Fun Food for Fall

Ever since the completion of competition season last year I have been "nursing my body back to health."

Eating more like a "Protein Type" Metabolically speaking.

This can coincide a bit with the hugely popular PALEO way of eating.

If you haven't read Wolcott and Fahey's The Metabolic Typing Diet  or Robb Wolf's The Paleo Solution

I strongly suggest you head to the library or Barnes and Noble and dig in.

Here are a few metabolically friendly fun Fall recipes :D

A state of confusion

When I actually have the time to think about it, its PRETTY FREAKING CRAZY how much health and fitness professionals have going against them BEFORE they even MEET with a potential client!

As a trainer I have come far enough to know that no two people are going to see equal success on the same training program.  Why would I assume that nutrition would be any different?

Sure there are countless ways to eat that have become popular over the years

Lets see

Vegan, Vegetarian, Raw, Macrobiotic, Paleo

South Beach, Atkins... ah the cookie diet

Dr. Siegal's Cookie Diet
you see the list goes on.

Oh and then there are the fitness fads

losing 7 lbs in 7 days with the ab chair,

toned sexy legs with a pair of shoes

100's of repetitions with light weights to get "toned"

Zappos MBT Walkers

WHAT THE  ****!

No wonder everyone is so confused!  We need to first worry about our HEALTH and then worry about weight loss.

What is the point of having a bangin body when you feel miserable all the time?

In the past year I have found myself on opposite sides of the spectrum. Throughout this journey I have learned invaluable lessons that help me be a better coach and trainer. 

What is your health potential? Are you still looking to get to some "goal weight" or are you looking to protect yourself from cancer and help prevent disease?  You can do BOTH, it just might take a little bit longer for the later!

The secret is there is no quick fix. Nutrition takes time, preparation and PATIENCE. A solid training program requires consistency and EFFORT.

This may seem odd coming from a trainer but here is my

HONEST ADVICE to EVERYONE out there. 

Get your nutrition under control, then worry about training.

Love Fitness?!? Love Cruises?!??!?!

How about a  STRENGTH CRUISE?!?!?!

STABILITY

You either have it or you don't....Most likely you dont :p

You all have heard about STRENGTH
You all have heard about FLEXIBILITY

To me neither is all that great if you don't have stability!

I want to allow my clients as well as myself to be able to train/be active and healthy for as long as we can!

Do you give a sh*t about your stability?

Mike Robertson wrote a great article for T-Nation a few weeks back that will help you understand a little more on my rant!

Gone apple picking and need to use the apples any and every way imaginable???

Well here is a GREAT AND EASY RECIPE straight from the pages of  my favorite magazine Clean Eating!
OCTOBER 2011 PG 52

Seared Pork Chops with Apples and Leeks
Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
4 40z boneless pork loin chops
1/4 tsp each sea salt and pepper
2 leeks, rinsed and well hopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 apples ( McIntosh, Fuji or Gala) cored and diced
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

Instructions:
In a large skillet, heat oil on medium high. Season both sides of pork with salt and pepper and place in the skillet; cook for 1-2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Add leeks and garlic to skillet and cook for 2 minutes on medium high heat, until soft. Add thyme and cook for 1 minute, until thyme is fragrant. Stir in broth, apples and rosemary and bring to a simmer. Return chops to pan, partially cover and cook for 3-5 minutes, undisturbed until chops are tender.

Serves:4
Total time: 20 minutes

Nutrients per serving-
260 calories
Fat 8g
Carbs 20g
Protein 27g

And if you're a MEAT AND POTATOES kinda person, cook up some Quinoa for an additional healthy starch !

SOUL's DESIRE

Each and every month I read Yoga Journal, and without fail there is ALWAYS a passage that speaks to me.
Take me 4 or 5 years ago, I don't even think I'd really ever read the magazines I would get!
 Instead, I would skim through looking at the photos and never find any meaning in what I was "reading".

This month was a particularly special month for me and so was the passage that spoke to me.  Unless you come to my apartment and teach me to use my scanner ;), or hit up the shelves of your local grocery or bookstore....the following link will have to do!

As September (my first month of working for myself) comes to an end I would like to share an excerpt from Rod Stryker's book the Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom.

Hey you... you know who you are ;) this is for you!

Like a magnet, you are attracting thoughts, events, lifestyles-everything that you are living. And so, as you see things the way they are, you attract more of the same; but as you see things as you would like them to be, you attract them as you would like them to be. This is why the better it gets, the better it gets; or the worse it gets, the worse it gets- people tend to look mostly at what-is.
~Abraham~

I haven't felt this good in a long time.  Here I am in my new apartment.  In my healthy and strong body.  I have made the decision to go out on my own and try and make it :)

Indeed I am scared but also extremely excited for the possibilities that lie ahead.  

The first person I told that I was leaving my "secure" job was my momma.  She reacted panicked and said "Well what are you going to do?!?!?!?"

I can laugh about it now, because MOM I KNOW YOU ONLY WANT THE BEST FOR ME :)

 As I have become more and more comfortable with my decision there have been little signs that speak to me each and everyday that assure me that this is my path!

THIS IS FOR YOU