super market. It can be an overwhelming chore to make the healthiest choices for you and your family. Stick to these rules and you’ll be on your way to easier healthy eating.

Don’t make it a chore – Make It Fun!

Nancy

Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?

Do you remember playing this game when you were a kid?

If so, you are oooooold…like me! 🙂

Actually all three of those categories are vital in a balanced diet, but I want to talk about vegetables in particular.

We all have heard time and time again that’s it important to eat your fruits and vegetables, but how many of us actually do it on a daily basis?

The National Cancer Institutes “5 to 9 a Day” program encouraged us to eat at least 2 to 4 servings of fruit and 3 to 5 servings of vegetables a day. (Since updated to a personalized program – check it out here: http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/)

The goal is to eat:

• Five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables
• A variety of colorful fruits and vegetables
• High fiber fruits and vegetables
• At least one vitamin C rich fruit or vegetable
• At least one vitamin A rich fruit or vegetable

What’s a serving size? Not all that much, really…

Vegetables:

• 1 cup raw leafy greens
• 1/2 cup fresh or cooked vegetables

Fruits:

• 1 medium apple, orange or banana
• 1/2 cup fresh, canned or cooked fruit
• 1/4 cup dried fruit

The reason I bring the number of daily servings up is because we get asked a lot – Fresh, frozen, canned, organic – which should I eat?

To which are answer is “All of the above!”

You see it doesn’t really matter which of those choices you make if you aren’t eating enough.

For instance we get asked a lot about buying organic – it’s a hot topic right now, and it seems everything is organic. Even Prograde Cravers are organic!

Organic is great, but what matters more is that you are getting enough fruits and veggies first, then worry about super high quality.

I also understand that fruits and vegetables can be expensive, and there is nothing wrong with choosing economical options. Personally my preference would be fresh (organic or not), frozen, and then canned. With canned fruits you need to be cautious about added sugar, and canned veggies can have a lot of sodium. A cold water rinse before you cook them can help get rid of some of that excess salt without affecting the quality.

You know what may be even more important than organic? Buying your produce locally. A vegetable picked from the farm down the road is going to be tastier and healthier than organic produce shipped halfway across the globe.

Pretty soon Farmers Markets are going to start popping up here in NH, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) are also gaining in popularity. A CSA is where you buy a share of a local farm and get a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly delivery of the farms crops, depending on the agreement.

I mentioned Milk and Honey Farm a couple weeks ago, which is the CSA Nancy and I purchases a share in. We went to visit the farm last Saturday, and are excited to report the first pickup is only about a month away!

Seriously, would you rather have vegetables shipped from who knows where, handled about 20 times by 20 different people, sitting on the shelves for an undetermined amount of time OR fresh picked produce with all the nutrients intact from a local farmer at an affordable price? Hmmmm…..

There is still time to buy a share, so if you are interested click the link above.

Milk and Honey isn’t the only CSA around. I went to http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ and did a search for CSA’s in the Concord area, and it came up with 12 results, so you have options.

Look, I am not trying to tell you it is easy to integrate more vegetables and fruits into your eating plan, if it was easy we would all do it all the time! What I am saying is it is worth the effort.  The health and disease prevention benefits are well documented and reliable.

So do what mom said – “Eat Your Vegetables” – she knew what she was talking about!

Make It Happen!

Dean

Is Your Kitchen Making You Fat?

During my recent trip to Louisville, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Chris Mohr give us a presentation on nutrition for kids. He and his wife, Dr. Kara Mohr run a successful fitness bootcamp program in the Louisville area, and Chris has a real knack for making nutrition “easy”.

“Is Your Kitchen Making You Fat?” is the title of the Mohrs new DVD, and I wanted to share a brief excerpt with you. Let me know what you think!

Meal Planning for a Week

So many of you have asked ” So….. what do you eat?” Well now is your chance to get an inside look into our family’s mealtimes. I plan meals for three different types of people all within our family. Dean, who is blogging his food, has special needs as to his intake of starchy carbs. The kids do not need to worry about weight loss, they are very active preschoolers. I also watch what I eat but tolerate most foods in moderation.

Why do I say all that? You can’t copy exactly what I do and get the results you desire. This is a tool to add to your tool box. You’ll need to create a personal food log and meal plan. What works for me might not get all the results you are looking for. 

 

Take a Peak!

Meal Plan for April 6 – April 12

W=workout meals, B= breakfast, S= snacks, D=dinner

Monday:

W: 1 scoop UMP vanilla protein powder mixed with water

B: eggs/spinach/ whole wheat biscuits

S: orange

L: Chicken Stir Fry with veggies and brown rice

S: Apple (Protein Shake for Nancy)

D: Raost Chicken/turnip/chickpea cakes

S: (1 scoop UMP Chocolate with 1 Tablespoon peanut butter for Nancy)

Tuesday:

W: 1 scoop UMP vanilla protein powder mixed with water

B: eggs/ spinach/steel cut oats

S: raisins/craisins/apricots/prunes/cheese

L: roast chicken/turnip/beets/applesauce

S: cottage cheese/pineapple

D: cornbeef/cabbage/onion/spinach salad

S: yogurt for kids (1 scoop UMP Chocolate with 1 Tablespoon peanut butter for Nancy)

Wednesday:

B: Omelet (gr.pepper/onion/mushroom/cheese)

S: Trail Mix (raisins/craisins/apricots/prunes/almonds/sunflower seeds/walnuts/coconut)

L: cornbeef/cabbage/onion/spinach

S: Peanut butter balls/apples

D: taco salad (guacamole,refried beans, lettuce, cheese, hamburger, salsa)

S: crackers for kids(Protein Shake for Nancy)

Thursday:

W: 1 scoop UMP vanilla protein powder mixed with water

B: Breakfast burrito (tomatoe, salsa, onion, black beans, eggs, cheese, wheat tortilla)

S: banana bites (banana, yogurt, coconut)

L: tacos

S: venison jerky/carrots/gr. Pepper sticks

D: Pork Roast/ butternut squash

S: peanut butter balls  (1 scoop UMP Chocolate with 1 Tablespoon peanut butter for Nancy)

Friday:

W: 1 scoop UMP vanilla protein powder mixed with water

B: eggs/ carrot/whole wheat biscuit

S: hard boiled egg/ gr. Pepper

L: Pork Roast/ butternut squash

S: yogurt apricots

D: Hamburger- no bun/mixed veggies (peppers, onion, mushrooms, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, pea pods, water chestnuts)

S: granola bars  (1 scoop UMP Chocolate with 1 Tablespoon peanut butter for Nancy)

Saturday:

B: omelet/ sweet potatoe hash

S: apples/ nut butter (almond, pecan, walnut)

L: leftovers/ applesauce/ salad

S: granola bar

D: all day long pork loin chili

S: trail mix (1 scoop UMP Vanilla with 1 Tablespoon nut butter for Nancy)

Sunday:

B: Yogurt and fruit for kids (mint chocolate shake for nancy 1-2 scoops UMP chocolate protein powder)

L: Eggs/ pancakes/berries/ chopped nuts

S: Easter dinner at in laws

D: Easter at in laws (the plan is to fill the dinner plate with wise choices, then allowing a dessert )

S: granola bars  (1 scoop UMP Chocolate with 1 Tablespoon peanut butter for Nancy)

Did you catch the pattern? We eat eggs every morning usually with oatmeal. Dinner is lunch the next day. I make enough snacks to last a few days.

Life is complicated enough, these are a few ways I make things easy.

So ask questions. Let me know what you think? Find out why I do what I do.