How Apple Cider Vinegar Helps Your Body

I know it sounds disgusting, but a few teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar can really be helpful to you and your body!  Patricia Bragg suggests 1-2 teaspoons of vinegar diluted with 8 ounces of water with each meal.

Here are 10 reasons given by LiveFit Revolution for adding Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) to your diet.

1. It is enormously helpful to your digestive system. The enzymes in the ACV help your body to break down the food you eat, which helps you get more nutrients out of it;

2. It helps your body eliminate, so if you’ve had problems with constipation, or even just a “slow system”, the ACV will help you have bowel movements more frequently and easily;

3. Full and frequent bowel movements also help our body detoxify, and the more we detox, the more weight our bodies will allow us to lose, and they’ll do it more quickly! We store toxins in our body fat, and our ability to burn fat will slow down if the body can’t eliminate the toxins quickly enough to keep a healthy balance. So ACV aids in weight loss;

4. ACV kills sugar cravings. If your body (or your brain!) is screaming for something sugary, an ACV drink will usually kill that craving;

5. It helps keep your blood sugars balanced, which means an increased ability to lose weight AND less simple-carb cravings. WebMD.com mentions studies that support the claim that ACV can help in this way with Diabetes;

6. One study found that obese people who consumed acetic acid (ACV) daily for 12 weeks experienced significant decreases in body weight, abdominal fat, waist circumference, and triglycerides;*

7. Triglycerides are a mechanism for storing unused calories, and their high concentration in blood correlates with the consumption of starchy and other high carbohydrate foods (Wikipedia). As ACV is said to reduce triglycerides, this means a reduction in our ability to store unused calories;

8. ACV is an acidic substance (more on this below), but when you ingest it, it becomes an alkalizer, which means it balances body pH by making you more alkaline. Research has shown that an alkaline diet fights cancer;

9. It supports healthy regeneration in your body. The evidence of this comes after a few months, when you’ll notice your hair and nails are both longer and a lot stronger. You’ll notice your skin looks even better too;

10. ACV is also said to reduce our “bad” (LDL) cholesterol.

“BUT I DON’T LIKE THE TASTE”

Some of us like ACV right away. Some of us find the flavor a challenge. As children, most of us didn’t like certain vegetables when we first tried them either, but sometimes it’s worth persevering for the sake of our health.

You can add a few drops of Stevia to your ACV; diluting it with more water can make it more palatable too. If you have a strong reaction to it (like an overly-active digestive system, too-soft stools, or nausea – especially when you drink it first thing in the morning), you might try cutting it down to one or two TEAspoons of ACV in 8oz water, and build up your tolerance. You can also add ground flax to your drink; the nuttiness of the flax goes well with the sharp apple flavor of the ACV.

Most people find that in a short time, they feel so good that they start to look forward to their ACV drinks, and develop a taste for it!

ACIDITY

ACV has a pH of 4.25 to 5.0 when it is undiluted. Since tap water usually has a pH of approximately 7.6, when you put a couple of tablespoons of ACV into 8oz water, it will be MUCH less acidic. It’s interesting to note that the ph of Coca Cola is 2.5, and 7-Up is 3.2, and since soda is consumed undiluted, it is FAR worse for your teeth than ACV could ever be.**

CAUTIONS

If you have sensitive teeth or are concerned about your enamel, you should consult your dentist. Some people choose to swish their mouth with a sip of plain water after drinking their ACV.

Also, ACV is high in Potassium, so if you take drugs such as Coumadin/Warfarin (for preventing blood clots) you should not take ACV.

And finally, people with some forms of inflammatory bowel disease (such as Crohn’s disease) should not take ACV. So if you do have health issues, you should consult your Doctor before adding ACV to your personal nutrition plan.

*  Published in Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry in 2009; full article here

**Softpedia.com – read their article on the acidity of soft drinks here

Percentage of Body Fat Calculator

This is a great tool to figure out the percentage of body fat you are carrying.  Even more exciting is watching how much body fat you are LOSING!!!!

Body Fat Calculator:  http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator

About the Body Fat Calculator:

How much fat are you carrying? Find out if you are in the healthy range with this fat calculator. This tool provides: body fat percentage for women, body fat percentage for men. This body fat calculator is based on the body fat algorithms developed by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp and the YMCA.

Here is the information you will need to provide so the calculator can calculate your percentage of body fat:

Are you male or female? 

Waist size at narrowest point:  inches

Waist size at your navel:  inches

Hip size at widest point:  inches

Neck at narrowest point:  inches

Select your height: feet and inches

What is your weight?  lbs

SHORT VERSION BODY FAT CALCULATOR: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/bfc

How much fat are you carrying? Find out if you are in the healthy range with this fat calculator. This tool provides: body fat percentage for women, body fat percentage for men. This calculator is based on the YMCA formula.

Information you will need for the short version calculator:

Are you male or female?

What is your waist size? Inches

What is your weight? lbs

Thinking About It Diet!!!

Okay ... this does it .... I am off the "ThinkAboutItDiet" and starting the "DoingItDiet!!!"

Join Me .... log onto
www.thehealthyhelms.com

Belly Fat Worse for Your Heart Than Obesity

Belly fat worse for your heart than obesity, study suggests

From http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2012/08/27/13508211-belly-fat-worse-for-your-heart-than-obesity-study-suggests?lite

People who are normal weight but carry extra fat around their belly have a higher risk of dying from heart disease than obese people, a new study suggests.

The findings add to a growing body of research that so-called visceral fat, or fat around the organs of the abdomen, is particularly bad for health.

“Our research shows that if a person has a normal BMI, this by itself should not reassure them that their risk for heart disease is low. Where their fat is distributed on their body can mean a lot," said study researcher Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

The study involved 12,785 U.S. adults who participated in a national survey and were followed for an average of 14 years. During that time, 2,562 participants died, including 1,138 from heart disease.

Researchers classified the study participants as normal weight if their body mass index (BMI) was between 18.5 and 24.9, overweight if their body mass index was 25 to 29.9 and obese if their body mass index was above 30. The amount of weight they carried around their waist was determined by their waist-to-hip ratio.

Participants were divided into six groups based on which of the three BMI groups they fell into, and whether they had a normal or high waist-to-hip ratio. Men whose waist measurement was 90 percent or more of their hip measurement were considered to have a high hip-to-waist ratio. The same was true of women; those with waists that were 85 percent of their hip size were classified as having a high hip-to-waist ratio.

Participants with normal BMI but a high waist-to-hip ratio had the risk of dying of cardiovascular disease, and the highest risk of dying from any causes among the six groups.

The risk of cardiovascular death was 2.75 times higher, and the risk of death from any cause was 2.08 times higher among normal-weight people with "central obesity," compared with normal-weight people who had a normal waist-to-hip ratio.

"The high risk of death may be related to a higher visceral fat accumulation in this group, which is associated with insulin resistance and other risk factors," said study researcher Dr. Karine Sahakyan, also of Mayo Clinic.

The study was presented Aug. 27 at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Munich.

Exercise for Fat Loss

Article by Dr. Michael Colgan of the Colgan Institute:

If you are exercising to lose body fat, you have to be concerned you have too much of it. For many folk that much has taken years to establish. Some have solidified the same, 20, 30, 40 lbs, year after year by yo-yo dieting. It’s not easy to change a body that has got into such a state, but if you follow the rules it works like a charm.

People who don’t like rules may want to just get their head down and bull it out. Boot camps love these folk, telling them “You just have to work your butt off at our level and you will lose the fat.” The science says, “No way”. Others read some social buzz that whole neighbourhoods lost masses of fat by getting together and running (biking, mud-wrestling, swimming in holes in the ice). Not going to work.

Anyone who has run a marathon, an extreme 3-4 hour effort for most of us, knows with disgust they lost negligible body fat doing it. Having measured runners in quite a few marathons, an average person well trained to run a marathon, is lucky to lose a quarter pound of fat. Some folk who stuff with carbs during a marathon, actually gain fat. They may feel like hell at the finish, and be 7 lbs lighter in water weight, because the carbs prevent water absorption from the gut, but their belly rebounds and then some within 24 hours.

One controlled study representative of the science, measured body fat losses accurately in groups of men and women over the whole 20-week training program for a half-marathon. In 20 weeks of fairly intense endurance exercise (80 workouts), the men lost an average of 5.3 lbs of fat. That’s just 4.25 ounces per week of exercise. The women lost an average of only 2.0 lbs. That’s a measly 1.6 ounces of fat loss per week of exercise.(1) 

This negligible loss of body fat with exercise is the usual result, and often gives folk the false belief they are different from everyone else, and just can’t get slim. Yes you can. All you need is the right nutrition and exercise. It’s not rocket science. Here are eight exercise rules to get you started on the right track. Stated briefly, with just a major reference or two, they are grounded in a lot of recent science that I will be covering in future articles. You need to follow them all to get sterling results.

Exercise for Fat Loss-Rule 1 

Get 8 hours sleep a night. The US National Center on Sleep Disorders reports that approximately 90 million Americans currently do not get sound sleep.(2) Children sleep better, so it’s a one in three bet that you have sleep disturbance. If you are overweight, it’s 50/50 that you have poor sleep. Sound sleep is an essential physiological restorative process that programs one-third of your life, and controls much of what happens in the other two-thirds.(3) To cut to the chase, without sound sleep, you cannot effectively exercise or effectively lose body fat. Visceral fat gain, food cravings, insulin disruption, fatigue, your whole hormone cascade, the metabolic syndrome, and many other bodily disorders are driven by disruption of your circadian rhythm.(4) Get your sleep fixed first or you will be unable to effectively exercise or lose fat.

Exercise for Fat Loss- Rule 2 

Exercise on waking to raise your metabolic rate for the whole day. When you wake in the morning, your metabolism is sluggish. Your metabolic rate for the day is then determined by what you do. If you have a lazy day off for example, your metabolic rate will remain low throughout, and you will be on maximum calorie retention from anything you eat. If, however, you exercise on waking, even if it is only a 30 minute walk, it raises your metabolic rate immediately. The rate then remains high for most of the day, and you lower your calorie retention from food. Get in the habit. Do that smidgeon of exercise every day.

Exercise for Fat Loss- Rule 3

Exercise on an empty stomach. Your body takes the easiest route to energy. If you eat before exercise, or start at the juice bar with a smoothie at the gym, your body will use the calories in your gut preferentially to using bodyfat for fuel. A single small “all fruit” smoothie will eliminate any weight loss effect of an hour of exercise after it. And, drinking “energy drinks” while working out is just plain dumb if you want to achieve fat loss. It’s just plain dumb for any exercise goal.(5)

Exercise for fat Loss- Rule 4

Do 20-30 minutes of light aerobic exercise before your workout. When you begin exercising, your body uses mainly sugar for fuel, the glycogen in your muscles, sugar made by gluconeogenesis in the liver, and sugar from food in your gut. (Remember, no eating before exercise) To achieve your goal of using body fat for fuel, you first have to induce hormonal changes to switch to greater fat oxidation. You can do this with light aerobic exercise for 20-30 minutes, such as walking to the gym. You cannot achieve these complex changes by lumbering on the treadmill, as I see some folk do, because, as soon as you begin to pant, signaling a shortage of oxygen, you keep the body stuck in sugar burning mode. A whole workout done with great effort, treadmilling wildly, then rushing from station to station for an hour, uses near zero bodyfat, and exhausts you into the bargain, as it empties the muscles of glycogen. It’s tragic but somehow comical to see people doing this week after week, and losing no fat at all.

Exercise for Fat Loss- Rule 5

Do your workout in the “Fat Burning Zone”. There is much nonsense written about the fat burning zone, as if it’s some magical state that melts fat. It is just a range of exercise intensity where fat use (fat oxidation) settles into a high steady level. Studies have measured this range in all sorts of complex ways involving VO2max and weird and wonderful equations. It also varies somewhat with the individual, and how much exercise you do, and how often. But I can state it pretty simply. 

The fat burning zone is exercise done at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. If you run at maximum on the treadmill, and get your highest heart rate at 170 beats per minute, then your fat burning zone is 60-70% of that score, that is, about 100-120 beats per minute. At this level of exercise you can still carry on a normal conversation.

First, do your 20-30 minute warm up in the fat burning zone to make the hormonal changes to trigger a higher proportion of fat burning. Then, for a one-hour workout on an empty stomach, keep your heart rate within the same range. Your body will then pull approximately 50% of its energy from body fat. That’s about as good as you can get.

Above or below this range, your body’s use of sugar increases, and it pulls only 20 -30% of its energy from body fat. So, it makes sense to wear a heart rate monitor, and set your fat burning range so that it beeps you automatically if you move out of it.

Exercise for Fat Loss- Rule 6

Build muscle to lose fat. All the gym programs I have seen that concentrate on aerobic exercise have been a failure for fat loss. We measured one aerobics group for a year at Frogs Gym in San Diego. All of the women in the group wanted to lose weight. They actually gained an average of 2.9 lbs of fat while doing an average of three aerobics sessions a week for 12 months.The best form of exercise for fat loss is resistance training that adds muscle to your body. Muscle is moving tissue, fat is not. Over 100 muscles are constantly active just to keep you standing up, and about 200 are merrily using energy just to maintain their tone. Fat hangs limp like jello. Muscle is the engine that uses body fat for fuel. With more muscle, more fat is burned 24 hours a day, even just couch sitting with heavy breathing. In her book Strong Women Stay Slim, Miriam Nelson, a Tufts University researcher, followed a group of women who did a weight loss diet plus resistance training. They lost 44% more fat than those who followed the diet alone. So, put resistance training at the top of your list. 

Exercise for Fat Loss Rule 7

Do weight training that makes you taller and more flexible. We have seen it many times, especially with women. They embrace resistance training in order to lose fat, then do all the wrong stuff. Often they hire trainers who give them bodybuilding exercises, or worse, uni-planar exercises guided by machines with comfy seats, exercises that bear no relation to movements in life. They often turn the posture into a muscle-thickened crouch. Though they can achieve lower body fat because of muscle growth, the unfortunate girls look shorter and fatter. 

One example I saw recently. Under a trainer’s direction, a somewhat overweight girl was vigorously doing deadlifts with a bar and two 45lb weights, 135lbs, about her own weight. Each time she lifted the bar you could see her stomach stick out. She did not realize she was training hard to grow a stuck out gut. 

Also, the heavy weight was pulling her shoulders down and forward, shortening and thickening the muscle connections from the arms to the pectoralis major of the chest. It was growing round shoulders with dumpy arms, about the worst training you can think of for most women, who usually aim to be upright, slim, and elegant. 

Another thing this girl didn’t realise was, if you lift your own body weight from the floor, it immediately compresses your spine and makes you temporarily about an inch shorter. Over a long period, the erector spinae muscles that hold up the spine becomes shorter from that form of training. Bulging stomach, forward-sloping shoulders, dumpy arms, and a shortened spine. Not exactly what most folk want from a weight program to lose fat.

The best resistance training for fat loss (and muscle gain) is free-movement exercises, done standing, exercises that lengthen the spine while contracting the muscles. Overhead cables like we use in the Colgan Power Program are best as they can simulate virtually any free movement in life. The Program was first developed for Olympic athletes at Colorado Springs, so you can bet it’s first class for making people muscular and strong. But it also trains long, lean, flexible muscles. And more than 100 different exercises in it lengthen the spine while contracting the muscles. That should be your aim, a tall, elegant, flexible body that emphasizes the low body fat you have worked so hard in the kitchen to achieve.

Exercise for Fat Loss Rule 8

Get a mentor. You can go it alone, but a mentor adds immensely to any program for any skill. To achieve a great body you need someone who is an example, someone who has the skills, someone who can calm your wavering doubts and unerringly guide you in your quest. 

In my article The Making of Genius, 2005, which has been reprinted and copied innumerable times worldwide, I analysed the components that have produced genius in science, music, and arts. One vital component is the mentors that most geniuses had to develop them throughout their lives. These mentors were all experts in the different fields in which the individuals wanted to excel. They were all folk who had already been there, and had learned to excel at the skills.

Your goal of a great body for life is a difficult one. Most people who try fail repeatedly. You need a personal mentor. What Isagenix offers that no one else can, is hundreds of members who have done what you want to do, and who are on the same lifelong journey, walking the same good talk. 

1. Meijer GA, et al. Body composition and sleeping metabolic rate in response to a 5-month endurance-training programme in adults. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1991;62(1):18-21.2. US National Center on Sleep Disorders.http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/ncsdr/index.htm. Accessed 15 July 2012.3. Aldabal L, Bahammam AS. Metabolic, endocrine, and immune consequences of sleep deprivation. Open Respir Med J. 2011;5:31-43.4. Maury E, et al. Circadian rhythms and metabolic syndrome: from experimental genetics to human disease. Circ Res. 2010 February 19;106(3): 447–462.5. Van Proeyen K, et al. Beneficial metabolic adaptations due to endurance exercise training in the fasted state. J Appl Physiol. 2011 January; 110(1):236–245.

Kjersti Kote add a 9^th Rule:

Use Isagenix to fuel your body after your workouts! I recently interviewed Dr. Colgan and he said the best time to bring a shake into your body is exactly 30 minutes (not 1 hour or 2 hours) after your workouts. This will assist in leam muscle developement and recovery!

Low-Fat Dairy & Whey Benefit Your Waistline. How?

Milk (and other low-fat dairy products) will help you build strong bones, but if you want to whittle your waistline and gain calorie-burning lean muscle you may need to up the ante. In a 2011 Journal of Nutrition study, dieters who ate 30 percent of calories from protein, including six to seven daily servings of dairy, chiseled off more belly and total fat—and gained more lean muscle—than women who trimmed the same number of calories but ate less protein and dairy. Researchers think the whey protein in dairy, which boasts the amino acid leucine, is particularly important in stimulating the formation of new muscle proteins.

Our new IsaLean Pro Shake (In a delicious vanilla flavor) has 35% protein.  The highest quality whey is used in this gluten-free, organic shake.

I have this poster hanging on my refrigerator to remind me of all the GOOD my healthy diet is doing for me!  The poster comes from: LiveFit Revolution.

Surviving the Salad Bar

I used to feel so virtuous whenever I would go to a restaurant and JUST have the salad bar.  Now that I have been changing my diet up a bit, I realize that walking down the salad bar line was a bit like walking through a field of land mines.  Here are some tips from SparkPeople I have started using to assure me safe passage as I tip-toe through the veggies!


Take the safe path and apply these strategies to avoid salad bar traps:

• Use a smaller plate; limit the number of trips you make.
• Start with the nutrient-rich dark green, leafy vegetables, such as spinach, romaine, and endive.
• Fill up your plate with vegetables like lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, broccoli and tomatoes.
• Power on the protein with legumes, beans, lean meat, turkey, and crabmeat.
• Take only a small taste of the high-fat food items such as pasta salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, and coleslaw.
• Go easy on extras like croutons, chow mein noodles, crackers, nuts, seeds, crumbled bacon, and shredded cheeses.
• Dress your salad for success with 2 tablespoons of a low-calorie or light salad dressing, OR only 1 tablespoon of regular salad dressing. For a new taste twist try a splash of flavored vinegar.
• If the salad bar contains soups, go for a broth-based version over a cream-style selection.
• Allow only a small taste of the whipped topping-jello-fruit combinations.
• For dessert, return to the salad bar for a small plate of fruit topped with a little yogurt or cottage cheese.

Use the following guide to chart your course while maneuvering through your next salad bar excursion:


Salad Bar Guide

Food	Amount	Calories	Fat Grams
Vegetables
Artichoke Hearts	1/4 Cup	20	Trace
Avocado	1/4 Cup	75	8
Bean Sprouts	1/4 Cup	8	Trace
Beets	1/4 Cup	15	0
Bell Pepper	2 Tbsp	3	Trace
Broccoli	1/4 Cup	6	Trace
Carrot, shredded	1/4 Cup	15	Trace
Cauliflower	1/4 Cup	6	Trace
Cucumber	1/4 Cup	4	Trace
Green Peas	2 Tbsp	30	Trace
Lettuce	1 Cup	10	Trace
Mushrooms	1/4 Cup	5	Trace
Olives, ripe	2 Tbsp	30	4
Radishes	2 Tbsp	2	Trace
Spinach	1 Cup	10	Trace
Tomato	1/4 Cup	15	Trace
Fruits
Fruit Cocktail, canned in juice	1/4 Cup	35	0
Mandarin Oranges, in juice	1/4 Cup	25	0
Melon, fresh	1/4 Cup	15	0
Peaches, canned in juice	1/4 Cup	25	0
Pineapple, canned in juice	1/4 Cup	35	0
Raisins	2 Tbsp	60	0
Strawberries, fresh	1/4 Cup	10	0
Beans, Nuts, Seeds
Chickpeas	1/4 Cup	40	< 1
Kidney Beans	1/4 Cup	55	Trace
Sunflower Seeds	1 Tbsp	80	7
Meat, Poultry, Fish, Eggs
Eggs, chopped	2 Tbsp	25	2
Ham, chopped	1 oz	35	1
Shrimp	1 oz	30	< 1
Turkey	1 oz	35	< 1
Tuna, canned in water	1 oz	35	< 1
Cheese, Dairy
Cottage Cheese, creamed	1/4 Cup	60	3
Cottage Cheese, 1% low fat	1/4 Cup	40	< 1
Cheddar Cheese	2 Tbsp	55	5
Mozzarella Cheese	2 Tbsp	40	4
Parmesan Cheese	2 Tbsp	45	3
Others
Chow Mein Noodles	1 Tbsp	15	<1
Croutons	1/4 Cup	27	4
Bacon Bits	1 Tbsp	25	2
Mixed Salads
Cole Slaw	1/4 Cup	45	5
Macaroni Salad	1/4 Cup	100	10
Potato Salad	1/4 Cup	100	10
Tuna Salad	1/4 Cup	190	10
Three Bean Salad	1/4 Cup	60	0
Dressings
Blue Cheese	2 Tbsp	155	15
Italian	2 Tbsp	160	15
French	2 Tbsp	135	15
Italian, low calorie	2 Tbsp	15	0
Lemon Juice	2 Tbsp	8	0
Oil and Vinegar	2 Tbsp	100	8
1000 Island	2 Tbsp	120	10
Vinegar	2 Tbsp	4	0

Summer Strawberry Yogurt Pie

I love summer in Oregon.  One of the biggest reasons is because of all the fresh fruits that are available, especially strawberries.  Since my birthday falls on the second day of summer, my birthday cake was always Strawberry Short Cake.  After eating a fresh strawberry short cake, we all knew that summer was finally here!  I think this recipe for Strawberry Yogurt Pie has been around for a long time, but I have just discovered it.  It is simple to make, and a real treat to eat.  And if you use frozen strawberries, you don’t even have to wait until summer to eat it!!

Summer Strawberry Yogurt Pie

Prep Time:  5 minutes   /   Freezer Time:  3 hours or overnight   /   Servings:  8

2   8oz containers   strawberry flavored yogurt  (see note below)
1   12oz container   frozen whipped topping, thawed  (see note below)
1   cup    fresh or frozen strawberries, finely chopped  (see note below)
1   9-inch   graham cracker crust  (see note below)

1.  Mix yogurt with 3-1/2 cups of the dessert topping until blended.  Sweeten the strawberries, if necessary.  Mix the strawberries in with the yogurt/topping mixture, and then spoon the entire mixture into the crust.

2.  Freeze for at least 3 hours or overnight, if possible, until it is firm.

3.  Remove from freezer and top with remainder of dessert topping.  Store in the freezer.

Notes: 
1.  You can use any flavored yogurt, and then just add the same fresh, frozen or canned fruit to the mixture.  Next time I am going to try plain fat-free Greek yogurt with fresh fruit and juices.  I am thinking fresh peaches!

2.  I used the Fat Free frozen dessert topping, and it worked out just fine.  Therefore, my frozen pie will have less calories than listed for this recipe.

3.  I made my own graham cracker crust, but if time is a problem, a prepared graham cracker crust from the grocery store works great too.

Nutritional Information:  Servings = 8     Serving Size – 1/8^th pie
Calories:  317      Total Fat:  18.1g      Cholesterol:  1mg      Sodium:  221mg
Total Carbs:  36.1g  (Dietary Fiber: 0.8g)      Protein:  3.9g

Simple "Surprise Ingredient" Pulled Pork

We were having friends over for dinner last night ... but I had a super crazy busy day ahead of me.  I had this recipe tucked away for my crock pot ... but I was hesitant to use it because of the surprise ingredient.  It was totally the best pulled pork I have had in a LONG time!  Two ingredients and 335 calories for the full sandwich.

"SURPRISE INGREDIENT" PULLED PORK
335 CALORIES -- TWO INGREDIENTS

1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin (I used a cheaper cut actually)
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer
1 (18 ounce) bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (mine is Sweet Baby Ray's)
8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted

1.  Heat the crock pot for a few minutes so it is warm when you put the meat in.

2.  Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker;  pour the root beer over the meat.  Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6-7 hours. 

3.  Pull the pork out of the crockpot and put on a large tray.  Carefully pour the contents of the crock pot out.

4.  Take two forks and pull the pork into shreds. 

5.  Return the pork to the crock pot, and cover with your favorite barbecue sauce.  Reheat until time to serve (at least 30 minutes to let flavors mingle.)

Nutrition Information:  Servings = 8 sandwiches
Calories:  335
Fat:  5g
Cholesterol:  49mg
Sodium:  990mg
Total Carbs:  49.4g
     Dietary Fiber:  1.5g
Protein:  21.2g

NOTES:
1.  The true southern way to serve a pulled pork sandwich is to top it with your favorite cole slaw.

2.  When I make this again, I am going to grill some red or sweet onions to mix into the pork 10 minutes before serving.

3.  The actual cooking time length may vary according to individual  slow cooker.  Before taking the pork out of the crock pot to shred, double check the internal temperature of the pork with a thermometer.  The temperature should be a minimum of 145 degrees.

Simple & Delicious ... and only 229.1 Calories!!!

I served this for dinner tonight ... and it was a major "hit" with everyone.  I didn't tell them how easy this was to make ... prep took me about 5 minutes, and it took the chicken about 20 minutes to cook up to the proper temp!!  This is a perfect recipe for a summer dinner.

Herbed Chicken with Raspberry Balsamic Sauce

1       teaspoon       olive oil
1/2    cup               red onions, chopped
1       Tablespoon  garlic, minced
1       pinch            red pepper flakes
1/2    teaspoon      dried thyme OR 1-1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1/2    teaspoon      salt, divided
4      (4-6oz)         boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/3   cup               seedless raspberry preserves (I used low sugar raspberry preserves)
2      Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1/4   teaspoon      black pepper

1.  Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat, add onion and garlic and saute 5 minutes.

2.  Sprinkle thyme and 1/4 teaspoon of salt over chicken.

3.  Add chicken to the skillet; saute 6 minutres on each side (or until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees).

4.  Remove chicken from skillet and keep warm.

5.  Reduce heat to medium, add 1/4 teaspoon salt, preserves, vinegar, and pepper to skillet, stirring until the preserves melt.

6.  To Serve:  Spoon sauce over chicken and serve immediately Or return chicken to pan and coat chicken evenly, serve immediately.

Nutritional Information:  (1 serving = 1 chicken breast with sauce)
Calories:  229.1         
Total Fat: 4.1g (Sat. Fat 0.8g)         
Cholesterol:  72.5         
Sodium:  433.5mg
Total Carbohydrates:  21.7g (Dietary Fiber 0.7g, Sugars 14.9g)         
Protein: 24.4g

Notes: 
             1.  If you want a thicker sauce, let it cool slightly before pouring it over the chicken.            
             2.  I am going to try this with other no-sugar preserves to see how it works:  apricot, blackberry, peach.
             3.  There are only 4WW points for this recipe.
             4.  This recipe is also diabetic friendly.

Crunchy Chicken & Red Sauce with Whole Wheat Pasta (Recipe)

This so "nummy"!!!  Tom gave it an 11 out of 10!!  (I guess he liked it!!!)  You will fall in love it this recipe too, especially when you find out how with how easy it is to fix.  This recipe started out as a party treat, Crunchy Chicken on toothpicks with red dipping sauce.  But I discovered that it is also amazing over whole wheat pasta topped with cheese!!  If you serve this dish with a simple salad with a few spritzes of spray-on salad dressing .... you have dinner for 400-450 calories!!!

Prep: 10 minutes                              Cook Time:  15mintues                                  Servings 4

1              pound                     Thick chicken breasts, cut into 1” pieces
1              large                       Egg
1              Tbsp                       Garlic, minced
1/2           tsp                          Dijon mustard3/4           cups                       Panko
1/4           cup                         Parmesan cheese, grated (I use Parmigiano-Reggiano)
1              Tbsp                       Italian seasoning
1              tsp                          Garlic powder
2              cups                       Pasta sauce (I just use Prego with Meat sauce)
2              cups                       Cooked whole wheat spaghetti
8              Tbsp                      Part-skim mozzarella cheese, grated (I also use same cheese as above)

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

2.  Place the chicken in a large bowl.  Whisk together the egg and mustard and minced garlic in a small bowl.  Pour the egg mixture over the chicken and stir to coat all pieces.  Remove the chicken and shake off the extra egg. 

3.  Meanwhile, combine the panko, Parmesan cheese, seasoning, and garlic powder in a large resealable plastic bag or container.  Add the chicken and shake to cover all pieces.  Remove the chicken, place on the baking sheet, and bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned and sizzling.

4.  Heat the pasta sauce while the chicken is cooking.

5.  Serve ½ cup spaghetti with one-quarter of the chicken, 2 Tbsps mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 cup pasta sauce.

Nutrition Info:  (1/2 cup spaghetti, 8 pieces chicken, 2 Tbsp cheese, ½ cup sauce)
Calories: 380       Total Fat: 9g (Sat Fat: 4g)     Sodium: 650mg     Carbs: 39g     Dietary Fiber: 4g    Protein: 37g     Calcium: 25%

Woot!! I Mowed the Lawn Today!!!

This might sound silly ... but I am so excited ... today, for the first time in a VERY long time,  I was able to mow the lawn.  Why is this exciting?  Well, because until I lost 100 pounds with Isagenix, I couldn't even fit behind the steering wheel of the lawn tractor .... today .... No Problem-o!!!" I am jazzed!! On to new conquests in my life! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Y Eye Heart Yogurt (Plus Recipe)

I wasn’t really crazy about yogurt for the longest time.  I used to buy the “fruit in the bottom” kind, but decided it had so much sugar in it that it couldn’t be that healthy for me.  Besides it was always sort of runny and watery.  Just recently I have discovered greek yogurt!!  Oh my … what a difference! 

Greek yogurt, according to Wikipedia is “… yoghurt which has been strained in a cloth or paper bag or filter to remove the whey, giving a consistency between that of yoghurt and cheese, while preserving yoghurt's distinctive sour taste. Like many yoghurts, strained yoghurt is often made from milk which has been enriched by boiling off some of the water content, or by adding extra butterfat and powdered milk.”

Strained yoghurt has become increasingly popular because it is richer in texture than unstrained yoghurt, but low in fat; since straining removes water and dissolved salts and sugars, by volume, it has twice the protein of regular yoghurt and less sodium, carbohydrates, and sugar.

Yogurt is an excellent source of calcium and phosphorus.  It provides useful amounts of vitamin A, several B vitamins, and zinc.  For people who are lactose intolerant, yogurt is more digestible than milk.

Yogurt can be used in several ways:

·         Fruit smoothie:  Combine ½ cup plain yogurt with ½ cup diced ripe fruit, add one or two ice cubes, and puree in a blender.

·         Yogurt shake:  Blend ½ cup fruit-flavored, frozen nonfat yogurt with ½ cup low-fat milk until creamy.

·         Cucumber dip:  Peel, seed, and dice a large cucumber and combine with 1 cup plain yogurt, salt, pepper, and chopped fresh herbs.  Serve as a dip for vegetables, a dressing for salad, or a sauce for fish.

·         Mild salsa:  Mix ½ cup plain yogurt with 1 mashed ripe avocado, 1 diced tomato, and chili powder to taste.  Serve as a dip with tortilla chips or a sauce for enchiladas or hamburgers.

·         Vegetable sauce:  Mix plain yogurt with minced fresh dill and chopped cashews.

·         Garnish:  Top cold cucumber soup or vichyssoise with plain yogurt and minced chives.

Low-Cal Guacamole

1              15-oz can             Early peas, drained
1/2         cup                         mashed avocado (about 1 medium avocado)
1/4         cup                         fat-free plain Greek yogurt
4              tsp                          fresh lime juice
1/2         tsp                          kosher salt
1/8         tsp                          fresh ground pepper
1/8         tsp                          ground cumin seed
1/3         cup                         diced cherry tomatoes
1/4         cup                         finely chopped onion

Topping options:  chopped fresh cilantro, chopped jalapeno, additional salt & pepper.

Mash drained peas into a creamy texture.  Add mashed avocado, yogurt, lime juice, garlic, and seasonings.  Continue to mash until desired consistency.

Stir in tomatoes and onion.  Add toppings if desired.  Chill before serving.

Makes 6 Servings

Per Serving (1/3^rd cup):  Calories: 78,   Fat: 3g,   Sodium: 320mg,   Carbs: 10.5,   Fiber: 3.5g,     Sugars: 4g,   Protein: 3.5

Compare with Chipotle Restaurant  Guacamole:   Chipotle 150 calories …. Ours 78 calories!!

Confused About Portion Sizes? I Was!!

During my "Welcome to Diabetes Survival Class" (that's what I called it anyway), the instructors talked a lot about "portion sizes."  When I compared the sizes of the food portions I was actually eating to the pictures of the proper portion sizes, it turns out that I was misjudging the size of my portions by quite a bit (erring usually on the side of "too much" rather than "too little.") I think this is a natural consequence of eating in restaurants!!  The portion sizes you get on your plate are usually double the portion size you SHOULD be eating.

This article by Jane Kirby, RD and The American Dietetic Association can be found on Dummies.com, and it gave me a handy guide for determining the size of the portion I should be eating.  The bonus is that I can usually get two dinners for the price of one at most restaurants!!!

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When considering your nutritional needs, the amount you eat is as important as what you eat. Because people have diets filled with restaurant and convenience store foods, it’s difficult to remember how large a serving should be.

Portions of takeout food are much larger than the standard portion sizes defined in the Food Guide Pyramid. Even cookbooks are instructing people to serve larger portions. For example, the 1964 edition of The Joy of Cooking recommends cutting a 13-x-9-inch pan of brownies into 30 bars; the 1997 version is cut into 16 bars.

The following table lists the sizes of many foods that constitute one serving.

What Counts as a Serving: Food Group One Serving Is . . .

Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta: 1 slice of bread; half a hamburger bun or English muffin; 1 small roll, biscuit, or muffin; 5 to 6 small or 3 to 4 large crackers; 1/2 cup cooked cereal, rice, or pasta; 1 ounce ready-to-eat cereal.

Fruit:  One whole fruit, such as a medium apple, banana, or orange; half a grapefruit; a melon wedge; 3/4 cup fruit juice; 1/2 cup berries; 1/2 cup chopped fresh, cooked, or canned fruit; 1/4 cup dried fruit.

Vegetable: 1/2 cup cooked vegetables; 1/2 cup chopped raw vegetables; 1 cup leafy raw vegetables, such as lettuce or spinach; 1/2 cup cooked beans, peas, or other legumes*; 3/4 cup vegetable juice.

Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese: 1 cup milk, 8 ounces yogurt, 11/2 ounces natural cheese, 2 ounces processed cheese.

Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts:  Amounts should total 2 to 3 servings (for a total of 5 to 7 ounces) of cooked lean meat, poultry without skin, or fish per day. Count 1 egg; 1/2 cup cooked beans, peas, or other legumes*; or 2 tablespoons peanut butter as 1 ounce of meat.

Fats, Oils, and Sweets: Use sparingly.

* Note that you can count dry beans, peas, and other legumes as a serving of vegetables or a serving of meat, but the same bowl of beans can’t count as a serving from both groups.

A half-ounce of peanuts. An ounce of cheese. Two cups of popcorn. A quarter cup of sunflower seeds. A teaspoon of butter. A 3-ounce chicken breast. These are foods that you’re apt to run into when you’re eating on the run. After all, no one goes to a restaurant or movie theatre packing measuring spoons or cups. So how are you going to know what a serving of these foods look like?

A deck of cards is about the size of a 3-ounce chicken breast, but if the cards you play are on your computer screen, you may not recognize what a portion looks like. But you take something with you wherever you go that can help you with portion size — the palm of your hand. That is, if you’re an average female. Gentlemen, hold your honey’s hand more often to get a sense of size. Better still, make sure to take her to restaurants and movies with you. Some other “handy” measurements are shown here.

You can use your hand to judge portions sizes.

Five Steps for Running on Isagenix

Jennifer Pinner stretches before her run.

April 8, 2011 by Isagenix Nutritional Sciences

“One step at a time is all it takes.” This is the advice Jennifer Pinner shares on her running blog, MarathonForGood.WordPress.com, on how others can achieve as much as she does, which includes managing her weekly runs along with the responsibilities of marriage, motherhood, and churning out content as the senior communications specialist for Isagenix. Her blog is dedicated to her latest pursuit, which is fulfilling her dream of running the Boston Marathon on April 18, 2011.

She is running the marathon on behalf of Childhelp®, an organization dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect.

It’s well known to her family, friends and coworkers that when Pinner makes a plan, she sticks to it. The writer and running mom knows how to overcome mental barriers, heeding the training advice given to her by her high-school cross country coach: “90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.”

However, because of long runs and cross-training, the physical part of the job has been particularly taxing to her body, and with the Boston Marathon right around the corner, Pinner says that her main goal right now is simply to remain injury-free. Fortunately for Pinner, Isagenix offers products that can support her, as well as others, in attaining these ambitions.

Exercise builds the body up by first breaking it down. Endurance activities, such as running marathons, require months or even years of hard work in anticipation for a big event. What we eat not only plays a role in powering our bodies and fueling our workouts, but also in aiding recovery. Here are a few nutritional tips, with help from Isagenix products, for use in training.

1. Hydration, hydration, hydration.

With exercise, the body produces heat. The body actively works to reduce temperature and cool itself by pushing heat to the surface to be released as sweat. Endurance activities not only cause loss of body water through sweat, but also can reduce the thirst response. When dehydration occurs, the body’s cooling mechanism shuts down, which can lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Also, neuromuscular activity decreases, which can affect the rate and strength of muscle contractions, leading to shortened endurance.

Drinking fluids should not be a response, but a routine. For pre-event hydration, drink between 18 to 24 ounces of water two hours before an event, and an additional 18 to 24 ounces 15 to 20 minutes prior to the start of the event. Make a point of avoiding alcohol, coffee, or carbonated drinks prior to a race, as these beverages may contribute to dehydration due to their diuretic properties. During the event, drink between 6 and 10 ounces of fluid every 15 to 20 minutes. Adequate fluid intake must be a priority, to both replace and replenish lost water and electrolytes. Caution: Be sure to not overhydrate. Hyponatremia is common in marathoners, especially women.

Drinking the right sports drink can enhance hydration and running performance.

Sports drinks such as Want More Energy?® will help replenish carbohydrate stores and also replace lost electrolytes. Additionally, it helps to speed up gastric emptying and increase absorption. For post-event hydration, allow the body time to cool down and heart rate to normalize before rehydrating. An athlete should be sure to check weight before and after a run to drink enough fluid to restore body weight; it’s suggested to drink 16 oz of fluid for every pound of body weight lost. Hydration is a priority for any serious athlete; hydrate before, hydrate during and hydrate after!

2. Don’t curb the carbs

A balanced diet is pivotal for adequate energy and nutrient availability. Carbohydrates are the preferred energy source for the body. During periods of intense exercise, the body uses glucose and its stored form, glycogen, to fuel the muscles. The exhaustion or fatigue experienced following intense activity results from burning up these energy stores. Eating enough complex carbohydrates before an event helps enhance performance by maximizing muscle and liver glycogen stores, improving stamina and reducing exercise-induced fatigue.

Carbohydrates consumed during exercise will help maintain blood glucose and enhance carbohydrate oxidation. Drinking fluids with a few grams of simple sugars like Want More Energy? throughout the event can help preserve glycogen stores and help runners maintain energy levels.

Consuming carbohydrates post exercise is also important as it replenishes depleted glycogen stores. Simple carbohydrates, in particular, can help restore glycogen stores more effectively. Glycogen repletion occurs faster immediately after exercise, so it is recommended to consume 1.5 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight post-event every two hours for up to 6 hours.

3. Pre-game with principle.

It’s important to power your activity without weighing yourself down. Eating too close to the big event can cause uncomfortable bloating, lethargy or even pain. An appropriate pre-game meal should be high in complex carbohydrates and consumed three to four hours before the race begins, which will allow the body to completely digest and store the carbohydrates, eliminate any fats consumed and stabilize blood sugar. Approximately 60 to 70 percent of an athlete’s pre-game calories should be composed of complex carbohydrates to help improve performance and sustain energy levels. Fatty and fibrous foods should be avoided right before extensive periods of activity to avoid gastric distress.

Athletes training for prolonged endurance events should consume 9 to 10 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight to help support glycogen stores. Many endurance athletes practice a method known as “carb-loading,” which is a strategy used to maximize glycogen storage in the muscles by consuming large amounts of carbohydrates, along with extra water, a few days prior to the event. Isagenix SlimCakes provide a healthy dose of low-glycemic complex carbohydrates, promote satiety and supplement glycogen stores. In addition, foods such whole-grain pasta, whole-wheat breads, and whole oats provide low-glycemic carbohydrates that can not only increase glycogen storage capacity, but also improve performance by delaying the time at which carbohydrate reserves become depleted.

4. Whey to replenish.

Running a marathon puts incredible strain on the body and literally depletes nutrient stores. Protein is required to help rebuild muscle and repair tissues that are broken down from repetitive movements. Eating a complete meal containing protein, carbohydrates and fats is more beneficial for post exercise recovery compared to a meal containing carbohydrates alone. Evidence shows that combining protein with carbohydrates increases the rate of post-exercise glycogen synthesis. IsaLean Shakes or Bars are a great products marathon runners can take advantage of during training and after their event as they provide vital nutrients, such as whey protein (an excellent source of branched-chain amino acids that fuel muscle growth and maintenance), as well as carbohydrates. If providing the structural support for muscle repair and staving off fatigue are not enough, the IsaLean Shakes also deliver vitamins and minerals, including valuable electrolytes. (Jennifer is a big fan of the shakes and had a natural creamy chocolate one right after her last marathon in December.)

5. Manage muscle and joint discomfort naturally

A combination of ingredients can help runners keep joint discomfort to a minimum.

Intense physical activity of any kind is likely to result in suffering through muscle and joint stiffness and discomfort. Maintaining a normal weight, light stretching before an event, and proper training all go far in helping to avoid overtaxing muscles and joints. So can providing the body with scientifically-supported ingredients like glucosamine, chondroitin, boswellia and turmeric to help support production of healthy cartilage while inhibiting its loss over time.

Glucosamine is a major component of the proteoglycans, the natural “building blocks” of cartilage. The body’s production of proteoglycans declines with age, but glucosamine supplementation helps restore production and maintain healthy cartilage over time. Chondroitin is a natural compound that helps maintain joint lubrication, allowing for greater joint mobility and flexibility. Supplementation with chondroitin sulfate provides support to glucosamine in helping to slow joint deterioration. Comforting botanicals such as boswellia and turmeric act to soothe and calm discomfort.

Isagenix Ageless Joint Support provides all these ingredients along with several others providing combination to support healthy cartilage, promote production of new cartilage, and soothe joint flare-ups before or after they start. “It calls for three tablets daily, but its formulator Dr. Paul Anderson has recommended 6 daily if you’ve had issues. Amazing results!” When pain does take hold in muscles and joints, Ageless Pain Relief topical cream alleviates using no artificial ingredients or drugs—only natural menthol and methyl salicylate. The ingredients provide a cooling sensation when first applied followed by a deeper heat that can relax sore, tense muscles and relieve stiff, aching joints. “Right after a run, if I have even the slightest ache, I put a tiny dollop on the hot spot, do a little rub and compress it with a wash cloth to feel that cooling/warming sensation on my joint,” Pinner writes.

The Finish Line

Whether you’re a recreational runner or a seasoned athlete looking toward the next 26.2 miles, what’s important is maintaining energy and preventing injury. Consuming enough carbohydrates to fuel your run and enough protein to support the growth, maintenance and repair of body tissues, is a delicate balance that requires attention and quality ingredients to ensure a successful race.

As for Jennifer, we wish her good luck and good health!