Making Time

This week’s theme has been to make time to move your body. Make an appointment for your workout. Just like when you make time to come see us, make time to do cardio on your own.

Is there a "best" time? Research has been done to determine the most effective calorie-burning time for exercise. The most effective one is one you like and stick with it! If you’re a morning person get up and get in a workout, feel like you need to wait till later then wait…just do it. Schedule your workouts for a time when there is little chance that you will have to cancel or interrupt them because of competing demands on your time.

When you're planning to exercise, it is recommended that you do some form of aerobic exercise at least three times a week for a minimum of 30 continuous minutes, more if you can. If that's too much, start with a shorter time span and gradually build up, then progress until you are able to work for 30 minutes. If you need to lose weight, you may want to do your aerobic workout five times a week, but be sure to have ONE day of REST.

Grilled Tilapia Tacos
Serves 6

1 tablespoon ground chipotle seasoning1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
6 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
cooking spray
12 corn tortillas
1 cup shredded cole slaw mix (purchase from any supermarket)
papaya-mango salsa (store-bought)
fresh lime wedges

1. Combine chipotle seasoning and cumin. Rub mixture evenly over fillets.
2. Stir together olive oil, lime zest, and lime juice; rub over fillets.
3. Arrange fillets on a grill coated with cooking spray. Grill over medium-highheat (350° F to 400° F) 3 minutes on each side or until fish just begins to flake with a fork.
4. Cool slightly. Shred fish. Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons fish into each tortiIla, andtop with slaw and papaya-mango salsa. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 338 FAT 8 g PROTEIN 44 g SODIUM 86 mg FIBER 3.2 g CARBOHYDRATE 23 g

Move!

It's a fact that getting active can reduce your risk of cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends getting at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical exercise on five or more days a week for maximum benefits. This should be very easy for all of you since you are already doing this, right?

Want more motivation? Then keep reading: At least 50 percent of cancer deaths in the United States could be prevented just by making small changes to lifestyle and health habits.
Whether you're just starting or renewing your commitment to being fit and healthy, think about how much you're doing for yourself and your loved ones by taking good care of your body. That should be enough to get you motivated.

Squats

Squats… you either hate them or you love them. Either way, they are an excellent exercise to tone and build muscle.

Benefits of performing squats include:

Squats work all major muscle groups
Squats burn a lot of calories
Squats tone up your butt and thighs
Full squats can increase flexibility in the lower body
Lower back and mid-section become stronger
Heart and lung power increased
Muscle is gained
Stability is gained (core and pelvic control)
Increase balance

To avoid injury, form is very important when performing a squat. There are many myths about squats such as “squats are bad for your knees” or “squats can injure your spine.” Well, any exercise can cause damage if it performed improperly. If you are capable of doing squats you should. So try to have them incorporated into your workout. I personally love squats, and I’m sure many of you can tell by how sore your legs are lately. It is one of the best exercises for all of your major muscle groups.

There are many variations of squats:

Ball squats
Body weight squats
Front squats
Sumo squats
Pile squats
Jump squats (above, thanks Jeremy!)
One leg squats

Squats can be performed with or without weights, so this is a good move to perform during those small breaks during the day.

How to Make Time

Everybody's busy these days. When things start getting hectic in our lives, exercise seems to be the last thing most of us make time for. Maybe it's time to stop thinking of physical activity as a "when I have time" option and consider it a necessity for life. Exercise is vital to good health, whether or not you need to lose weight. Weight loss is an added bonus! If you stand back and change a few small things in your life, you can easily make time for exercise.

First, look for ways to add more movement to your day:

Gardening
Bowling
Family outings
Salsa dancing
Walk
Bicycle
Park away from the office and walk the rest of the way
Walk up the stairs instead of using the elevator

Next, find the time:

Skip one TV show a night. One show which could give you 30 minutes to an hour of exercise time.
Make the most out of commercials. When you do watch TV, do sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks during commercials.
Take your dog for a walk. Seriously, take your pup out and walk him around the neighborhood for 30 minutes.
Keep track of your time. Track your time for a few days and you may be able to see areas where you can squeeze in a workout.
After dinner, make an after dinner walk with the family something you do all the time.

Added up, these small changes can total a significant amount of energy used over days, weeks and beyond.

Making the Time

We all have 24 hours in a day; we are supposed to sleep for 8 of those that leave us with 16 waking hours. If you think about it how much time that is, it’s not a lot. Once you work 8-10 hours a day your left with 8-6 hours. Now if we add up all the other stuff we do such as: help the kids with homework, driving them here and there, paying the bills, cleaning and checking emails. All this can take over our lives and did you forget that you still have to make good healthy meals and have calories to burn.

Most of the trouble of trying to stay fit or lose weight is because of our schedules. You can come in and talk to a trainer and even workout with one. We can teach you all that we know and what to do about it. But if you don’t make time for it in your scheduled then you will not see results. Results come from what you are willing to put into it. That is why I always tell people that a healthy lifestyle is good organization. If you plan to meet with the doctor at 8 AM on Monday, then guess where you will be at 8 AM on Monday… at the doctor’s office. So why not do the same for your nutrition and exercise. WRITE it into your schedule. This is an APPOINTMENT. Something you plan to do. If you plan for it you have to make time for it. If you make time for it then you will do it. So do it. Make it happen.

Well we are back from Phoenix, overall we had a blast! We learned a lot of new strategies and pick up some good information. Overall we had a good grasp on thing. In my own opinion we use a lot of what they talked about. We stress core, proper rotation, if a joint has mobility or a muscle has flexibility. We already use the “Functional Movement Screen”, that is how we have made all your programs. So of all the trainers there we represent our company well. This little bit of news will make you all happy. WE GOT OUR BUTTS KICKED! All the stuff we learned we all had to do. Three out of our four stations were good, but our last stations, the hardest stations… we worked up a good sweat. It was great! It was nice to have the tables turned.

Phoenix Trip

Kristin and Orlando... Left Behind.

Kristin and Orlando...Honeymoon???

Saturday's Update

Andrew's Plea for More Vacation.

Kristin's Update, Andrew is not a good camera man.

Shay Ready to Be Home.

Other Factors

Cardiac Risk Factors
C Reactive Protein (CRP) is a indicator for inflammation. It is been used to gauge inflammation in response to infection. The best treatment for a high C reactive protein is niacin, weight loss, quitting smoking, and exercise.
Homocysteine is an amino acid that is normally found in blood. High levels are associated with increased risk of heart attack and other vascular diseases. Homocysteine levels may be high due to a deficiency of folic acid or Vitamin B12, due to heredity, older age, kidney disease, or certain medications. Men tend to have higher levels. You can reduce your homocysteine level by eating more green leafy vegetables and fortified grain products or cereals. The usual treatment is folic acid.
High lipoprotein concentrations are associated with premature coronary heart disease (CHD). It appears that there is a strong genetic component to elevated lipoprotein levels that associate with coronary disease. Persons with diabetes and a high lipoprotein level appear to be at greater risk of coronary disease.

Thyroid
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) is a protein hormone that is secreted by the pituitary gland and regulates the thyroid gland. A high level suggests your thyroid is underactive, and a low level suggests your thyroid is overactive.

Complete Blood Count
The CBC typically has several parameters that are created from an automated cell counter. These are the most relevant:
White Blood Count (WBC) is the number of white cells. High WBC can be a sign of infection. WBC is also increased in certain types of leukemia. Low white counts can be a sign of bone marrow diseases or an enlarged spleen.
The Hemoglobin (Hgb) is the amount of oxygen within the red blood cells. Low Hgb suggest anemia. Anemia can be due to nutritional deficiencies, blood loss, destruction of blood cells internally, or failure to produce blood in the bone marrow. High Hgb can occur due to lung disease, living at high altitude, or excessive bone marrow production of blood cells.
Platelet Count (PLT) : This is the number of cells that plug up holes in your blood vessels and prevent bleeding. High values can occur with bleeding, cigarette smoking or excess production by the bone marrow. Low values can occur from acute blood loss, drug effects, infections, enlarged spleen, or bone marrow failure from diseases such as leukemia.

Lab Test

Laboratory tests are tools helpful in evaluating your health status. It is important to realize that your results may be outside of the "normal range" for many reasons. These difference may be due to race, dietetic preference, age, sex, menstrual cycle, degree of physical activity, non-prescription drugs or supplements, prescription drugs, alcohol intake and a number of non-illness-related factors, Still any abnormal results should be discussed with your physician. It is not possible to diagnose any disease or problem with this blood test alone. It can help you to learn more about your body and potential problems.
Most labs, sets the normal range for a particular test so that 95% of our healthy patients fall within the normal range. 5% of our healthy patients fall outside of the normal range, even when there is nothing wrong with them. An irregular test does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with you. Part of what you see your doctor for is to interpret whether or not these changes are important. This review is a brief summary and is not intended to be comprehensive so if you have questions ask!

What Those Results Mean

How many times have you gone to the doctor and been given your results from a blood test? More importantly how many of those words or abbreviation of words did you know? More than likely if you did not know what they meant you did not know if the value that corresponded was good or bad.

Shouldn’t we know what those values are for? I think so. Below I have given you a brief overview of so of the hematology and chemistries you would typically come across. If this still has you confused then ask you doctor to explain it to you. Don’t be afraid to take up 2 more minutes of their time. For the most part this will give you a good start to understanding all those numbers.

WBC – How strong your immune system is, if you have an infection or not.

RBC, HGB, HCT – Provides information on the amount of red blood cells present in the blood. Decreased levels means anemia from hemorrhage, parasites, nutritional deficiencies or chronic disease process, such as liver disease or cancer. Increased levels are often seen in dehydration. Greatest change may be seen in premenopausal women because monthly blood loss. You need to take iron supplements or eat more red meat.

RDW – This will tend to be higher when red blood count is low

Lymph # - Increase value indicates viral infection

Mono#, Gran# - Increase in valve may mean bacterial infection

PLT – Play an important role in blood clotting. Decrease in number occurs in bone marrow depression, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, systemic lupus, severe hemorrhage or intravascular coagulation. Increased number may occur with fracture or blood vessel injury, or cancer.

MCV - Measurement of the average size of the red blood cells. Elevated volumes can be due to B-12 folic acid deficiency and reduced volumes are from an iron deficiency.

AST (SGOT), ALT (SGPT) - An enzyme that becomes elevated with liver disease.

Total Bilirubin - A component of bile, bilirubin is secreted by the liver into the intestinal tract. High levels can lead to jaundice and indicate destruction in the liver and bile duct. In short, has to do with liver function.

ALK – An enzyme produced by the biliary tract (liver). High levels indicate bone disease, liver disease or bile flow blockage.

BUN - Is produced by the liver and excreted by the kidneys. Decreased levels are seen with low protein diets, liver insufficiency, and the use of anabolic steroid drug. Increased levels indicate any condition that reduces the kidney's ability to filter body fluids in the body or interferes with protein breakdown. Or function of the kidneys.

Creatinine - A by-product of muscle metabolism and is excreted by the kidneys. Elevated levels can indicate kidney disease or urinary obstruction, muscle disease, arthritis, hyperthyroidism, and diabetes. An increased BUN and normal creatinine suggest an early or mild problem. An increased creatinine and increased BUN with elevated phosphorus indicate a long standing kidney disease.

Calcium - Blood calcium levels are influenced by diet, hormone levels and blood protein levels. Decreased levels indicate acute damage to the pancreas or undersctive parathyroid. Muscle twitches may occur in decreased level. Increased levels can be an indicator of certain types of tumors, parathyroid or kidney disease. Low calcium level may indicate deficiency of pancreatic enzymes, and high calcium level may indicate poor metabolism of fats and protein.

Total Protein - Increases indicate dehydration or blood cancer, bone marrow cancer; decreases indicate malnutrition, poor digestion, liver or kidney disease, bleeding or burns.

Albumin – Produced by the liver, reduced levels of this protein can point to chronic liver or kidney disease, or parasitic infections such as hookworm. High levels indicate dehydration and loss of protein. Has to do with nutrition status.

Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, CO2 – Electrolytes levels, kidney control status. Certain drug can affect levels.

Electrolytes (Sodium, Potassium, Chloride) - The balance of these chemicals is vital to health. Abnormal levels can be life threatening. Electrolyte tests are important in evaluating vomiting, diarrhea and cardiac symptoms.

Cholesterol (CHOL) - Decreased levels are found in an overactive thyroid gland, intestinal malabsorption. Elevated levels of cholesterol are seen in a variety of disorders including hypothyroidism and diseases of the liver, kidneys, cardiovascular, diabetes, and stress.

Urinalysis - Normal color is yellow to amber. Red is caused by blood, dark yellow to brown with yellow form are caused by bilirubin, reddish brown is caused by hemoglobin / myoglobin. Transparency - Normal is clear. Cloudy urine is caused by crystals, cells, blood, mucous, bacteria or cast. PH Levels - It should be 6.2~6.5, little on the acidic side.

All the Day's Meals

This week has come and gone. It’s even gotten a little cold. Thanks for working so hard this week team. We have completed our topic about our meals. If you have any questions on the “Day’s Meals” please leave a comment or email me. I would be happy to answer. Next week we will be on a different topic. I can’t wait!!! Try to stay active over the weekend, don’t let the cold scare you away. Have fun and be safe.

If you need to make some modifications, such as replacing the swordfish for salmon, it will still works. Have a great weekend.

Ginger-Lime Swordfish
Serves 4 (serving size is 1 swordfish steak and 2 tablespoons sauce)

2 teaspoons grated lime zest
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons ground ginger or 2 teaspoons fresh, minced
2 tablespoons minced green onion
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 (6-ounce) swordfish steaks (about 3/4 inch thick)
cooking spray
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


1. Preheat broiler to high.
2. Combine first 7 ingredients in a small saucepan. Dip each steak into the limemixture to coat.
3. Place fish on a broiling pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with black pepper. Broil 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.
4. While fish cooks, place lime juice mixture over medium heat; cook until re­duced by half (about 8 minutes). Serve sauce with fish.

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 235 FAT 5.2 g PROTEIN 25,8 g SODIUM 297 mg FIBER 0.6 9 IRON 1.3mg CARBOHYDRATE 22 g

Valentines Day

Healthy and Sweet Valentines
Eating a heart-shaped box full of candy is not the only way to celebrate Valentine's Day. Really be good to your heart with these healthier options:

Remember it's about romance, not eating, so skip the candy! Go for some perfume, jewelry, a soothing massage, or a dreamy moonlit stroll instead!
When dining out, stick to the menu's healthier fare. Don't use the holiday as an excuse to derail your new healthy habits.
Feed yourselves fresh strawberries with low-calorie whipped topping for dessert, rather than a high-fat, high-calorie choice. It's a romantic and guilt-free finish to your meal!
If chocolate is a must, keep it to a few bites. Labeling a food "forbidden" often leads to a binge. So if you must, have just a little bit to satisfy your craving. If you think of it as a rare treat and savor the occasion!
Go easy on the alcohol. They are loaded with empty calories.

Plan Ahead

Do you panic when you hear the word "dinner"?

This coming weekend or when ever have some free time go to the grocery and buy some staple foods. These are the foods you should always have in you kitchen. Then the next week you will have all the good foods you need for at home meals.
Try to keep your frig stocked with good foods, such as bell peppers, broccoli, squash and fruits of your choice. Then fill your freezer with lean meats, such as chicken, fish and ground beef. Be sure to have wheat pastas and red potatoes in your pantry. Then save some “nutritional” recipes’ and you will never be at a loss. You will always have a game plan if you prepare a little in advanced. When you have a few basic ingredients you will always have a meal ready to cook.

If you’re short on time in the evening prepare your meats in advanced. You can bake, broil or grill all your meats a few days in advanced, and then you can prepare some fresh vegetables and some starchy carbs each night. This make for extra quick meals.

A big factor in this healthy lifestyle is being organized. If you have kids and/or a job and/or a life, you know what it is to be organized. Take a few extra moments at the beginning of the week to prepare and write down what it is you will have to eat or when you will workout. Once you write it into your schedule make time to do these things.

Weight Gain/Loss Formula

I want to break down the weight gain/loss formula for you.

Calories taken in – Calories burned = Calories Stored

All weight gain and loss works off this equation. If you consumed 1300 calories a day and only burned 1000 you would be left with 300. Same goes if you consume that same 1300 and burned 1400; you would be left with -100. This would happen if you ate lard all day or ate well balance meals. Simple truth is that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.

No, this does not allow you to binge on fast food. Let me tell you why. If you did eat that lard all day what benefit would you see from that consumption? High blood pressure, high cholesterol and block and/or hardening arteries. It doesn’t sound too good, does it? I call this type of intake nonproductive or empty calories. Now we exchange that lard for some lean proteins to help build and repair muscle, and some starchy and fibrous carbs for fiber, vitamins and mineral (productive calories). What we get now is a well maintained machine. One that has the energy to keep up with your spouse, friends or kids.

The same way we tend to overeat on junk food we can over eat on what we call good food. Remember a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. Food choice is important to maintain our body. Food quantity is important because our body will hoard calories if it is given the chance.

I really wanted to bring up this topic this week because after 5pm is when people have the most problems. We feel we did well all day and we should reward ourselves. Don’t get caught in this trap. *** Don’t use food to reward yourself, would you give someone in rehab for drugs that very drug they are addicted too? No, because it would negate the whole treatment. If you did well today be proud, it is hard to make all the right choices, but don’t negate all that hard work for unproductive calories.

Please feel free to comment or ask questions

Dinner the 5th Meal

Dinner is usually the last meal of the day and should be eaten about 3 hours before you go to bed. Now, a bad habit that we all have is to over eat consistently at this meal. We all have made this the biggest meal of our day sometime in our lives. Let me tell you now that this is not a good idea. Why you ask. What do you do after you eat this big meal? More than likely not much. Maybe sit in front of the computer or TV. You’re home and you had a long day and all you want to do is relax, right? You are not really burning a lot of calories doing that. So let’s make this easy math, say you have a meal that is made up of 365 calories, and then you sit and watch TV. for the next three hours and burn 150 calories. You still have and excess of 215 calories and now you’re going to bed. Those calories are going to be stored by your body, because this is the one time during your day you will not be eating every three hours so your body will go into what is called starvation mode. There is no getting around this mode it has been around since caveman days. What you can do is eat fewer calories at dinner, instead 365 calories you eat 300 and you burn 150 calories, now you will only be left with 150 instead or 215. Add a brisk 30-40 min walk an hour after dinner and you can easily burn most of that 150, maybe even more.

Making a few slight changes can make all the difference. Make it a goal to NOT OVER EAT at this meal. Then add to that by doing something active to help burn off a few of those extra calories.

Motivatinal Leaders

We went to our leadership seminar yesterday. Last Monday we had our motivational seminar. So we are now Motivational Leaders! Ready to get things revamped. We learned a lot of new ideas and are ready to incorporate them into our sessions.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Thanks for getting back to me about your t-shirts. We put in a small order, so those who don’t have one yet will be the first to get their hands on one. Try to stay active this weekend, go for a walk or a quick jog.

This little recipe is a good treat.

Shrimp Scampi
Serves 2
cooking spray (olive oil preferred)
2 tablespoons I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 teaspoons chopped garlic1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
pinch red pepper flakes

1. Coat a skillet with cooking spray. Add I Can't Believe It's Not Butter to skillet,and melt over high heat for 1 minute. Add shrimp and sauté, stirring frequently,until shrimp are pink and slightly golden, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and sautéuntil aroma is released, about 1 minute.
2. Add wine, parsley, lemon juice, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer to heat through. Serve immediately.

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 399 FAT 29 g PROTEIN 46 g SODIUM 480 mg FIBER 4 g CARBOHYDRATE 5 g

Meal Replacement Shakes

Meal #4 should follow 2 ½ -3 hours after lunch, which in most schedules falls around 3-4PM. This meal is important; it will keep you from overeating at dinner.

We talked about making this meal fast. I also mentioned drinking a protein shake with some fruit. Well let’s keep things straight. Protein shakes are what I call emergency food. They are not good to use at every meal. Remember that shakes are processed. They have good nutrients; they are just broken down so it makes it easier for the body to absorb, and make the body burn less calories to break it down. Relying on ready to drink meals or replacement shakes has become part of almost all weight loss programs. But you should know which products are good and which are just canned sugar.

Worst Shakes
The worst and most popular product on the market is Ultra Slim Fast. The 8oz shake is 220 calories, 1 g fat, 46g carbs of which 35g are sugar, and 7g of protein. Avoid this product.

Decent Shakes
Ensure Lite 8oz shake is 200 calories, 3g fat, 33g carbs of which 18g are sugar, and 10g of fat. Zone Perfect 8oz shake is 260 calories, 8g fat, 29g of carbs of which 22g are sugar, and 11g protein. They have a higher amount of protein, and a little less carbs. The zone shake also offers more fat, which will help you feel full longer. The sugar content is still too high for weight loss.

Carb Watchers
Myoplex Low Carb 11oz shake is 120 calories, 3.5g fat, 2g carbs of which 1g is sugar, and 20g protein. Atkins 11oz shake is 170 calories, 9g fat, 4g carbs of which 2g are sugar, and 20g protein. These are for those who are watching their carb intake. They are really low in calorie, so you may need to pair them with a piece of fruit. The Atkins shake has more fat which will help you feel full longer.

Highly Active
PeopleMetrx 11oz shake is 170 calories, 2.5g fat, 20g carbs of which 8g are sugar, and 20g protein. This is one of the best, because it offers a decent number of calories with little fat and a good amount of protein. Even though the carbs are higher than in the myoplex or Atkins the sugar content is low. A great option for more active people who have moderate to high carb needs.

Be smart. Anything with too much sugar or too few calories can cause you to eat more and defeats the whole purpose of buying the product in the first place.

Grocery Store

Let’s all go to the grocery store. I know, I hate it too, but this is where we should be getting the majority of our foods. This may seem elementary but how many of us really know how to shop for our food?

Most grocery stores are set up the same way. You have fresh vegetables and fruit along one side. A butcher block area and prepackaged meats on another. Then maybe a bakery and a frozen food section. All the processed foods make up the middle and the majority of the store.

Now you should always use the same pattern every time you go. Think of it as just walking the perimeter of the store. Everything you need is around the outside. You should always spend the majority of your time and money here. I know what you’re thinking, some of your favorite stuff is on those middle aisles. Middle aisles hold all the
processed foods. This things that are not good for you. Your body does not get enough nutrients for the amount of calories that they contain. It is like giving your wife the cracker jack prize, and paying the price of real diamond earrings. So if you’re spending the money, make sure you're getting the real stuff. The center of the store is a vacuum. The farther in you go the harder it will be to get out without all that junk food.

Formulate a plan before you go to the store. Make a list of what you need and put it in the order you will be walking in. This will ensure that you don’t cut through the middle of the store. Remember the less time you spend in the middle, the better. I walk the entire perimeter of the store then look at what it is I need from the middle and tell myself that this is all I am getting. As I walk, I only look for what is on my list. If you don’t have it on the list, more than likely you don’t need it. Remember the center is a vacuum, it will suck you in. Don’t spend a lot of time there because your will power might only hold out so long so keep moving. Now it is on to the checkout line. Now we’re not out of the woods yet. The checkout line is the worst for impulse buying. All those good looking candy bars right in your reach, and they are ALWAYS on sale. Stay back! Keep your mind busy with Anything else. Maybe what you have to do next, what you will be making to eat, or maybe even when you will be getting in your next workout. :)

I’m sure you have learned by now that planning is the key factor in this new healthy lifestyle. So take a few minutes and get a game plan before you even enter the store. You will come out proud of your choices and you won’t have food temptations sitting in your pantry at home.

Always remember, this is a journey, so take it one day at a time and be sure to enjoy as much of it as possible!

Fourth Meal of the Day

Fourth meal of the day is hard. Most people will need to have this meal around 3:00-4:00pm. The best sign that you need to eat is the fact that most people will get sleepy or tired at this point in the day. Take this as a clear sign to EAT. I don’t mean the first thing out of the vending machine. We all should be using the same rules at every meal that we have learned up to now.

Lean Protein
Starchy Carbs
Fibrous Carbs

At this point in the day your blood sugar has dropped and that is why you may fell sleepy. If you have started to plan ahead you may have some left over food from lunch or maybe even the night before. And if you have planned ahead enough you have what I call “the emergency stash”. This is something that will not perish sitting in your office desk or car. Or something you can keep in the office frig. Mine consist of almonds and a piece of fruit (dry or fresh) or a protein shake and yogurt.

I usually tell people that this meal needs to be premeasured because if you are hungry you will need to eat fast. Another advantage of this is so you can eat fast and get on with you day. This is peak productivity time so stopping to have a full fledge meal may not be in the cards. So if the meal is already in its serving size there are no worries about overeating.

Just try to not skip this meal because remember, our main focus is to keep our metabolism burning and the only way to do this is by eating the right kinds of food during the appropriate times to keep our insulin levels steady.

Step Toward Your Goal

Great job team, thanks so much for working so hard this week. Make it a goal to be active this weekend. Make time to go for a walk or jog. Also, be sure that every decision you make is a step forward not a step back. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Try this yummy treat with a side of grilled chicken.

Spaghetti Squash Salad
Serves 6

1 medium spaghetti squash
4 scallions, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400° F. Prick squash in several places, and bake 45 minutes until tender. Allow to cool slightly; cut in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Scrape out squash strands from each side with a fork. Transfer to a bowl, and let cool.
2. Whisk together scallions, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, and black pepper. Pour over squash, and gently toss until well combined. Refrigerate 2 hours for fla­vors to blend.

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 120 FAT9g PROTEIN 1 g SODIUM 20 mg FIBER 2 g CARBOHYDRATE 9 g