Exercise is a vital component of not just weight loss and weight management, but stress relief, energy, sleep, aging, disease prevention, bone health, and on and on it goes…but it’s easy (and maybe more fun) to exclusively focus on the nutrition and diet issues and forget that we have to move our lazy buns once in a while. Leaving exercise out of the wellness equation is far more destructive to your health than any number of diet “sins” you might commit. Notwithstanding the fact that I believe the standard American diet is largely responsible for most of your health problems and most common causes of death, the importance of exercise cannot be overstated.
There is some justice: the longer you exercise, the easier it will be to make changes to your shape. That said, results are different for everyone. It’s a complex equation of existing muscles, your natural build, metabolism, fat distribution and many other factors. You actually do get an immediate health boost from exercise, but let’s be honest: how many are really after that? Most of us give up on exercise after a few weeks or even a few days because we don’t see the desired physical results. People like the aforementioned young lady are rare; most of us have to put in months before seeing any real improvement.
The point is, if you’re asking that question – how long before I see results – the answer is almost always: much longer than you want, so Hang in there and remember 80% of your body composition will be determined by your diet, while exercise can and does help with these goals, at the end of the day, we’ve got to realign our thinking and remember that exercise, more than anything, is just a necessity for health, and despite what the marketers would have us feel, that is reason enough.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
ITALIAN SAUSAGE MEATBALLS WITH FRESH HERBS
I love Italian Sausage Meatballs, they are delicious and I have been craving for them for while so I think I will make some this week ;) Here is the Recipe.. Enjoy!!!!
▪ 1 lb100% grass-fed ground beef (or bison)
▪ 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
▪ 2 cloves garlic, minced
▪ 1 sprig fresh rosemary, minced
▪ 3 sprigs fresh thyme, minced
▪ 1 long sprig fresh oregano, minced
▪ 1/4 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
▪ 1/2 small yellow onion, roughly chopped
▪ 1/2 cup almond meal
▪ 2 eggs, whisked
▪ tsp red pepper flakes
▪ A few grinds black pepper
▪ 1/4 cup cream (optional)
▪ 1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan (optional)
▪ 1/4 cup bacon fat
DIRECTIONS
Remove the Italian sausage from its casing. Mix all of the ingredients, except bacon fat, together until well
combined. With lightly oiled hands, roll the meatballs into the desired size.
To cook, heat bacon fat in a saute pan over medium to medium-high heat. Once hot, add the meatballs. Fry
5–7 minutes, until bottom is browned.
Turn meatballs to opposite side and fry until that side is nicely browned, another 5–7 minutes. Cut one open
to determine if it is fully cooked on the inside. If not quite done, turn heat to low and cover pan for a few more
minutes or put meatballs in a warm oven while you fry another batch.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Make Your Own Nut Butter
Sure, peanut butter has a certain air of nostalgia, but there are so many other (healthier) alternatives. Almond butter is perhaps the most common alternative (and the one that is easiest to find in your local supermarket), but that doesn’t mean you should discount hazelnuts, macadamia, pecans and pistachios, which can all easily be transformed into a tasty butter. And the best part? Making nut butter really isn’t that difficult at all.
To make a good nut butter, follow this simple recipe:Ingredients:
1 cup roasted nuts or seeds
1 tbsp and 1 tsp of coconut oil
Throw all ingredients into a food processor or blender, process at medium to high speed, stopping periodically to scrape down sides. Blend until smooth or, if you’d prefer, leave the butter a little chunky. Store mixture in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator and warm to room temperature when ready to use.
It’s time you stop using that peanut butter that is in your pantry and use your healthy homemade nut butter instead!
Fat Guacamole Devil
My Favorite snack, soooo good!!!
INGREDIENTS
▪ 2 hard boiled eggs
▪ 1/2 avocado
▪ 1 teaspoon hot sauce (or more to taste)
▪ 1/2 teaspoon lime juice
▪ salt & pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
Peel and halve the eggs and spoon their yolks into a small bowl. Mash the yolks with the avocado, hot sauce
and lime juice; add salt and pepper to taste.
Refill egg white halves with yolk mixture, and enjoy!
What is Paleo Diet?
First I would like to say Paleo Diet is not a diet, it is a lifestyle!!!
From Wikipedia:
The Paleo Diet, the world’s healthiest diet, is based on the simple understanding that the best human diet is the one to which we are best genetically adapted, a meal plan based on the dietary habits of our Paleolithic, cave-dwelling ancestors. We're talking wild game, meat, and seafood, and vegetables, fruit, seeds, and nuts. What you won't find as part of the Paleo Diet are foods that developed during the agricultural and industrial eras like grains, dairy, legumes, refined sugars, and any other processed foods. Given the Paleo Diet's low-carb leanings, it makes sense that it's gaining popularity as an effective way to lose weight. On the calorie meter, protein, vegetables, and fruit give a lot of bang for the buck, and the elimination of grains, refined sugars, and legumes can dramatically drop a person's daily calorie intake.
Recommended great book:
The primal blueprint
Primal body-Primal mind
The Paleo Solution
From Wikipedia:
"The modern dietary regimen known as the Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various human species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years duration that ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture. In common usage, such terms as the "Paleolithic diet" also refer to the actual ancestral human diet.[1][2] Centered on commonly available modern foods, the "contemporary" Paleolithic diet consists mainly of grass-fed pasture raised meats, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils."
The Paleo Diet, the world’s healthiest diet, is based on the simple understanding that the best human diet is the one to which we are best genetically adapted, a meal plan based on the dietary habits of our Paleolithic, cave-dwelling ancestors. We're talking wild game, meat, and seafood, and vegetables, fruit, seeds, and nuts. What you won't find as part of the Paleo Diet are foods that developed during the agricultural and industrial eras like grains, dairy, legumes, refined sugars, and any other processed foods. Given the Paleo Diet's low-carb leanings, it makes sense that it's gaining popularity as an effective way to lose weight. On the calorie meter, protein, vegetables, and fruit give a lot of bang for the buck, and the elimination of grains, refined sugars, and legumes can dramatically drop a person's daily calorie intake.
Recommended great book:
The primal blueprint
The Paleo Solution
LOW-CARB STRAWBERRIES & CREAM CHEESECAKE WITH DARK CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE
This is the time of the year you have craving for sweets because of the Holiday season. So here is a great recipe that is low in carb and will satisfy your sweet tooth:
Ingredients:
9 oz raw almonds or almond flour
4 large eggs
10-12 strawberries
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Honey or stevia
16 oz Philadelphia cream cheese (at room temperature)
Butter or coconut oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
If you don’t have access to almond flour, simply put the raw almonds in your blender and pulsate until it turns into a powder. Turn it on high for the last few seconds to throughly break up any big pieces of almond. Empty contents into a mixing bowl. Add eggs and start mixing together.
Place the strawberries and cream into your blender along with stevia and honey if you can tolerate the carb counts. The key here is to find a mix of sweetener that works for your taste buds.
Blend on high until it looks like a strawberry milkshake (it will be bright pink and thick). Pour into the almond flour/egg mixture and mix thoroughly. Add the softened cream cheese (if you pull it straight from the refrigerator, then you’ll have big chunks of cream cheese in your cheesecake) and stir with a fork like a madman until your cheesecake batter is moderately thick. You don’t want it too runny or too thick.
Grease a 9X13 glass baking dish heavily so that the cheesecake will not stick and pour the batter into the dish. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Use a toothpick in the center of the cheesecake to see if it comes out dry. If not, cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Dark Chocolate Drizzle
4 squares (50g) of 86% Ghirardelli dark chocolate or your favorite
3 Tbs heavy whipping cream
Honey or stevia
Put a saucepan on low heat (I put it on 2-3 on my stove) and pour the heavy whipping cream in which should cover the bottom of the pan. Add your favorite dark chocolate and sweetener (honey/stevia).
Allow to heat up for a few minutes and then stir constantly to prevent the chocolate from scalding. As the chocolate melts it will turn into a nice chocolately delight. When the chocolate melts completely, turn the heat off and allow to cool to thicken up a bit. This will become the “drizzle” for the cheesecake.
After the cheesecake is finished cooking, take a tablespoon and evenly distribute the chocolate all across the top of the cheesecake. When you are finished, it should look a little something like this:
Place in freezer for an hour to cool and then cut into squares. Makes 20 squares. Add fresh strawberries as a garnish and ENJOY!
Ingredients:
9 oz raw almonds or almond flour
4 large eggs
10-12 strawberries
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Honey or stevia
16 oz Philadelphia cream cheese (at room temperature)
Butter or coconut oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
If you don’t have access to almond flour, simply put the raw almonds in your blender and pulsate until it turns into a powder. Turn it on high for the last few seconds to throughly break up any big pieces of almond. Empty contents into a mixing bowl. Add eggs and start mixing together.
Place the strawberries and cream into your blender along with stevia and honey if you can tolerate the carb counts. The key here is to find a mix of sweetener that works for your taste buds.
Blend on high until it looks like a strawberry milkshake (it will be bright pink and thick). Pour into the almond flour/egg mixture and mix thoroughly. Add the softened cream cheese (if you pull it straight from the refrigerator, then you’ll have big chunks of cream cheese in your cheesecake) and stir with a fork like a madman until your cheesecake batter is moderately thick. You don’t want it too runny or too thick.
Grease a 9X13 glass baking dish heavily so that the cheesecake will not stick and pour the batter into the dish. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Use a toothpick in the center of the cheesecake to see if it comes out dry. If not, cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Dark Chocolate Drizzle
4 squares (50g) of 86% Ghirardelli dark chocolate or your favorite
3 Tbs heavy whipping cream
Honey or stevia
Put a saucepan on low heat (I put it on 2-3 on my stove) and pour the heavy whipping cream in which should cover the bottom of the pan. Add your favorite dark chocolate and sweetener (honey/stevia).
Allow to heat up for a few minutes and then stir constantly to prevent the chocolate from scalding. As the chocolate melts it will turn into a nice chocolately delight. When the chocolate melts completely, turn the heat off and allow to cool to thicken up a bit. This will become the “drizzle” for the cheesecake.
After the cheesecake is finished cooking, take a tablespoon and evenly distribute the chocolate all across the top of the cheesecake. When you are finished, it should look a little something like this:
Place in freezer for an hour to cool and then cut into squares. Makes 20 squares. Add fresh strawberries as a garnish and ENJOY!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Paleo Pumpkin Spice Latte
Ingredients:
1 cup coconut milk
1 ½ T. pureed pumpkin
2 T. organic vanilla extract
2-3 T. raw organic honey (optional)
½ t. ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
½ cup strong coffee
Pinch of cocoa powder
Directions:
1. Brew 2 cups of strong coffee
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat coconut milk, pureed pumpkin, and honey until milk is steaming
3. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg
4. Fill bottom half of cup with milk mixture, then fill the remaining space with your coffee
5. Sprinkle with cocoa powder
I don't know about you, but it sounds pretty good!!!
1 cup coconut milk
1 ½ T. pureed pumpkin
2 T. organic vanilla extract
2-3 T. raw organic honey (optional)
½ t. ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
½ cup strong coffee
Pinch of cocoa powder
Directions:
1. Brew 2 cups of strong coffee
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat coconut milk, pureed pumpkin, and honey until milk is steaming
3. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg
4. Fill bottom half of cup with milk mixture, then fill the remaining space with your coffee
5. Sprinkle with cocoa powder
I don't know about you, but it sounds pretty good!!!
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