Apple Flax Cake Recipe
This recipe is from my friend, Alanna Blanco Foudy
Ingredients:
-one egg
-2-3 tbsp of shredded apple
-3 tbsp of milled/ground flax seeds
-1 tsp of Stevia (I use one packet)
-2 tbsp of filtered water - if you use closer to 3 tbsp of shredded apple, you may just need one 1 tbsp of water
-olive oil spray
- 1/8 to 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
Directions:
1. whisk the egg, apple, flaxseeds, cinnamon and stevia together with the water in a small bowl.
2. lightly coat an omelet pan with olive oil spran and heat over medium heat. (I actually use a griddle)
3. pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook until the bottom of the flaxcake is solid enough to flip, 3 to 4 minutes
4. carefully flip the flaxcake, cookinguntil done, about 1 minute
5. sprinkle with cinnamon and serve
Friday, August 20, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Stairmaster Success
There are numerous reasons why to incorporate cardio into your training program.
Without getting too complicated, a few of the benefits associated with cardiovascular exercise is that it burns immediate calories, revs up our metabolism for about 45 minutes afterwards, conditions our leg muscles and keeps us “heart healthy”. Our heart is forced to pump rich, oxygenated blood to our cells, flushing out toxins within our body. Our body improves its ability to function properly to metabolize fat and improve our cardiovascular performance. Not to mention the fact that when performed intensely, it is mentally therapeutic because of the release of hormones that occurs, making us feel better when it’s finished.
When done properly, I believe that the Stairmaster is the best man made piece of cardio equipment; it’s my personal favorite and it is almost always my first choice. I always make sure I’m challenged and that I’m training my body and giving it exactly what it needs in regards to intensity.
There are definitely days when I have to “force” myself to get through a cardio session. I don’t really like to use the word “force” because really, I want to be there, I want to do it, and I know it’s good for me and I know I’ll feel so much better once I get started. None the less, I’m human and there are days that I would rather not, but I do it anyways because it needs to get done and integrating a healthy cardiovascular training program into your training is important.
When I’m training for a show, sometimes I have to do an hour of cardio at a time. An hour is not always recommended for everyone. But for me and my training goals for my competitions, it is important because in order to enhance the abundance of fat metabolism at a given time, cardiovascular exercise programs need to incorporate long duration and light intensity.
I can generally tolerate 30 minutes of cardio with no problem. Anything longer than that, and I have to start bribing myself. An hour long session of straight cardio is a long time and believe me… I get board! I don’t like splitting up cardio machines, because as I mentioned, I believe that the Stairmaster is the best and often times it is inconvenient for me to get off of on machine, rest and then get started on another; I’d rather just keep going without stopping.
What’s my bribe and what do I do get through it? Aside from a powerful mind and a commitment to myself that I am going to get it done, I am a serious gum chewer! I tell me self that I will give myself a fresh piece of gum every 15 minutes. That’s my trick and it works for me! When I think I can’t do any more or that I don’t want to do anymore, I just tell myself that I’ll get a fresh burst of flavor in a few short minutes! It’s like a treat and it mentally breaks up my cardio sessions every quarter. Seeing my cardio sessions in bouts of 15 minutes is whole lot more “mentally” attainable. It’s like setting 4 mini goals to achieve the bigger goal of finishing an entire hour.
Other tricks that motivate me are having my iPod loaded with good tunes, a good magazine and a buddy/friend to sweat with.
Without getting too complicated, a few of the benefits associated with cardiovascular exercise is that it burns immediate calories, revs up our metabolism for about 45 minutes afterwards, conditions our leg muscles and keeps us “heart healthy”. Our heart is forced to pump rich, oxygenated blood to our cells, flushing out toxins within our body. Our body improves its ability to function properly to metabolize fat and improve our cardiovascular performance. Not to mention the fact that when performed intensely, it is mentally therapeutic because of the release of hormones that occurs, making us feel better when it’s finished.
When done properly, I believe that the Stairmaster is the best man made piece of cardio equipment; it’s my personal favorite and it is almost always my first choice. I always make sure I’m challenged and that I’m training my body and giving it exactly what it needs in regards to intensity.
There are definitely days when I have to “force” myself to get through a cardio session. I don’t really like to use the word “force” because really, I want to be there, I want to do it, and I know it’s good for me and I know I’ll feel so much better once I get started. None the less, I’m human and there are days that I would rather not, but I do it anyways because it needs to get done and integrating a healthy cardiovascular training program into your training is important.
When I’m training for a show, sometimes I have to do an hour of cardio at a time. An hour is not always recommended for everyone. But for me and my training goals for my competitions, it is important because in order to enhance the abundance of fat metabolism at a given time, cardiovascular exercise programs need to incorporate long duration and light intensity.
I can generally tolerate 30 minutes of cardio with no problem. Anything longer than that, and I have to start bribing myself. An hour long session of straight cardio is a long time and believe me… I get board! I don’t like splitting up cardio machines, because as I mentioned, I believe that the Stairmaster is the best and often times it is inconvenient for me to get off of on machine, rest and then get started on another; I’d rather just keep going without stopping.
What’s my bribe and what do I do get through it? Aside from a powerful mind and a commitment to myself that I am going to get it done, I am a serious gum chewer! I tell me self that I will give myself a fresh piece of gum every 15 minutes. That’s my trick and it works for me! When I think I can’t do any more or that I don’t want to do anymore, I just tell myself that I’ll get a fresh burst of flavor in a few short minutes! It’s like a treat and it mentally breaks up my cardio sessions every quarter. Seeing my cardio sessions in bouts of 15 minutes is whole lot more “mentally” attainable. It’s like setting 4 mini goals to achieve the bigger goal of finishing an entire hour.
Other tricks that motivate me are having my iPod loaded with good tunes, a good magazine and a buddy/friend to sweat with.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Recipe: Carb-less Flax Wrap
Carb-less Flax Wrap
Ingredients:
2 TBS flax meal
2 TBS water
1 egg white
Instructions:
Mix all three ingredients together, and pour into a skillet. The batter may come out a little thick; if this happens just spread it out in the pan end to end. Flip and cook both sides thoroughly.
I am really enjoying these! You can use them anyway you would use a tortilla! I like to use them to make tuna or chicken wraps. I also really like them for breakfast to wrap my eggs in! It’s like a healthy burrito omelet! They are even great with a little almond or peanut butter spread on them.
Macro's:
Calories: 77 grams
Carbohydrates: 4 grams
Protein: 5.5 grams
Fat: 6 grams
What’s so great about Flax? Flax is great for our digestive health since it has lots of fiber and healthy fats which is important for our digestive health and the overall function of our cells. Only 2 TBS of flax has only has 4 grams of carbs, but since Flax is very fibrous all 4 grams of carbs in Flax are “fiber” carbs. Therefore, they count as “net” carbs. In other words, the carbs get passed through your digestive track and are not necessarily metabolized as energy.
Ingredients:
2 TBS flax meal
2 TBS water
1 egg white
Instructions:
Mix all three ingredients together, and pour into a skillet. The batter may come out a little thick; if this happens just spread it out in the pan end to end. Flip and cook both sides thoroughly.
I am really enjoying these! You can use them anyway you would use a tortilla! I like to use them to make tuna or chicken wraps. I also really like them for breakfast to wrap my eggs in! It’s like a healthy burrito omelet! They are even great with a little almond or peanut butter spread on them.
Macro's:
Calories: 77 grams
Carbohydrates: 4 grams
Protein: 5.5 grams
Fat: 6 grams
What’s so great about Flax? Flax is great for our digestive health since it has lots of fiber and healthy fats which is important for our digestive health and the overall function of our cells. Only 2 TBS of flax has only has 4 grams of carbs, but since Flax is very fibrous all 4 grams of carbs in Flax are “fiber” carbs. Therefore, they count as “net” carbs. In other words, the carbs get passed through your digestive track and are not necessarily metabolized as energy.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Your Stairmaster Workout is Not working... Here's Why!
Get your hands off of the stair master! Just barely touching the Stairmaster with your finger tips will save you from lifting 30% of your own body weight! How much work do you think you are really doing when you’re hanging all over it?
Do you want to work out or just look like you are working out? One of my biggest pet peeve’s in the gym is when I see people on the stair master hunched over, slouching, leaning on the rails or holding on for dear life. It seriously drives me crazy!!! Great you’re sweating and huffing and puffing. Great you’re on a really high intensity level. Here’s what I have to say… Get real and move over so someone else can properly use it! What are you trying to do here…impress yourself? You’re looking like a mess and like you don’t know what you’re doing.
Here’s what you’re not doing. You’re not giving yourself a good workout, you’re not being honest with yourself and you’re NOT getting results! Your totally cheating and devaluing (in my opinion) the best man made piece of cardio equipment for fat burning!
You are totally ruining its purpose and function when you don’t practice good form. If you think you’re training hard when your slouching and sweating all over the machine, imagine how much better of a workout you’ll do if you actually do it right. Imagine how much faster you will drop body fat and improve your cardio respiratory function if you train your body to lift itself instead of hanging on the rails.
The next time you climb the stairs, let me challenge you to challenge yourself. Turn down the intensity, stand tall with your chest up and shoulders down and back. Plant your feet so that they are flat on each step and keep your hands off the rail! Don’t even touch the stair master with your finger tips…not once! If you feel awkward about what to do with your hands, place them on your hips or practice good posture by keeping them at your sides. If you’re a real rock star and you want to challenge yourself, slow down the speed, grab a pair of dumbbells or a barbell and very carefully and with perfect posture, do overhead shoulder presses as you step. Tell me you don’t sweat and feel like you had a hard workout after this.
Do you have a pet peeve at the gym? Are you the “sloppy Stairmaster” person that I’m describing or do you do it right? Do you disagree with my opinion? Let me know.
What motivates you?
Do you want to work out or just look like you are working out? One of my biggest pet peeve’s in the gym is when I see people on the stair master hunched over, slouching, leaning on the rails or holding on for dear life. It seriously drives me crazy!!! Great you’re sweating and huffing and puffing. Great you’re on a really high intensity level. Here’s what I have to say… Get real and move over so someone else can properly use it! What are you trying to do here…impress yourself? You’re looking like a mess and like you don’t know what you’re doing.
Here’s what you’re not doing. You’re not giving yourself a good workout, you’re not being honest with yourself and you’re NOT getting results! Your totally cheating and devaluing (in my opinion) the best man made piece of cardio equipment for fat burning!
You are totally ruining its purpose and function when you don’t practice good form. If you think you’re training hard when your slouching and sweating all over the machine, imagine how much better of a workout you’ll do if you actually do it right. Imagine how much faster you will drop body fat and improve your cardio respiratory function if you train your body to lift itself instead of hanging on the rails.
The next time you climb the stairs, let me challenge you to challenge yourself. Turn down the intensity, stand tall with your chest up and shoulders down and back. Plant your feet so that they are flat on each step and keep your hands off the rail! Don’t even touch the stair master with your finger tips…not once! If you feel awkward about what to do with your hands, place them on your hips or practice good posture by keeping them at your sides. If you’re a real rock star and you want to challenge yourself, slow down the speed, grab a pair of dumbbells or a barbell and very carefully and with perfect posture, do overhead shoulder presses as you step. Tell me you don’t sweat and feel like you had a hard workout after this.
Do you have a pet peeve at the gym? Are you the “sloppy Stairmaster” person that I’m describing or do you do it right? Do you disagree with my opinion? Let me know.
What motivates you?
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Chocolate Protein Pancake Recipe
One of my favorite things to eat and enjoy is a protein pancake! So good! I promise that you will love them too! I actually learned this from a friend of mine when were competing together. Now there are LOTS of different recipes to follow for making protein pancakes. I prefer this one because it’s quick, simple and requires just a few ingredients.
Ingredients:
1 scoop of flavored protein powder
2 egg whites
¼ cup of pumpkin
1 tbsp Coco powder
Ingredients:
1 scoop of flavored protein powder
2 egg whites
¼ cup of pumpkin
1 tbsp Coco powder
Directions:
Mix ingredients together in a bowl and then pour into a pan. You may have to add a little bit of water to the batter or “pat” the mixture down in the pan, as it will come out pretty think. Cook in the pan over medium heat (about the same as if you were cooking eggs) about 2 minutes each side. The taste great warm, cold and are even great to save and keep in the fridge for a few days to enjoy later.
** Make it like a sandwich and add a table spoon of peanut butter or almond butter…YUM!
Tip: Use a “casein” protein rather than a whey protein… it cooks/bakes much better because the protein molecules don’t break down as fast as in whey and it binds well with the egg whites to make a thick cooking batter.
Flavors I enjoy are chocolate, vanilla, and pumpkin. Just add a little coco powder, cinnamon spice or pumpkin spice to your batter to enhance the favors.
Maco’s for 1 protein pancake:
Calories: 190 calories
Carbs: 9g
Protein: 31g
Fat: 3 g
Tip: Use a “casein” protein rather than a whey protein… it cooks/bakes much better because the protein molecules don’t break down as fast as in whey and it binds well with the egg whites to make a thick cooking batter.
Flavors I enjoy are chocolate, vanilla, and pumpkin. Just add a little coco powder, cinnamon spice or pumpkin spice to your batter to enhance the favors.
Maco’s for 1 protein pancake:
Calories: 190 calories
Carbs: 9g
Protein: 31g
Fat: 3 g
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Stay Committed: Pace yourself to Pay Yourself
Stay Committed: Pace yourself to Pay Yourself
What’s harder than adapting to the physical strain of exercise? Finding and maintaining the mental strength to continue your work outs and do them day after day, week after week and month after month!
It’s about not making excuses to miss your workouts or letting other things in life take time away from your fitness commitments. You are in control of you. It’s not because your kids are busy and you need to take them places. It’s not because you “had” to get an errand done today that you new about 2 weeks ago. It’s not because you overslept or under slept or are feeling “tired” and it’s not because you had to stay and work late!
The only reason why you miss workouts is because you don’t want to go! You are not too busy! Truthfully, you’d rather be doing something else. Too BAD!!!! You’d rather look and feel different than you do right? Then you should WANT to go to the gym and you should make yourself go, no matter what! Don’t complain or make excuses later when you have completely fallen off the band wagon as to why you couldn’t’ stay committed.
My point here is to prepare you to prepare yourself for the days when you won’t “feel” like working out. The beginning of your journey is always exciting and you generally start off really excited and anticipate your next workout because you are thrilled with the concept of changing and improving your life. But as time goes on… momentum wears off and motivation may slow down as life gets busy. What’s going to be that driving force that keeps you going?
That’s when commitment needs to step in. I guarantee you that there will be days when you don’t “feel” like working out, but you do it anyway because you know have to and you know you’ll feel better afterwards. It’s just like going to work every day and making a living… you have to! You generally don’t get the luxury of saying that you are not going to work because you don’t feel like it! Can you honestly expect to excel in your career if you don’t show up to work every day and do your job? The same goes for your workouts. You cannot expect to change your body and maximize results to their full potential if you don’t show up to do your workouts! You’re workouts are a form of payment for yourself. You workout (intensely) and you get paid with results. No workouts equal no payments/results. Pay yourself first and get your workouts done! No excuses!
What’s harder than adapting to the physical strain of exercise? Finding and maintaining the mental strength to continue your work outs and do them day after day, week after week and month after month!
It’s about not making excuses to miss your workouts or letting other things in life take time away from your fitness commitments. You are in control of you. It’s not because your kids are busy and you need to take them places. It’s not because you “had” to get an errand done today that you new about 2 weeks ago. It’s not because you overslept or under slept or are feeling “tired” and it’s not because you had to stay and work late!
The only reason why you miss workouts is because you don’t want to go! You are not too busy! Truthfully, you’d rather be doing something else. Too BAD!!!! You’d rather look and feel different than you do right? Then you should WANT to go to the gym and you should make yourself go, no matter what! Don’t complain or make excuses later when you have completely fallen off the band wagon as to why you couldn’t’ stay committed.
My point here is to prepare you to prepare yourself for the days when you won’t “feel” like working out. The beginning of your journey is always exciting and you generally start off really excited and anticipate your next workout because you are thrilled with the concept of changing and improving your life. But as time goes on… momentum wears off and motivation may slow down as life gets busy. What’s going to be that driving force that keeps you going?
That’s when commitment needs to step in. I guarantee you that there will be days when you don’t “feel” like working out, but you do it anyway because you know have to and you know you’ll feel better afterwards. It’s just like going to work every day and making a living… you have to! You generally don’t get the luxury of saying that you are not going to work because you don’t feel like it! Can you honestly expect to excel in your career if you don’t show up to work every day and do your job? The same goes for your workouts. You cannot expect to change your body and maximize results to their full potential if you don’t show up to do your workouts! You’re workouts are a form of payment for yourself. You workout (intensely) and you get paid with results. No workouts equal no payments/results. Pay yourself first and get your workouts done! No excuses!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Getting Started
Congratulations!
You have finally convinced and talked yourself in to committing to a workout program. You have reached that breaking point where you are just so dead sick of how you look and feel and realize that doing nothing is not working and that whatever you have been doing in the past is not working ether. You’ve decided to quit complaining to yourself (and others) and to do something about it.
When you are just starting to work out, you might be all “gung-ho” on the idea that you are going to do this right “this time” and that nothing is going to get in your way; and that’s a great attitude to have. But what happens in 3 weeks from that stating point? What happens 3 months from that starting point? How are you going to keep up your momentum, motivation and the commitments that you made to yourself?
You might be super motivated to get started and to chug through your workout with 110% effort, because you want to see those results and you want your body to change immediately, but what happens when “life happens”? You get busy, life gets in the way, you miss a workout one week, then two the next week, then a whole week goes by and you feel like you are behind the eight ball again.
Let me be honest. Whether you're bran new to exercise or coming back after taking a long time off, you can expect that things will be challenging. Working out when you are not used to working out is damn hard. You feel breathless, out of shape, physically weak, tired, or sick. You will sweat and you will be uncomfortable and you may not want to do it. Your body may feel painfully sore for a few days afterwards. But I promise you this… it will get easier! Each intense workout better prepares you for the next one. You will gain strength, you will gain endurance and your body will change. You just have to prepare yourself for the fact that it takes time! Be patient and stay consistent!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
