Tricks to Make It

Almost everyone needs to indulge once in a while, even people on a diet.

Here are some ways to limit the damage:

Keep it occasional

Eat the real stuff

Add healthy foods

Mix salt with fat (healthy fat - peanut butter, avocado or hummus are some)

Drink wisely

Be smart about munchies

Spicy Korean Pork Barbecue

Serves 4

1  pound pork tenderloin, trimmed

2  tablespoons granulated Splenda

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons red chili pepper

1 teaspoon peeled and minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

cooking spray (olive or canola oil preferred)

 

1.       Wrap pork in plastic wrap; freeze 1 1/2 hours or until firm. Remove plastic wrap; cut pork diagonally across grain into very thin slices, approximately 1/8 inch or as thin as you can make them.

2.   Combine pork and next 6 ingredients (Splenda through garlic) in a large zip-top plastic bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning bag occasionally.

3.       Preheat grill to 400°F.

4.   Place a wire grilling basket on grill rack. Remove pork from bag; discard marinade. Place pork on grilling basket coated with cooking spray; grill 8 minutes or until at desired degree of doneness, turning frequently.

 

NUTRITION PER SERVING

CALORIES 175      FAT 6.6 g      PROTEIN 26.5 g      SODIUM 201 mg       FIBER .3 g       CARBOHYDRATE 2.9 g

Ways to De-Stress

When you’re stressed out at night and can't sleep, get up and write down all the things that are bothering you and how you might fix them. This gets the problems off your mind and calms you down because you know you have a game plan. Some other ways to de-stress include learning to meditate, getting a massage, taking a vacation, and most important, exercising! Whatever you do, please do not take any over-the-counter "adrenal support" supplements — you could actually do more harm than good. De-stress naturally instead!

Stress Got Your Metabolism Down? Pt. 4

You can help yourself keep cortisol in check by limiting caffeine intake to 200 milligrams a day; avoiding simple carbs, processed foods, and refined grains; and getting plenty of high-quality protein. It's also crucial that you find stress-relief techniques that work for you. If you can tame your stress response and lower cortisol levels, you'll have a much easier time losing weight.

Stress Got Your Metabolism Down? Pt. 3

When you give in to those cravings, your body releases a cascade of rewarding brain chemicals that can set up an addictive relationship with food. Therefore you stress, you eat. If you don't consciously control the pattern, you can become physically and psychologically dependent on that release to manage stress. In fact, people who self-medicate with food tend have hair-trigger epinephrine reactions and chronic high levels of cortisol.

Stress Got Your Metabolism Down? Pt. 2

This response evolved to help people deal with short-term survival situations, like an attack by a predator. The trouble is, it occurs in response to all stressors, including the deadlines pummeling you at work and the traffic that drives you crazy. When stress is always present, your body can't get rid of the excess cortisol built up in the blood. That cortisol just hangs around, causing lots of trouble: It turns young fat cells into mature fat cells that stick with you forever, and increases your cravings for high-fat, high-carb foods.

Stress Got Your Metabolism Down?

I'm sure you've heard of the fight-or-flight response, and you probably know that it's the way your body reacts to danger or stress. But do you know what the fight-or-flight response is? It has to do with hormones.

When you're faced with a danger, your adrenal glands release three hormones: norepinephrine, epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), and cortisol. Norepinephrine and epinephrine cause several changes to help you survive the danger, including a pause in insulin release so you have lots of blood sugar available for energy, an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, and a suspension of your appetite. After the danger has passed, cortisol tells the body to stop producing norepinephrine and epinephrine and stimulates your appetite again.

Release the Past

I don't care if you were the fat kid in high school, or the black sheep of the family, or the lazy teenager who hated exercise. Those old identities are not serving you in the present, and they certainly aren't going to help you achieve your goals for the future. If you let go of old conceptions of yourself, you can maintain an open mind and be open to all possibilities. It is imperative that you let go of the past in order to re-create yourself in the present.

Avoid Dangerous Situations

The key to success on any fitness program is having a game plan for every situation that might throw you off course. Think of yourself as being on a mission: If you take the time to think ahead, you can come up with ways to combat every situation. Here are a few surefire strategies:

• Go through your kitchen and throw out all the junk food and processed garbage immediately. Don't buy these foods anymore just eliminate them from your kitchen entirely. Reacquaint yourself with your local supermarket, find the healthy sections, and try to avoid the foods that make you feel powerless.
• If you run into trouble at the office, make an effort to avoid the high-voltage areas, such as vending machines or cafeterias that features fattening foods. Bring healthy snacks and meals from home to stash in your desk. 

Body Fat: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Pt. 3

I must have made everyone feel very guilty, because it seems I have struck a nerve talking about visceral fat. So here’s the deal. You increase your risk of having visceral fat when you're overweight, so how can you lose it? Diet and exercise! Taking care of yourself will reduce visceral fat and lower your risk of all the health problems associated with it. And doing hundreds of crunches a night is NOT going to reduce visceral fat and flatten your belly bulge. For the one millionth time, you can't spot-reduce to achieve results. Plus, this deadly kind of fat lives deep within your gut, so the best strategy for making it go away is to eat healthy and exercise. You can, of course, include some sit-ups in your workout routine to help tone, but remember that they won't do the trick alone. You must do cardio and strength training to lose weight and see results. So stick to your trainer for the ultimate workout.

Body Fat: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Pt. 2

The fat in your stomach area is bad news. Known as visceral fat, it's hidden deep down, so even if you don't have a protruding belly, you could still harbor this "bad" kind of fat. Visceral fat lies far beneath your skin, where it surrounds your organs and sets off a harmful hormonal firestorm. Having this metabolically horrific fat slows your metabolism, lowers growth hormone, raises cortisol, creates insulin resistance, and increases your risk of all kinds of diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and fatty liver disease.

Body Fat: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Let's start with the "good" fat. The fatty layer just beneath your skin in the lower half of your body is good. It's called subcutaneous fat, and it's not necessarily the worst thing to have. Subcutaneous fat gives rise to two beneficial metabolic hormones: leptin, the hormone that tells your body to hang onto or let go of weight, and adiponectin, a hormone that lowers your blood sugar. 

Take Some Goodbye Photos

Want to make a change because of the way you looked in some vacation photos.  When you use pictures, you get a better sense of the way you look. Take some "before" photos today so that you can say goodbye to the old you and make your own changes.

Commit 100%

To see results in any area of your life, you must be consistent and stay the course. This is especially true for fitness, health, and weight loss. You've got to do your part to ensure you're getting the results you want. If you aren't consistent, then you'll always be playing catch-up, and you will make at best some gradual progress rather than getting your body in gear and maximizing results in no time.

Poached Dill Salmon

Serves 6

 Salmon

2 cups dry white wine

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon chicken-flavored bouillon granules

10 red peppercorns

4 teaspoons fresh dill

2 bay leaves

1 small lemon, sliced

6 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick), skinned

Dill sauce

1/3 cup peeled, seeded, finely chopped cucumber

1/3 cup fat-free sour cream

1/3 cup fat-free plain yogurt

2 teaspoons dill seed

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

 

1.      Combine the wine, water, bouillon, peppercorns, dill, bay leaves, and lemon in
a skillet. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

2.  Add salmon to the skillet mixture, and cook for 10 minutes. Transfer the salmon
to a plate, cover, and chill thoroughly.

3.  Mix all dill sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Spoon the dill sauce evenly
over the salmon fillets.

 NUTRITION PER SERVING

CALORIES 260       FAT 13 g       PROTEIN 24 g       SODIUM 150 mg       FIBER .2 g       CARBOHYDRATE 5 g