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Is Soy Making You Fat?

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soymsn

This post has been SOY long due! (Sorry, I had to go there!)  Soy has been a food that I once thought to be very healthy, in fact, I use to pride myself on trying to eat as much tofu as I could as a badge of honor.  The more I have studied soy, the farther I go to avoid it! I certainly am no expert on it, but there is lots of research to show that we really need to be careful with it.  There is also research to show some benefits to it as well, which makes it such a confusing topic!

Soy Bean Plant
Soy Bean Plant

I think many of the thyroid issues that are going on can be somewhat contributed to the increase in soy. Soy hasn’t been massed produced in America for all that long.  You might be wondering why we have been taught to believe that soy is so good for you.  The answer to that question is simple…  $$$$$$$$$$$ Our government, the media, and even some research is all run by how much money it can make.  Soy is a cash crop and a multibillion dollar industry. When so much money is at stake, of course there are going to be multimillion dollar campaigns to persuade American’s at just how great soy is… Do you remember this past year all those high fructose corn syrup commercials saying the HFCS is actually GOOD for you?? Man did that make me mad!

Since I am not the best person for this subject, I have asked my nutritional consultant that I work with and send my clients to, to write an article on it.  Tracie specializes in healing metabolism through natural foods and is awesome when it comes to weight loss.  She is having an 8 week seminar starting in mid July.  If you are in the Madison area I highly recommend you join.  It will be life-changing! Continue Reading →

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Funny Treadmill Videos

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I am going to keep it light and funny today!  I have seen some funny and crazy things happen on treadmills in the gym the past 10 years.  I don’t know what it is about watching someone fall on a treadmill that is so funny.

Here are some I have found!  Enjoy and remember to live life and laugh :)

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[youtube Kv5d0eMvqWU] Continue Reading →

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Healthy Eating While Eating Out!

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Today, my mom is taking on the topic of one of the most frequently asked questions we get… How To Survive The Restaurant. I must admit, I am awful when it comes to eating out. I have a huge appetite which can really get me in trouble. I have a rule that my girlfriend hates, but I try to stick to… only 1 night of eating out per week. (I think she would go every night) This not only saves money, but many calories. In this post my mom gives great practical advice.

Enjoy!

Last week’s blogging was phenomenal, not just the volume (with a little administrative incentive!), but the content was so very very useful and at times in-your-face.…who can forget the:

“what you eat today you wear tomorrow”

or

“a minute on the lips, forever on the hips”!!!!

Those little ditties will haunt us at all future sites of temptation. Needless to say, we are still in business and this week we get to share our tricks when eating out-a different scene from the potlucks and grad parties, etc.

Depending on the size of the servings, one of the easiest ways to do it smart at a restaurant is to split a meal with a companion; if that doesn’t work out, ask for a take-home container brought with your meal and immediately stash half of it. Our country has become famous for SUPERsizing meals; let’s sabotage it all by splitting meals and DOWNsizing ourselves!

I think you can’t go wrong choosing some kind of well prepared fish, with certain guidelines, like asking if the salmon is wild caught Alaskan vs. farm raised. I try to always stay away from any farm raised fish, but Angela (Dustin’s sister) had a chart from a college class that made some exceptions, so I will not try to be an expert here! If only the breaded version is available, simply peel off the coating. Walleye and tilapia are other good choices, asking for them to bake or broil it for you without any added fats or sauces and simply use some fresh lemon juice. Now what you eat with this healthy entrée is what will make or break this meal, as we all well know! Several sides of your less starchy vegetables, such as steamed asparagus, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. will be your best choice; however, if it’s carb-loaded veggies you are making room for, a small baked potato with some light sour cream or a small serving of sweet potatoes will not bust you; always remember that size can be the killer even more than small “cheats”. It goes without saying that the dinner roll is best left covered up in the basket, or removed from the table if you are all of one mind. Continue Reading →

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3 Fat Burning Upperbody Toning Exercises

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I am excited to share with you today a video that I did this morning with one of my success stories, Becky.  You have seen Becky already a couple of times and I love sharing her story, because it is a story of overcoming obstacles to achieve an incredible body.  But with that new body has come a new life.  Things Becky use to do, she no longer does, and things Becky could not do before, she can now do with ease!

Click here to check out Becky’s transformation

Click here to check out a sample home workout

If you have been following me and this blog for sometime, you know I don’t believe in traditional cardio as a means for losing fat.  I am not saying it can’t help, but in most cases it just doesn’t work very well.  With Becky, not only could she not to any cardio, but she couldn’t work her legs at all either. This was concerning to me, since about 60% of a person’s muscle mass lies below the waist.  That means that I had 60% less muscle building, and fat burning potential that I was working with. But Becky never gave up and continues to work so hard.  A combination of a 1200-1500 calorie diet and 3 days of heavy weight training, has given Becky these incredible results.  Becky currently has up to 40 lb dumbells at her house and just this week asked if she should get 45 lbers, I have no doubt, that within a short time she will have them as well.

In this video I want to share with you 3 of the best total upper body fat burning and muscle building exercises. Each of these exercises is designed to maximize the load placed on the large muscle groups and increase the heart rate very high and very quickly.  The combination of the muscle building effects, and the after workout calorie burn, produces an elevated metabolism that will stay high much longer than most other types of training.

Enjoy!

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Please share with everyone what you thought of this story!

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Can You Eat Healthy At A Party?

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I am going to try a new thing out to encourage more people to comment in the posts.  This is a community and we need as much participation as possible.  So I am requiring at least 20 comments in this post for my mom to do her next post which is eating healthy when dining out.  So please read this article and click the comments box at the bottom of the page!

Based off of your requests, we are going to be talking about making it through a cookout or summer party.  This can be very challenging to do, and I have to admit many times I just let myself go and use it as my cheat meal or cheat day.  One trick I use is to never drink calories at a party, and always be drinking tons of water.  I will easily drink 4 cups an hour.  This makes it a little more difficult to overeat.  I would also recommend putting all the food you are going to eat on your plate and just eat that.  The most dangerous thing is to continually be picking up handfuls of food.  It is impossible to tell portion size at that point, and you are mindlessly eating, because you are talking with others, not even thinking about what the food tastes like!

Ok, here is my moms post!

Well, almost to the middle of June already!  I am trying to make a conscious effort to truly enjoy the sun and all the green surrounding me every day and to be aware of how much we have to be thankful for and not take for granted already what we Northerners anticipate all winter long!  And along with the sun comes BBQs for all sorts of occasions,  especially the graduation open houses right now.  Shelley wrote in asking for ideas for keeping on a healthy plan while attending so many “special occasions” that offer reasons/excuses to ditch all caution and have at it.  So that is what we will discuss today instead of featuring a recipe.

I got to practice this just yesterday at SOAR at your very own UW Madison; for those of you outside of Madison, 5000 Continue Reading →

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What Are You Investing In

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I have been flying quite a bit the past couple years and have met so many interesting people on my flights.  Most ask what I do, and when I tell them I am a body transformation specialist, the fun begins.  If I am sitting next to someone who obviously could use my services I usually get what I call “confessional time” by the person.  You would think I was a priest and they were sharing all of their sins with me. I usually hear the traditional “I really want to be in better shape, but I just don’t seem to have the time for it,” or “I start to workout, but then I quit,” or “I have tried to exercise and eat better and I don’t lose weight.”

A couple weeks ago I flew out to Orange County and sat by this woman who was 74 years old.  She had more energy and zest for life than many people I meet in their 20′s and 30′s.  She obviously made health and fitness one of her top priorities.  Not only did she look amazing, but her mind was so sharp and quick.  She walked 5-7 miles a day to stay active (at the end of the conversation she said I had convinced her to also start back up with strength training).  As we talked for a couple hours I found out she had been a nutritional counselor for a large weight management company for many years.  Like me, she was so saddened by the current state of health in America and particularly in kids.

We talked a lot about food and how that is the biggest culprit in our society today, and the food we are eating isn’t really food, but a bunch of man made chemicals and highly processed grains and fats.

She made a very interesting comment that has stuck with me that I keep referring back to, which is the reason I am writing this to you.  She said that she has no problem paying extra for all natural, whole foods, fresh fruits, fresh veggies, because she knows the extra money she is spending in food, she is saving on all other types of things including, medication/drugs, not having to buy larger clothes, and sickness due to loss of work.  She said she has never taken any medication or drugs in her life and she hasn’t been sick or had a cold in over 20 years. Continue Reading →

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Healthy PROTEIN/ENERGY BARS Part 2

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This week we are going to continue our discussion on protein/energy bars.  I wanted to thank Jenny McCully for making my moms protein bar recipe from last week and bringing it to MamaTone to share with the group!  They were AMAZING!  All 15 moms gave it 2 thumbs up!  The only problem is trying to stop at just one!

Here is my moms post!

Last week we talked about making healthy energy bars, but some of you were also interested in what is out there in the stores that are acceptable; sorry about the bit of confusion last week-we had meant to make it clear that this part of the discussion would happen this week to keep things from getting too long for one blog-!

I have just spent several hours online trying to research a whole lot of bars that were recommended by online bloggers, including AOL’s list of the top 10 searched diet bars, as they called them.  Wanna’ know what my conclusion is, right off the top of my head?!

DON’T WASTE YOUR CALORIES OR MONEY ON ANY OF THEM! 

Dustin gave me some guidelines for what he considers a good ratio of nutrients:  cals:  150-200, Fat:  5 g., carbs: 15-20, prot.:  15-20.  Invariably, when I’d find something with some nutrient being within specs, the rest would fly way off the radar J.  And you can be sure that if the sugars were decent, it had some form of horrible fake sugar!  That lead me down some interesting trails, especially when I came across maltitol; I realized I didn’t know what this was other than just another sugar alcohol.  I came across a huge blog where a whole ton of irate folks vented and described in detail their experiences with using this sugar substitute-just let your imagination run wild with severe lower GI upsets, and you get the picture!  Many were upset with the labeling, not warning them in easy-to-read print of this possibility.  Some also blogged that using it in moderation did not bother them; many told the others to give up on anything ending in “itol” and to stick to stevia. Continue Reading →

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How To Improve Triathlon Times And Feel 20 Years Younger

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kauairuncrop

One of the biggest problems many runners and triathletes face is injuries.  One of the reason is because all their activities are in the same plane of motion, meaning they go in a straight line forward.  It is super important to work the body from all different planes of direction and from different angles.  Working the body from all different directions will decrease the chances of muscle imbalances and strengthen all of the small stabilizer muscles.

Another issue with many triathletes and long distance runners is that they neglect to work their core muscles (muscles in the torso area).  The longer a person trains, the stronger the core needs to be to endure the pounding it is taking.

Today, I would like to share with you a video that I did with Tracey on NBC.  Tracey was featured in this blog last week and is more fit now than she was 20 years ago in college (and she was a collegiate athlete!)

I teach a class at Supreme called Got Core and it is a challenging 30 min core class, mostly performed on the ball.  We meet T/H at 5:30 pm.  Click here for more details. Feel free to try the class out for free to decide if it is right for you.

Check out Madison Fit Fun Bootcamps for a total body fat burning, and athletic performance enhancing workout, that works the body in every plane of motion imaginable!

[youtube _LV5RhkEmmc] Continue Reading →

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Healthy Homemade Energy Bars

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Katrina and I at a fitness conference in LA

This week we are going to feature energy/protein bars.  When I think of a protein bar, I usually think high protein, low sugar; energy bars have some protein, but quite a bit of sugar for energy.

I have become good friends with a fitness professional in Orange County.  Her name is Katrina and she is a celebrity trainer and has had over 15 million youtube views for her fitness and nutritional videos through diet.com.  I am working with her now to get her ready for her first fitness modeling show which I am very excited about!  Katrina will be sharing with you a recipe for an energy bar.  It is a little high in calories, so my mom put on her experimentation hat and worked at tweaking it to make it more calorie friendly.

I am also working at finding other healthy premade protein bars.  It is tough, because most are just glorified candy bars.

So here is my moms post!

This week we are taking on the energy bar; three of you suggested this one-Louise, Sharon, and Bill-so let’s see if we can get something interesting happening here. It just so happens that our AOL server had that discussion up this morning, so I checked it out-they listed the top 10 that their research came up with, called them diet bars, but did not say what their criteria was for rating them. Then they opened it up for comments, and I copied down a lot of websites and personal preferences listed, but have not had time yet to check them all out.

We’ll get back to this later, but now I’d like to give you a recipe for an energy bar that Katrina featured on her website, as Dustin has told you about. I have just finished trying it out, with some adjustments; if you’re like me, you are ready for something to make rather than trying to find one you approve of at the store. So, let’s get busy!

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KATRINA’S ENERGY BAR

3 scoops protein pwd.
1 c. natural peanut butter
1 c. raw or roasted slivered almonds
1 c. diced dried apricots
1 c. old fashioned oats
¼ c. raw honey
Cinnamon, optional

In Katrina’s video, they melted the peanut butter and honey together, then added all the rest of the ingred.. I experimented with a small batch and just stirred everything together, but melting things would be easier; however, if you are in a hurry for the finished product, skip the heating stage, as they should be chilled around 45 min. before cutting into squares. Backing up, spray a baking pan or cookie sheet and press the ingred. into it to desired thickness; Katrina used a 9″ sq. pan and cut her recipe into 16 bars, after chilling. Wrap individually in either plastic wrap or foil, or just use a sandwich baggie. The only thing I changed is the amount of honey; Katrina used 1 cup, but the bars have around 270 calories and would be best used for high energy needs, like for a marathon or long distance bike trip. I experimented with less and even no honey (adding a small amt. of water to hold things together), letting the apricots provide the sweetness. I settled for ¼ c. honey (may still need a very small amt. of water). You might wish to use agave or maple syrup instead. Here are the approximate stats that I figured, using a prot. pwd. that has 21 g. of prot./28 g. scoop, with NO fake sugars. Also, I recommend cutting them into 32-1 oz. bars, putting them more into the average weight and calorie range of other bars. I think my next batch will have more prot. pwd. in it. Anyway, have fun changing this basic recipe to fit your own needs, or using what you have on hand.

Nutritional Info. For approx. 1 oz. bar:

Cal.: 115
Prot.: 5g.
Fat: 6g.
Carb.: 9.5g.
Fiber: 2g.
Sugar: 5.5g.

We would love to hear what your favorite homemade bar recipe is or a store bought one!

Keep eating~healthy!

Dustin’s Mom~Joy

For additional recipes click the links below!

30 Healthy Snacks, 21 Healthy Snacks,  Chocolate Chip Cookies,  Chocolate Tofu Pie,  Pureed Vegetables, Roasted Veggies,  Quinoa,  Chicken,  Omelet,  Pizza,  Guacamole,  Hummus,  Carrot Soup

Campfire Food

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Tracy Looks and Feels Better Today Than In College 22 Years Ago!

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As I have become a more experienced trainer through the years, I have gotten to work with more and more people and, as a result, some of my preconceived notions of the body, aging, and fitness levels have changed.  No longer do I believe that when a person turns 40, their fitness levels drop off, no longer do I believe that someone in their 50′s and 60′s can’t feel better than when they were in their 40′s.

It all comes down to consistent proper training and consistent nutrition.

Today, I am excited to share with you a story of one of my clients who looks MUCH better now than she did in college over 20 years ago!  She has found the secret of Fit Fun Bootcamps and high intensity weight training and cardio.  I want to thank her for her story and her willingness to share her message to the world. This is also a great reminder to everyone reading that just because you are getting older doesn’t mean you can’t reach peak performance.

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Here is her story in her own words:

Tracy in college

Tracy in college

“I have been a member of Supreme Health and Fitness for at least 13 years and have been active most of my life. I was the typical athlete in high school and even played soccer at a division 3 school in college. I always thought that I was fit and I was always on the smaller size until I went to college and discovered late night pizza and beer. I gained about 15 lbs in college and had a hard time losing that weight while in college despite playing sports and leisurely working out at the school gym a couple days a weeks.

After college I joined an athletic club/gym and started taking classes and experimenting a little with weights. I noticed that I was able to turn some of the fat to muscle and started to lose some inches. I kept this regimen up for many years working out 4-5 times/week and felt good. About 7 years ago I met some people at Supreme Health and Fitness that introduced me to the idea of doing sprint triathlons. I completed my first triathlon in the summer of 2004 . It was a great accomplishment for me and I intended to do more of them, but became very hooked on cycling and that became my passion.  My husband and I have been very fortunate to do a lot of cycling together and even incorporate it into vacations that are centered around cycling.

My fitness routine has always been about using a variety of exercises to keep my weight down and has been very centered around cardio.  About 3 years ago I started taking the Body Pump weight classes offered at Supreme and was very excited about adding weights to my routine.  I did this routine for about 2 years, 3 times/week with the addition of cycling/spinning and a little bit of running.  I thought this was working. Then, last spring when I saw some fliers at Supreme advertising Dustin’s Fit Fun Boot Camp.

I had seen Dustin around our gym and was always intrigued by the exercises he was having his clients complete, so I decided to sign-up for his outdoor boot camp class at Elver park. I was very excited to try something new, but I had no idea that this class was going to be so life altering.  At the start of 6 weeks we took measurements and Continue Reading →

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