Last week, I started keeping a weekly accountability series of posts on my P90X Lean workouts to start off 2010 and here we are with week number 2 of my P90X Lean routine.

P90X Lean Workout Routine – Week Two

Day 1 – Core Synergistics – “Superman/Banana” and “Dreya rolls” definitely fire up your core muscles. I still struggle with the Dreya rolls due to my right knee.
Day 2 – Cardio X – this is still a workout I enjoyed. Really end up sweating.
Day 3 – Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X – still using light weight resistance bands because of my right shoulder and my neck so shoulders and arms were not nearly as sore as my abs were the next day.
Day 4 – Yoga X – STRUGGLED with this workout! Not a lot changed here…except that I was able to go 5 minutes longer than last week’s workout.
Day 5 – Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X – my right knee wasn’t AS sore/tender after this workout as it was after last week’s workout…and my abs are STILL sore from the last Ab Ripper X workout again! Owww…
Day 6 – Kenpo X – my range of motion in my kicks on my right side is far limited in comparison to my left side…but it didn’t hurt, so that was encouraging.
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch – for me…this is an “active” rest day today for week two of P90X Lean. No stretch workout for me. Instead, I went to the gym with my wife so I could hit the stationary bike for 45 minutes of cardio.

Well, that’s it for me. Just a quick post to keep myself accountable to this process of my P90X Lean workouts.

Welcome to Part II of our oh-so-basic nutrition class designed to give you an overview of basic nutrition and make healthy eating much simpler. Last time was our intro, and we’re already changing the syllabus.

Today we’re going to talk about what to eat. Something happened on the Beachbody Message Board this week, which hammered home just how far we’ve fallen in our basic understanding of dieting. In brief, a guy had heard that olive oil was good for him so he was eating 12 tablespoons of it along with 4 ounces of chicken for lunch. Because of what he had read and heard about dieting, he actually believed he was doing something beneficial. Boys and girls, the situation has become alarming. Let’s jump right into discussing what we should eat. When we’re finished, I’m sure you’ll know exactly what’s wrong with that guy’s lunch, other than that it sounds like a food challenge.

Your options: protein, fats, carbs, and . . . ?

People often ask me—and I’m not kidding—why they need to eat protein, carbs, or fat. I had one person submit a scathing letter saying something along the lines of “no professional” would ever recommend more than such and such amount of protein, fat, and carbs. The reason I bring this up is that the percentages she claimed “no professional” would ever exceed totaled 70 percent. The problem with her logic was that proteins, fats, and carbs are—basically—your only choices. They have to equal 100 percent of your diet.

Well, actually, they don’t have to, but they certainly ought to. Let’s look at a few other things that can make up part of your 100 percent. Mainly it’s just alcohol. At 7 calories per gram, alcohol is loaded with calories and can, especially during the holiday season, make up a fairly high percentage of your diet. However, I’m not aware of any nutritionist who would recommend that it be much more than a trace percentage, given that alcohol has no nutrient value. Other things you can eat are pesticides, heavy metals in your water, dust, dirt, toys, etc. Most of these things don’t have calories, but, even if they did, I think we can conclude that they should not make up a percentage of your daily diet, at least not purposely. Therefore, the percentage of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in your diet should equal 99.99 percent or, ya know, 95 percent on girls’ night out or during Super Bowl weekend.

What are they, what do they do, and how much of them should you eat?

I’d like to discuss this more fully, but remember, this class is only the CliffNotes version.

Protein. Protein serves as building blocks for your body tissues. You need it to grow and repair your muscles and pretty much everything else. It’s found in animal products and, to a lesser degree, in plants, making getting enough protein challenging for vegetarians, especially those who avoid dairy products.

What it doesn’t do is give you energy. It’s material, not fuel. A diet with too much protein does not help you function well. Too little protein, however, and you won’t recover from the energy you burn.

It’s found in abundance not only in animal products but also in grains and legumes, like rice and beans, respectively. This is why beans, rice, and soy products are so popular in cultures that tend to be vegetarian. It’s also found in many vegetables, but because veggies contain so few calories, it’s tough to make them a significant part of your protein intake, unless you use a juicer, but now I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll save juicing for a later date.

Proteins weigh in at 4 calories per gram.

Fat. Dietary fat, the kind you eat, should not be confused with body fat, the stuff that causes you to ask your husband or your wife, “Do I look fat in this?” That type of fat comes from an improper diet or lack of exercise—though it’s usually both. The fat you eat is very important for many day-to-day functions. Fat:

• Fuels the body and is especially useful for long-term aerobic exercise.
• Aids digestion of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, and promotes a feeling of fullness after eating.
• Helps regulate blood pressure, heart rate, blood vessel constriction, blood clotting, and the nervous system.
• Provides essential fatty acids, in particular omega-3, which help us with brain development, nervous system function, and eyesight. Many experts also believe they reduce the risk of arthritis, some cancers, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

But before you rush out to stock your fridge with butter and cheese, be aware that 1) there are good fats and bad fats and 2) you don’t need too much fat to satisfy the above list.

Bad fats include animal and trans fats, which should be severely restricted in your diet. Animal fats are pretty easy to avoid, since they are obvious. Trans fats are a man-made variety and tend to show up in processed junk foods, like cookies, cakes, chips, and stuff that may sit on a shelf for months or years. Fortunately, they are now required to be listed on labels, which have hurt sales so much that most companies have stopped using them.

Good fats come from plant sources, like olives, avocados, nuts, seeds, and so on.

You may have noticed a pattern: All the foods mentioned above tend to be filling. That’s because they are what’s termed “nutrient dense.” Fat has more than twice the calories per gram than carbs and protein. You don’t need much in their natural state. And condensed fats, like oils and butter, should be used sparingly indeed.

Fats weigh in at 9 calories per gram.

Carbohydrates. Maligned and misunderstood, carbs are probably the simplest foods to understand. They are fuel for your body, plain and simple. Carbs help you do stuff, as in they help you stay active. The more stuff you do, the more carbs you need to eat. Conversely, the lazier you are, the less you need to eat.

Carbs basically break down into glucose—blood sugar—in your body, which provides energy for both your muscles and your brain. Unlike fats, there aren’t really good and bad carbs. Different types suit you better at different times, depending on—you guessed it—what sort of stuff you happen to be doing.

Carbs mainly come from plant sources, with milk products being the primary exception. In nature, plants have something called fiber, which is the part of the plant we can’t digest. The rest of the plant will become blood sugar—fuel—in our bodies, while the fiber will help regulate how we use it. Fiber is important stuff. It not only helps us digest nutrients, it cleanses our digestive tracts and soaks up excess cholesterol.

The “bad carb” moniker comes from those carbs without fiber—things like simple sugars (candy)—and carbs that have been stripped of their fiber—things like white rice, some cereals, fruit juices, pastas, etc., etc. These foods aren’t really bad, per se; they are just bad most of the time because they speed into your system and cause an insulin spike, or what we call a sugar rush. Unfortunately, and where the negative association comes from, we tend to consume sugars at the worst times, such as when we’re sitting around at movies, watching TV, at work, etc. Insulin spikes during these times can lead us into a vicious cycle, which we’ll look at a bit deeper during our dessert session.

But there are times when a sugar rush is advantageous, like during or immediately after sports. At these times, you want an insulin spike because it will help you recover faster by rushing nutrients back into a system that you’ve depleted by doing exercise. The quicker you recharge your body’s glycogen (sugar) stores, the less damage your muscle tissue incurs from the workout and the quicker you recover (making products like P90X Results and Recovery Formula beneficial at these times). This is why “sports foods” tend to be sugary, and why Gatorade has no business as a regular part of your diet. Sports foods are for sports, only, and I don’t mean watching sports.

At all inactive times you should opt for the natural version of carbs, complete with fiber, like whole fruits, fresh veggies, whole grains, legumes, sweet potatoes, etc. This will not only keep your energy level more consistent, it will also keep you from craving more sugar. While you need carbohydrates, you only need enough to keep your blood sugar levels stocked up. Your body can’t store extra carbs, so it stores them as fat—and not as good dietary fat, but in adipose tissue, which is the kind of fat that might cause your husband to lie to you about how you look in that new dress or your wife to lie to you about how tight that belt really looks.

Carbs weigh in at 4 calories per gram.

How much of each do you need?

The one key piece of advice to take from this class is this: You should eat for what you do each day. Let me use a simple analogy. How much fuel do you put in your car when you don’t drive it? How much when you do?

This doesn’t exactly equate. You are not a machine, plus you’re always on. But the fuel example is relevant. When you are active, you burn more glycogen and, hence, need to eat more carbs. Carbs should be the most variable item in your diet. If you’ve been hiking through the Grand Canyon, you may eat double, or even triple, the amount of carbs you’d eat than during a day at the office. Your other nutrients don’t change as much. You need more protein if you are causing more muscle breakdown, but only so much. Carbs are literally burned off.

How much is quite variable. A muscular athlete will burn more fuel at rest than someone who is out of shape. With my clients, I tend to start them at 40 percent carbs, 30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat, and then adjust as necessary. This varies by the individual, but this ratio seems like the best average place to start.

Keep in mind that your diet is always a moving target. As you change, so does your nutrient requirement. People often ask me, “Can’t you just tell me exactly what I should eat every day?” My answer is, “No.”

A person trying to change his or her body composition (lose or gain weight) will eat differently than someone trying to maintain it. And everyone, no matter what his or her goal is, should eat differently on days when he or she does different things. It’s not as simple as “calories in, calories out,” but that cliché is not a bad ballpark figure to think about while deciding what, when, and why to eat.

Here are simple guidelines. Of course, results vary because all of our bodies are different to a degree. But we’re also similar, so using these guidelines as a starting point will work for most people. In the end, no one will be better able to tell you what you need than you will. You have to learn to listen to your body’s signals and adjust.

• Overweight and out of shape. This is the only time I recommend a “low-carb” diet. A diet of 40 percent to 50 percent protein, 30 percent fat, and 20 percent to 30 percent carbs can be effective in the early stages of a transition.
• Overweight and in decent shape, or not too overweight and in bad shape. A now-fairly-standard ratio of 40 percent carbs, 30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat.
• Ideal weight and fit. 50 percent carbs, 25 percent protein, and 25 percent fat. This is probably what I personally average, but consider that my diet varies wildly. On days like today, when I sit in front of this computer for hours on end, carbs might be only 30 percent to 40 percent of my diet. On a day I’m riding my bike for 6 hours, they might make up 70 percent. My protein and fat intake won’t change too much. My calories might go from 2,000 to 6,000, with most of this difference being carbs. I’m more active than most people, but my radical example will, hopefully, make this idea easier to understand.

Vitamins and minerals

We left these out of today’s discussion. While they are a big part of your nutritional equation, you’re likely to get enough if you use the above guidelines to eat. These are found in abundance in all natural foods. Processing foods ruins their nutrient values, so these foods often have nutrients added to them. But there is no guarantee that manufacturers have added good nutrients—you can’t beat natural foods for ensuring quality and bioavailability. When we eat enough natural foods to support our activities, we generally get plenty. People who are cutting calories, exercise excessively, or eat a lot of processed food should consider supplementing. There are many different ways to choose vitamin and mineral supplements. Beachbody’s ActiVit® is a vitamin supplement with some added performance ingredients, while P90X® Peak Health Formula is a vitamin and mineral supplement. The Shakeology formulation not only has all the vitamins and minerals you need, it also has a probiotic and complete greens formula blend—but now we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Now let’s get back to that guy in the intro. His lunch consisted of 4 ounces of chicken, which is mainly protein with a little fat. Olive oil is a healthy fat. But 12 tablespoons is around 1,500 calories. So we’re looking at a nutrient ration of around 12 percent protein, 0 percent carbohydrate, and 88 percent fat in a lunch approaching what is probably 80 percent of the calories that guy should eat that day. It doesn’t take a nutritionist to figure out that this guy is going to have a problem reaching any of the nutrient ratios discussed above. That is unless he, quite literally, loses his lunch, which seems pretty likely.

That’s it for today. Next time, we’ll get back on track of sorting out what advertisers mean as we’re sorting through all those catchy slogans at our local supermarkets.

by Steve Edwards

Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Diet

This may be old news to you reading this, but I’m not much of a TV watcher as I was in my teens. I just saw Taco Bell’s latest TV commercial marketing campaign: the Drive-Thru Diet.

Hey, I’m all for fast food restaurants to IMPROVE the quality of food they sell. Subway rocked the “healthy meal” lifestyle with Jared and McDonald’s has had a healthier food choices for some time as well. So I’m cool with that since far too many people eat at fast food joints all over the country and would be my guess as one of several contributing factors to the obesity epidemic in America.

Here’s the 30 second Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet Commercial:

A Drive Thru “Diet”?

What I don’t like this is they label it a “diet”. Really? A diet? I understand that Taco Bell wants to capture a portion of the market share of people trying to eat healthier, but in no way is the drive-thru diet actually a diet! I think that’s a bit misleading. There is no weight loss plan other than the common sense of exercise and watch your calorie intake. I don’t know of many people who eat 3 meals a day at Taco Bell either 7 days a week, to make it truly a drive thru diet…but maybe I’m overreacting! What do you think?

I’m a BIG advocate for preparing meals in advance as well as meal replacement drinks and bars. I often recommend that you prepare very large meals and store the leftovers in containers so you can have them throughout the week. The quickest way for me to prepare a meal is to warm up leftovers from the night before. Many of my meals are leftovers, which makes my life a whole lot easier. I often include protein bars and Shakeology into my eating habits on a daily basis, especially when I’m not at home.

In a pinch, when you didn’t plan your meals ahead of time for the day and for the sake of convenience, the Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet Menu is another option on the fast food market of healthier food that is under 9 grams of fat and between 150-340 calories!

The Drive Thru Diet Infomercial

Yep, you read that right. Taco Bell even produced a Drive Thru Diet TV “infomercial” to promote their healthy menu.

So what do you think?

Here’s the Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet Menu if you want to look at it a little closer.

Each year, so many of us make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get healthy. Now that the holiday treats have stopped miraculously showing up at our doors and desks, there’s no excuse not to get in health mode to look and feel better. Wanting to lose weight is a start. But it’s better to break this daunting task down into achievable behaviors that get the job done. Even if you can’t leave your house to work out or dine out, you can still set yourself up for weight loss success by following these 8 simple tips.

1. Start each morning with something healthy. By starting off your day with a healthy breakfast, you’re already ahead of the game each day. Pick out a cereal high in protein and fiber and low in calories and sugar such as Kashi^® Go Lean^® Crunch. This will keep you full on few calories so you don’t eat the wrong foods at lunch. It’s an easy way to start the day off healthy without the guesswork and get closer to your weight loss goals each day. Plus, if you take a daily vitamin such as ActiVit^® Multivitamins with your breakfast, you know you’ll ensure you get the nutrients you need each day to fuel your body and your workouts without even thinking about it.
2. Look before you eat. Ordering in takeout or even visiting fast food restaurants doesn’t mean you have to pack on the pounds. Look up the calorie count of meals at your favorite restaurants, and pick one that’s under 500 calories. Check out dietfacts.com to look up the calorie count of foods at popular restaurants. You can even take a look at the nutrition guides that come with the Beachbody^® workout programs, as many of them include fast food guides to help you make healthy choices when in a rush or on a budget.
3. Pre-portion your snacks. I don’t know about you but if I have a bag of Pirate’s Booty^® or even chips with me in front of the TV, I’ll chow through the whole thing by the end of the show. It’s important not only to stock your house with healthy snacks but also to preportion them out into baggies when you buy them, so you stick to eating one serving whether you’re in front of the TV or at work. Most foods are healthy in moderation, but overeating can make the pounds creep up. You can also prepare healthy foods such as sliced-up cucumbers or red peppers to munch on or dip in balsamic vinegar. You’re more likely to reach for those—since they are ready—rather than high-calorie, easy-access foods, like chips or a quick frozen quesadilla or egg roll. P90X^® protein bars are a convenient preportioned meal replacement or snack to keep with you on the go.
4. Socialize health-consciously. Hanging out doesn’t have to mean eating out. Instead of going out for dinner or drinks to catch up with friends, go on a hike or walk to catch up. It’s a great way to get a workout in while catching up with friendly conversation. Plus, you save money and calories. Or host a health-conscious potluck, where everyone makes his or her favorite healthy treat and prints out the recipes so you get an arsenal of healthy treats to make in the future and enjoy. If you’re feeling daring, try hosting an activity party where you pop in a Beachbody workout, play Nintendo Wii^®, or go ice skating so you know you’ll burn off those extra calories.
5. Top your foods on the down-low. Of calories, that is. The calories in creamy sauces and dressings can really add up. Stock up on low- to no-calorie toppings like pico de gallo, hot sauce, mustard, pepper, 1-calorie-a-spray salad dressings from your local market, and even parmesan cheese in moderation. You’ll be surprised at how quickly the weight will come off without sacrificing taste.
6. Commit to workout times. Whether you’re doing Tony Horton’s 10-Minute Trainer^® or an hour of P90X, make sure to set the times in your schedule to work out and stick to them. Plan other obligations around those times. Working out is important to your health and your life, and making it and yourself a priority will not only help you meet your weight loss goals but help you live a better life. Use a calendar from the workout programs or set up a time to work out with a friend—whatever it takes. I like to set the time in my phone calendar so an alarm beeps and says “Time for Slim in 6^® Ramp It Up.” If that is my workout planned for that day and if I’m not doing it, I’m not gonna get slim in 6 weeks. It’s my choice. You can even sign up for Beachbody’s WOWY Supergym^® for free, where you can log in your workouts and get support from hundreds of people cheering each other on.
7. Lay out your workout clothes the night before. This can make a big difference not only in saving time but also making sure you commit to actually doing the workout. I like to get my workout clothes ready the night before for motivation but also so I can snooze through the extra time before working out. If you don’t work out at home, then pack your gym bag the day before and always have it ready in your car or at work, so there’s no excuse not to work out. My favorite new workout here is Brazil Butt Lift^®. Leandro Carvalho (known as the “Brazilian Butt Master”) created such a fantastic workout, with booty-sculpting moves, cardio, and Brazilian dance beats, that I don’t mind waking up a bit early to do it before work and starting my day with some fun.
8. Drink the healthiest meal of the day. Replacing one meal a day, even a snack, with Shakeology^® is the simplest way to lose weight and get the nutrients you need for optimal health. By targeting nutrition, fullness, digestion, and detoxification, Shakeology provides a multifaceted approach to help you keep full, shed fat, reduce food cravings, improve digestion, lower cholesterol, and have more natural energy—all through a delicious 140-calorie shake. I’ve been drinking it every day as an afternoon snack or after working out. Everyone at work makes them a little differently to craft their favorite concoctions. Some of us use water; others use milk, or even add a teaspoon of peanut butter or mint. They’re delicious!

It’s truly the little changes you make every day that add up to weight loss. And we’re here to help. If you set yourself up for success with actionable steps, you will succeed! Best of luck and health on your weight loss journey this year and always.

By Debra Pivko

Well the first week of my P90X Lean workouts is in the books. And I am SORE!!!! What a way to start off the new year. I’m so thankful I’ve been drinking the P90X Recovery Drink, or I’d not be able to get out of bed! P90X Lean is no joke! One of the biggest mistakes people make when they start P90X is they try too hard the first week. Start off with 60-70% intensity. Learn the moves…don’t kill yourself. Even at 70% for me this week, I’m very sore!

P90X Lean Workout Routine – Week One

Day 1 – Core Synergistics – are you kidding me? OUCH…and can you say, “Banana” or “Dreya rolls”? haha that was a hard workout.
Day 2 – Cardio X – I enjoyed this workout.
Day 3 – Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X – OWWWWWWWW…Ab Ripper X. 300 moves!
Day 4 – Yoga X – I am going to STRUGGLE with this workout! I am not flexible, need my yoga block and I’ve gotta be careful due to the herniated discs in my neck but I burned over 740 calories so that made my day!
Day 5 – Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X – legs were made of rubber after this workout…and my abs are STILL sore from the last Ab Ripper X workout!
Day 6 – Kenpo X – I kicked and punched my way through this workout and LOVE IT!
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch – for me…this is a rest day today for week one of P90X Lean. I’m planning to go take a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood so I can log into the WOWY SuperGym and be qualified to win money from Beachbody just for working out! I’m always excited when the $1000 prize day comes around. But…I’m competitive with myself, so I still might do the stretch workout tonight.

Even after dozens upon dozens of 10 Minute Trainer workouts in 2009, they don’t compare to the intensity of P90X workouts! There are places on my body that I haven’t been sore at in YEARS! And this is only the first week! I’m looking forward to the next couple months of P90X Lean!

HUGE BONUS! I’m really excited that I have a dozen different friends and clients who have embarked on this 90 day challenge with me! We’re all connected on Facebook, so it’s fun to encourage each other and celebrate each others’ successes! It’s always great to have support group of people who share a common goal and vision! Getting lean…P90X Lean!

Subscribe to my blog if you want to follow my progress with P90X Lean over the next 90 days…better yet, join in the fun! Get your own P90X Workout Program and get in shape too!

On a blustery winter morning, a hot and hearty breakfast is the most comforting way to start your day. It can also supply a significant portion of your daily nutrition, and get your body ready for whatever’s to come. (Or, in the case of New Year’s morning, make up for whatever excesses you may have indulged in the night before.)

A well-balanced breakfast is even more important than most people think. Complex carbs feed your brain and can literally make you smarter, while adequate protein keeps your blood sugar steady so you don’t get snack cravings or conk out before lunch. (Of course, it’s also necessary for fat loss and lean muscle growth.)

If you’re in the habit of grabbing some toast, a granola bar, or even cold cereal with a little milk in the morning, you aren’t getting all the nutrients you need, and probably aren’t performing at your best throughout the day. Try the following hot, nourishing breakfast dishes instead. They’re easy to prepare, and will provide a great nutritional foundation for your daily activities as well as for your fitness plan.

Overloaded Oatmeal

While it’s a great source of slow-burning carbs, oatmeal doesn’t have enough protein to be considered a complete breakfast on its own. But with a few extras, you can turn it into a filling one-dish meal that’ll easily last you till lunch.

This simple recipe balances out your grains with plenty of protein, healthful fats from walnuts, and antioxidant-rich dried fruit.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned, steel-cut, or rolled oatmeal. (Any brand will do, but less processed oats taste better and are healthier than the “quick” or “instant” varieties.)
• 1 cup nonfat milk
• 1 scoop Beachbody Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
• 1/2 oz. walnut pieces (or other nuts if you prefer)
• 2 Tbsp. dark raisins, dried cranberries, or other dried fruit
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Stir the oatmeal and milk together in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the walnuts, dried fruit, and cinnamon. Cook until the oats soften and thicken (or as long as the package instructions recommend), stirring constantly. Stir in the protein powder until smooth. If the mixture becomes too thick, add extra milk or water.

Hot Chocolate “Soufflé”

This is a delicious, filling breakfast that tastes like dessert, but is full of protein and fiber. (Just don’t expect it to be as light as a regular soufflé.) Organic cocoa powder contains almost no sugar, is good for your heart, and has chemicals that provide a mental boost to help you get through your morning.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup low-sugar, high-fiber “pellet-style” cereal (such as Fiber One^® or Trader Joe’s High Fiber Cereal)
• 2/3 cup egg substitute
• 1/4 cup low-fat milk
• Enough sweetener to equal 6 teaspoons of sugar, or to taste (you can use Splenda^®, agave syrup, or any sweetener that can be heated)
• 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (organic and unprocessed if possible)

Mix ingredients and cook in a pot over low heat, stirring frequently, until mixture gets very thick. Pour into a bowl, and let it set for 3 more minutes before eating. (You can also cook the mixture in a microwave oven, as long as you stop and stir it every 30 seconds or so—and watch to make sure it doesn’t bubble up over the edge of the container.)

Better Breakfast Sandwich

Far healthier than a fast-food breakfast but almost as quick to prepare, this sandwich is perfect for those rushed mornings when there’s not much time to eat. Serve alongside a bowl of fresh berries or a glass of Shakeology for an antioxidant boost.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole wheat English muffin
• 1 whole egg and two egg whites
• 1 Tbsp. low-fat milk
• Nonstick cooking spray
• Salt and pepper
• 1 oz. slice low-fat cheddar cheese

Separate two eggs and put the whites in a bowl, along with the whole egg. Add a splash of milk. Beat with a fork until well mixed and frothy. Pour into a small nonstick pan coated with cooking spray, and scramble with a spatula over low heat. When eggs are almost done, add salt and pepper to taste. When they’re fully cooked but still at a soft consistency, remove from heat.

Divide English muffin into halves and toast them. As soon as you remove them from toaster, place cheese slice over one hot half so it starts to melt. Form scrambled eggs into a mound and place on other half of muffin, then cover with first half.

Healthier Hash

A rib-sticking breakfast that’s perfect for weekends, this hash is a vast improvement on your local diner’s version. Serve with organic ketchup (rich in the heart-healthy antioxidant lycopene) or a side of sliced tomatoes.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. low-fat ground turkey
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1/8 cup chopped onion
• 1/8 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 large potato, peeled and diced into small cubes
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a frying pan, brown the turkey with the olive oil, onions, and potatoes. Add the green pepper and spices. Cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, just until potatoes are tender. If desired, you can add a little more oil to the pan, flatten the mixture with a spatula, and cook for a few more minutes on each side to form a crust.

by Ben Kallen

by Steve Edwards

We hear a lot about nutrition on TV these days. Carbs, net carbs, impact carbs, trans fats, and essential fats . . . and on and on. Yet studies show that this information goes way over most people’s heads. In fact, it seems like most people have forgotten what they learned back in eighth grade nutrition class—at least those who had a nutrition class. Nowadays, most people get through school having taken no nutrition class at all. With world obesity rates at an all-time high, we’re obviously on the wrong track. After all, what good is hearing that a food contains “healthy omegas” when you don’t know what fatty acids are?

But we’ve all got to eat, so someone needs to teach us. Let’s forget about Nutrition 101. There’s no time for math. Let’s break it down even simpler than that. Maybe we’ll call it Nutrition 1. All we want to do is get you out of the supermarket with some idea of what you just bought. With society headed in its current direction, this 411 on nutrition is more of a 911, so let’s call it that—a bit more impactful than Nutrition 1 and maybe not as patronizing. It’s like traffic school but for nutrition. You don’t need to win the Indy 500. You just need to get yourself around town safely. You’ve been cited for poor eating habits. You can pay the fine and endure a chronic disease, or you can take Nutrition 911 and get your health back. Are you ready for class?

Hello, class. I’m Professor Edwards, but you can call me Steve. Forget hierarchal labels; this is no dull SAT preparedness course. We’re sticking to just the things you’ll want to know to keep you healthy—hey, you, in the back. Stop shooting spitballs at Mr. Kroc! Give me that thing. What’s your name, son? Okay, Carl, one more slip-up and you’re back on the bypass waiting list. It seems like the situation is direr than I thought, so let’s get straight to it.

Food

We’re here to talk about food. This is the stuff we eat that enables us to live. You in the clown suit with the big red wig, stop laughing. This is a lot more important than it sounds! If we understood food, we wouldn’t be here. You see, we also eat a lot of stuff that’s not food but that comes with our food. Some of it we’re supposed to eat, things like fiber in plants. But many companies also add things to food that aren’t food at all, stuff like color, flavors, and things to make the food last longer while it sits on a shelf waiting for you to buy it. These added ingredients have no nutritional value. We also eat other additives that are sort of food. These are altered from their natural state to change the way food tastes and to make food more addictive. Stuff such as HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) falls into this category. And more often than not, these things are bad for you—yes?

Why do they do this, you ask? That’s a very good question, Michael, but we can’t answer that here. This is Nutrition 911. Politics 911 is in the other room. And, please, turn off that camera. Learning to distinguish foods that have additives, or may have them (as it’s not always clear), will help you make better choices when deciding what you should and shouldn’t eat.

Nutrient values are based on the parts of food that your body can use. In packaged foods, these values can be found on the food label. They break down what you are eating into various components. These various components are vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbs. Nutrients have something called calories. Most of us know what these are because we blame them for making us fat, but, in fact, they are just a measurement for the energy in food that our bodies can then turn into energy.

If you’ve ever glanced at the package of something you’re eating you know this, but you may not know how to make sense out of it. That is the goal of this class. When we’re finished, you’ll be able to understand how to decipher a food label and a supplement label, and how to navigate a grocery store and not feel overwhelmed. We’ll also cover how to eat in restaurants and how to best avoid the insidious ingredients referenced above. So let’s take a look at how this class will be structured.

The syllabus

Today is just an introduction to explain why we’re in this class. We’re going to look at the very basics of nutrition—the very basics, real “duh” kind of stuff that I hope most of you know. Words like food, water, vitamins, and supplements are a normal part of our language. We hear about these things every day and consume them to live, but most of us lack a big-picture understanding of how the entire process is supposed to work.

Next, we’ll take a look at the things you hear on TV and see at the market. We’ll analyze slogans like “organic,” “low carb,” “omega rich,” and so forth and discuss just why we need to know this, or whether we’d be better off ignoring it.

Then we’ll take a closer look at food labels. These are less difficult to understand than you probably think. If they seem confusing, it’s because they’re designed that way. But when we’re finished, you’ll be able to scan a label and tell whether or not you should buy something in 15 seconds or less.

We’ll follow this with a simple yet thorough analysis of just what you should eat. You’ll see that once you know how to wade through the marketing jargon, it’s not as difficult as it seems.

Subsequent classes will cover subjects such as sweeteners, desserts, alcohol, caffeine, and water; the best and worst foods in the world; how to navigate a supermarket; and how to order in restaurants. When we’re finished, you’ll have a simple yet thorough understanding of the eating process. It’s not rocket science. It is, however, science. But don’t worry. Once you learn to weed out all the fancy words, it’s not all that complicated. We’ve been eating, well, forever. Science has actually made it more difficult for us to understand. Therefore, the aim of this class is to help you wade through all that pesky science—especially the research that’s been skewed by marketers—and to get back to basics.

Lesson #1: What we consume

If you ask someone what they eat, they’ll probably answer, “Food.” As we discussed above, that answer would be incomplete. We also eat water—okay, drink, but whatever. In fact, let’s use the word consume because we don’t have a preconceived notion about it. Everything we put into our mouths makes up who we are, whether it’s food, water, beer, drugs, vitamins, dirt, or whatever. Don’t discount dirt because it’s actually healthier than a lot of things we eat. It’s even healthier than many things we call food. In fact, a recent study concluded that kids who ate dirt were healthier than those who weren’t allowed to eat dirt.* Soil is organic, meaning it contains living matter (or once-living matter). In the study, kids eating dirt developed stronger immune systems. While this makes sense, I think this study shows more than anything else just how bad our diets have become. But hey, look at me, I’m rambling. The point of this lesson isn’t to discuss eating dirt. It’s to discuss food. So let’s get back on track.

We’ve briefly discussed food, so let’s touch on water. It’s the most important thing we consume, yet all that most of us think about it is whether or not it’s polluted. We need to drink a lot of it, as it makes up around 70 percent of our body weight. But we also get water from things that aren’t water, like foods, beer, wine, sodas, coffee, and tea, so it’s hard to know how much we need. “They” ubiquitously tout that we need 6 to 8 glasses a day, but that varies depending on what we are doing and what else we’ve consumed. When we don’t drink enough water we can become dehydrated, which is a serious condition in its latter stages, but even in its early stages, it inhibits bodily functions and can make us hungrier than we should be. We need to drink some amount of plain water because drinking our calories can become a dangerous habit, which we’ll cover in depth at a later date.

Our society has become increasingly dependent on something else we consume: drugs. These also need to be considered as a part of our diets. Some drugs are helpful, some are necessary, and some can be lifesaving. But drugs alter our bodily processes and should only be taken when absolutely necessary. Ah, apparently the little butterfly hovering over Jack is arguing that drugs are good because they help us sleep, wake up, feel good all the time, and have fun. True, we like our drugs; I’m just saying that we should be careful about how we use them. It’s possible we’re not supposed to feel that good all of the time, but that should be discussed in sociology class. Here, we’re only interested in how they affect your diet. And wake Jack up, would you? I don’t think he needed your help after eating that Big Cheeseburger for lunch, which is the point I was trying to make in the first place.

I mentioned drugs because people often confuse them with supplements. This is probably because they both come in pill form. But they are very different. Supplements are technically called food supplements, meaning that they are made from food (or at least come from something that naturally occurs in food). Supplements are, essentially, condensed nutrients. So a supplement will only work in your body’s natural pathways the same way foods work. The upside to this is that it means that supplements are very safe. The downside is that a supplement cannot work the same way as a drug, no matter what it claims.

Does that mean supplements are worthless? Not at all. By supplementing your diet with the proper nutrients, you can enhance your health. But there should always be some reason behind your supplement regimentation. A good example of this rationale is taking a vitamin supplement when you’re dieting. Less calories means less nutrients, so adding basic nutrition in this case makes a lot of sense. There are many examples, which we’ll cover later.

Then there’s alcohol. Is alcohol a drug or is it a food? It’s sort of both, so we’ll look at it in depth later. Alcohol comes from a reaction of food when it’s rotting. This natural process creates something that behaves as a drug. The difference between alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs is that alcohol has calories—a lot of them. And other than its drug effect, it has no nutrient value. So it’s easy to see how it could interfere with you keeping your diet balanced (whatever that means—again, you’ll learn it later). Alcohol often comes in food products, such as wine and beer, and food products do have a nutrient value. But because of its high caloric value and low nutrient value, the amount of alcohol in your diet should be limited.

In conclusion

I hope most of you know everything we’ve gone over today. With the obesity epidemic like it is, one can never be too sure of anything. We have become a nation of terrible eaters, and we’re paying the price. To recap, everything we put in our mouths counts toward our diets, whether it’s food, beer, mouthwash, a One A Day vitamin, Paxil, or a Twinkie. If we want to be healthy, most of what we consume should be water. Next should be foods that consist of mainly carbohydrates, proteins, and fats from as close to nature as we can get them. We should limit the number of calories that we drink. We should take supplements to make up for nutrient deficiencies, which can be caused by dieting, exercising, or eating bad foods. We should limit our drug intake, as these, too, are part of our diets. This is the “duh” stuff, which I hope you all understand. I know it’s too basic to help you change your diet much, but trust me, we’ll get there. Things should be more interesting as we build on this foundation.

There’s the bell. That’s all the time we have today. Next time, we’ll get the 911 on how marketers can trick us into eating the wrong things.

*Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html?_r=1&em

Can you turn fat into muscle? Is the morning the best time to exercise? Will you get cramps if you drink too much water when you exercise? Can those ab machines on TV get rid of your pot belly? Spend time surfing the Internet for fitness information and, pretty soon, your head will explode from reading all the contradictions and misinformation about the best strategies to get fit. Here are some of the more popular myths and old wives’ tales that have been propagated over the years.

1. You can turn fat into muscle. This is completely false. Muscle and fat are two entirely different substances. Muscle is a fibrous, contractible tissue that can only be built through exercise—via a break-down-and-rebuild process. Fat is adipose tissue that can be converted into energy in the service of building muscle, but the tissue itself can’t be transformed into muscle tissue. So if you are an out-of-shape 200 pounds, you’re not going to look like a young Schwarzenegger just by lifting weights. You’ll have to do a lot of Turbo Jam®-style cardio to burn the fat off before anyone can see how ripped you’ve gotten. Which leads us to . . .
2. You can turn a pot belly into a six-pack just by doing crunches. Any insomniac has seen those late-night commercials that guarantee miracles with rollers, chairs, crunchers, and various other contraptions. They all promise a Brad Pitt six-pack in just minutes a day. But if you’re starting with a Homer Simpson beer gut, it’s going to take more than rocking back and forth a few minutes in a modified lawn chair every day to see any results. No matter how steely your ab muscles are, if they’re covered in inches of fat, no one is going to be able to appreciate them. That’s why programs like Hip Hop Abs™ combine a healthy amount of cardio with the ab work. If you don’t burn the fat, you’ll never see the muscle.
   
3. You can lose weight just by dieting. This is technically true. If you don’t eat or eat less, you will lose weight—initially. But you will plateau quickly, and your body will readjust its metabolism to survive on fewer calories, making it even more difficult to lose weight. If you really want to move the needle on the bathroom scale in a meaningful way, it’s going to take diet and exercise. Even light to moderate levels of exercise on a regular basis help a lot. Physical activity not only burns calories, it also helps build muscle and increase your metabolism, both of which turn your body into a more efficient calorie-burning machine, even while at rest. Plus, there are numerous other health benefits, from cardiovascular improvement to mood elevation. And in-shape people look a lot hotter than sallow, starved people do.
   
4. If you don’t exercise every day, you might as well not exercise at all. This comes from the same flawed, excuse-driven logic dieters use when they decide that because they cheated at lunch, they might as well order a pizza for dinner. While some form of daily exercise is ideal, studies have shown tremendous benefits even with as little exercise as a 30-minute brisk walk three times a week. Even if you fall off the wagon, put in that Beachbody® video or walk around the block a few times. Before too long, you’ll be craving exercise more than that burrito you thought you wanted.
   
5. No pain, no gain. This is a popular one uttered by almost every high school gym teacher and coach that I’ve ever met. And it’s not only utterly wrong, it’s potentially dangerous. This may seem obvious, but when you feel physical pain, it’s your body’s way of telling you, “Hey, you’re hurting me!” And instead of trying to push through the pain, you should take a step back and see what kind of damage you’re doing to your body. It’s natural to feel fatigue during and after a workout, but if you’re feeling actual physical pain, you’re doing something wrong, and you could potentially permanently damage yourself. Maybe it would be better to say, “No exercise, no gain.” But exercise and pain should never go hand in hand.
   
6. More sweat, more weight loss. Most good workouts will make you sweat, but the amount you sweat isn’t necessarily the test of a good workout. Everyone sweats differently. And all sweat does is cool your body off with water. What you get from sweating isn’t fat dripping off your body. If it were, you’d be leaving a big oil stain on the floor after you worked out. Sweating just causes you to lose water weight. It’s the activity itself that causes your body to burn stored fat for energy.
   
7. Drinking water during exercise can cause cramping. In fact, the opposite is true. You’re much more likely to cramp if you’re underhydrated, so for the best results when exercising, it’s a good idea to drink water before you start your workout so you’re beginning your workout with a full tank. As you work out, you should keep a bottle of water handy, particularly if it’s a long or especially rigorous workout. After working out, you should treat your body to a big glass of water to replenish your fluids, and if you’ve been extra good, maybe some P90X® Peak Recovery Formula for maximum replenishment.
   
8. The best time to exercise is in the morning. A lot of people find that they prefer getting their workout out of the way first thing in the morning, and often feel that it gives them an energy boost for the rest of the day. But a good workout any time of day is just as good for you, although you may not get the best results if you’re overly tired. So if you’re someone who likes to burn the midnight oil, you can burn fat just as effectively then as you can at sunrise.
   
9. Lifting weights will create bulky muscles. This is a half-truth. Lifting heavy weights can create large, bulky muscles, but lifting light weights will self-regulate their ability to grow and, therefore, will create a leaner look. So if you want the Vin Diesel look, with your guns pumped, you can lift heavier weights with fewer reps. But if you want a more slender look (for example, many women don’t believe that Vin Diesel’s arms perfectly accessorize a Chanel cocktail dress), you can do more reps with lighter weights or resistance bands to get that slender, toned “swimmer’s” build. And speaking of swimming . . .
   
10. Swimming is effective for weight loss. This is another half-truth. Swimming is great for building lean muscle and increasing cardiovascular endurance, which do lead to weight loss. But because the water supports so much of your body weight, swimming has been found to be less effective than land-based aerobic activity for weight loss, since the effort it takes to haul your carcass around does a lot more for fat burning. Swimming’s still a great thing to add to your fitness regimen though. Having a variety of exercises, like Slim in 6® and Power 90®, will decrease your boredom and increase your overall results.

By Shaun T, creator of INSANITY™

Oh yeah. It’s natural for us to be less than honest with ourselves about where we’re cheating on our nutritional plans. We work out and have the best of intentions for our daily meals, but we end up falling short of our goals for having a balanced nutritional plan for various reasons. Some of the most common pitfalls can be avoided simply by being aware of them.

1. Stress eating.

   Hey, I readily admit that food is comforting—especially comfort food. You know, the mac and cheese; the meatloaf and buttery mashed potatoes; an entire pint of butter pecan ice cream . . . enough said. But there are so many better ways to beat stress than by eating yourself into a stupor.

   Do this instead: My favorite thing to do is to get out and just take a walk. Focus on your body and forget the snacks, and get some air deep into your lungs, clear your head, feel your blood pumping, and stretch your legs out. It won’t take but a few minutes for you to reap big benefits from taking a brisk walk . . . away from the vending machine. Or if it’s raining, put on some great music and dance—that works too! You can get plenty of this done with Dance Party Series.

2. Grazing.

   Many people have a complete lack of structure to their daily meals—they actually never stop nibbling throughout the day—from bits of bagels and bites of donuts in the morning all the way through to chips in front of the TV for late-night channel surfing. Grazers have absolutely no set meal times, and end up shutting down their bodies’ natural calorie-burning cycles through the constant onslaught of fat and calories.

   Do this instead: Of course, avoid the bad stuff. Instead of vending-machine junk and food with a low nutritional value, pack healthy snacks for nibbling. And make time for balanced meals that will satisfy your appetite so you won’t be reaching for whatever’s near. See the action plan for #3.

3. Unconscious eating.

   Eating without paying attention to what you’re doing, or without even realizing that you’re consuming calories.

   Do this instead: Keeping a food journal is the best way I know to determine whether you have unconscious-eating tendencies. One of my clients confessed that while keeping her journal, she would catch herself working at her desk and suddenly realize that she needed to jot down the cookie she’d just eaten at a coworker’s desk. They’d offered her a homemade cookie, and she’d eaten it without even thinking about it—much less factoring it into her daily planned food intake. Cha-CHING! Those 200 sweet calories needed to be added to her daily tally in her food journal to get an accurate picture of what she was eating.

4. Double portions.

   It’s not just restaurants that are offering us bigger portions to show us the value of their meals; it’s loved ones and friends and ourselves who proudly serve up much more than our bodies need for fuel at mealtime—on a regular basis. It’s because we think we’re showing love, or are being shown love, through food. We’d also feel stingy if we were to serve the plate with less on it. The sad fact is that “normal” portions in the U.S. aren’t just a fraction more food than needed for having a balanced meal—they’re like double, which is in excess of what your body requires, and WAY more than you can burn through your daily workout!

   Do this instead: Ask yourself, “Do 20 bites of a huge sandwich really taste that much better than 10?” How do those 10 extra bites taste when you know you can’t burn them off that day and at least half that sandwich is going to turn into those “stubborn” pounds? Stick with sane portions; listen to your body.

Yes, these are four common pitfalls. They’re all too common—but that doesn’t make them any less devastating to our fitness results and our ultimate health goals (and don’t forget that it can also be discouraging to the mental image you have of where you want to be). Be aware of where you might be defeating yourself, and take some time to form a personal plan to help you avoid these pitfalls on a daily basis.

Tony Horton issues the P90X home fitness challenge to BRING IT! What a way to ring in the new year and new decade…90 days of P90X with Tony Horton. And that’s where my fitness journey brings me this year! The year of P90X and the transformation of Coach Tim Carter! Whoo hoo! This means a lot to me after the last couple of years.

Starting off 2010 with the P90X Lean series of workouts. Then it’ll be onto P90X Classic and ending off the year with P90X Doubles. It’s a challenge that Tony Horton issues on the P90X DVD’s “How to Bring it” video, he suggests trying the P90X lean, classic then doubles routine for extreme results. So how could I resist?

It’s been a long road on the home fitness path for me since 2005. Spring of ‘05 I was in a t-bone car accident caused by a guy running through an intersection. It took me over a year before I could be running and weightlifting without pain. I felt like my normal, active self. Playing co-ed softball, playing in disc golf tournaments…even thinking about running a half-marathon. But…

January 2008 found me in the middle another car accident (again I didn’t cause it)…this accident has been the LONG recovery process for me and easily could have put me in a wheelchair or six feet under. So I was blessed to be in the condition I was in. Several herniated discs in my neck. Constant muscle spasms, frequent headaches along with hardly getting a regular night of sleep had made workouts out fairly limited. By the end of 2008, the headaches were less intense, but the muscle spasms were still there…as was the new layer of belly fat that decided to creep on my stomach! So I decided to try P90X Lean workouts in a really limited and modified way. But experienced physical setbacks, so I stepped back my workouts. Though I DID lose body fat and gained muscle back! I was encouraged.

2009 was the year of Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Trainer workouts for me. Some days I’d feel pretty good and get two or three 10 minute workouts in. Days when I didn’t feel “great”, I’d still get in a short workout. I ended the year having logged in 274 workout in the WOWY SuperGym. All year was about making the transition from being injured, to healing and recovering. Not pushing too hard, but not being lazy. I broke the goal I set for the number of Beachbody workouts in one year I would do.

So to say that I’m excited about 2010 and starting my P90X Lean workouts today and P90X this year is a bit of an understatement. My goal with P90X is to get back into the physical condition to play in disc golf tournaments without pain, to be able to run without pain and ultimately slash my body fat percentage into single digits. Learn more about what is P90X Lean.

My plan here is to post weekly updates on my P90X Lean workouts as well as my transformation pictures during this year of P90X. I also plan to submit my physical transformation story after each round of my P90X workouts for the Million Dollar Body Game. I may even record a video or two as I continue to document my journey of living the Beachbody home fitness lifestyle. We’ll see.

I’m pretty nervous to see how my body will respond to full blown workouts of the intensity of P90X workouts. But I think that nervousness is like the nervous feeling I’d get in the moments leading up to lining up in the starting blocks for my 200m and 400m races back in my sprinting days. Fired up and focused.

Well, I should wrap this post up. I’ve still got to finish my P90X workout requirements of taking my measurements, take my pictures and get out my body fat tester. And push play on my 1st P90X workout of the new year! Next week, I’ll post my 1st week of P90X Lean along with my Day 1 numbers so we can see where I end up on Day 90!

What do you plan to do for your health & fitness in 2010? Your feedback and encouragement is ALWAYS welcome!

Decide…Commit…Succeed!