Jun

Apps Are So Out

I know, I know… Apps are the next “It” thing if you are in business. But I am proposing that you NOT carry your cell phone everywhere you go. And hey, especially when you are exercising. Because, if anything, exercise is your hour to yourself everyday. And it should be peaceful and quiet and you shouldn’t have emails buzzing and text messages being sent and you shouldn’t be looking at yet another florescent screen just to follow an exercise routine. No, I’m thinking all you need is your eyes, your ears, your heart, your arms and legs to carry out the most physical part of your day. Forget technology, get in touch with something even more intelligent and complex–your body.

So I’m developing a CoreFit Deck that you can take with you. Get the first of these workouts here and print out so you can just grab them and go to the gym. In fact, why not just take a few in your gym back so all you have to do is follow the pictures and do the routine. Simple. And it won’t even show up on your data usage.

May

Plastics Chemical Tied to Increased Blood Pressure

By Shayna Robinson, MSPT, PhD

There’s a new blood pressure trigger in town, folks.

Thought if you exercised and ate right you could prevent heart disease? Turns out research is piling up against more chemicals found in plastics. The latest study adds further credence to a growing concern that plastic chemicals not only throw off hormones and cause obesity but also cause oxidative stress internally on major organs within the body.

Researchers from New York University’s Langone Medical Center, the University of Washington, and the Penn State School of Medicine recently made a first-of-its kind connection between phthalates, a common chemical used to soften plastic, and higher blood pressure in children and teens. The study appeared in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Similarly, BPA has been shown to trigger abnormal heart rhythms.

9 Ways to Dodge Phthalates (DEHP):

Feb

The Power Poses

We know our minds change our bodies. But do our bodies change our minds?

Powerful people typically are assertive, confidant, optimistic, risk takers, tend to think more abstractly. Physiologically they have more testosterone (dominance hormone) and less cortisol (stress hormone). High power alpha males in nature have high testosterone and low cortisol and powerful and effective leaders also have high testosterone and low cortisol.

Amy Cuddy describes her 2 min experiment;

“this is what we did; we decided to bring people into a blast and ronaldo experiment and these people adopted for two minutes either high-power opposes or low-power poses.”

The results

High Power Poses produced a 20% increase in testosterone (dominance hormone) and a 25% decrease in cortisol (stress hormone).

Low Power Poses produced a 10% decrease in testosterone (dominance hormone) and a 15% decrease in cortisol (stress hormone).

Simply expanding your body for two minutes produces very significant increases in your hormonal levels. These hormones are the same hormones that drive our confidence and our success in many cases. Amy Cuddy makes a strong case for the body’s ability to influence the way we think. Simply faking a motion for two minutes can convince you that you do belong, you can be successful and that you are powerful.

Feb

The Heart Loves Yoga

Yoga for Atrial Fibrillation

The first ever yoga study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found yoga to be a safe, effective and relatively cheap therapy for improving the lives of heart patients.

The study conducted by The University of Kansas Hospital found that,

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Feb

Bone Mineral Density and The Athlete

Start thinking about Bone Mineral Density. It’s an important factor in injury prevention, now and in your future health–and it’s cumulative. That means if you’re an athlete and aren’t getting the proper nutrition, rest and relaxation your body needs now, you’re setting your body up for failure later.

Bone Mineral Density is a cumulative history of energy availability, hormonal fluctuations, genetics, good nutrition, behaviors and environmental factors. As you get older, bone mineral density falls as our muscular infrastructure changes. When you do damage to your body, by starving/binging yourself, exercising too hard, not getting enough sleep and allowing stress to become a regular component in your life, you seriously alter your future body.

Jan

The Kick Ass Diet

Your fat cells won’t ever go away (without lipo anyways), but cellulite (the matrix that holds your fat cells together) can be reduced by how much you diet and exercise. Fat cells shrink and expand depending on how much fat you are taking in, so if you reduce the fat in your diet, they will shrink and will not be held taut against the cellulite matrix.

Siggi’s is one of my favorite diet secrets. I use it in the afternoon for a boost at lunch. With only 100 cals and 14 grams of protein, this is one of the highest non-synthetic forms of pure protein out there.

100 cals, 0 g fat, 11 carbs, 14g protein
all natural milk from grass fed cows
no aspartame, sucralose, gelatin, artificial color, preservatives, or high fructose corn syrup
Milk produced without the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone

Stay tuned for a CoreFit book of health & wellness which includes meditation, workouts, nutrition plans and mental health awareness. Basically my secrets to staying young and fresh and most important healthy–leading a Kick Ass Life.

Jan

Low Carb Clementine Almond Cake

This whole clementine cake is a classic Sicilian recipe, which I adapted from a book by Nigella Lawson. This cake is made using whole clementines that have been boiled until tender, then pureed into a smooth, intoxicatingly flavored paste.

Since it is flourless it’s easy to make this low carb by baking with natural sweetners. The low carb recipe is by Alejandra Ramos of Always Order Dessert.

Flourless Clementine Almond Cake Recipe
Adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients
4 clementines (about 13 oz)
6 large eggs
1/2 cup erythritol + 1/2 cup granulated Splenda (OR) 1 cup granulated white sugar
2 1/4 cups of ground almond meal (or 9oz of almonds finely ground)
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

Directions
Place the clementines in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let simmer 1 1/2 hours, until very tender. Remove from water, then chop and remove seeds. Add the remaining boiled clementine (everything but the pits) to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and line a springform baking pan (this is a sticky cake; you NEED a springform pan).

In a mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs for 5 minutes until very light and frothy. Add the sweetener or sugar, ground almonds, almond extract, salt, and baking powder and beat again for 5 more minutes until very light. Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake 50 minutes to 1 hour or until set. Let cool in the pan, then unmold and serve.
Low Carb Note: Using the mix of sweeteners that I used, the cake works out to about 9g of net carbs per serving, which is fantastic. (The cake has 10 servings.)

Jan

You are Beautiful

It doesn’t look like a chiseled Ryan Gosling or a Victoria Secret runway model. Still it’s beautiful, no?

This is the velella (Velella Velella), a small free floating hydrozoan. It’s currently the only known species in the genus.
They’re also known as sea-rafts or by-the-wind-sailors, for the obvious reason that it uses the the “sail” you can see in this image for locomotion. Because of this, they are often found washed up on beaches.

Jan

CoreFit Healthy Diet

The CoreFit healthy diet… Eating real food. Balancing out your vices with your good choices. Not pretending you need to eat perfectly every second of the day. Giving yourself a break, mentally and physically. Reiterating that food is nourishment for this icy cold day.

-Shayna

Herbs De Provence Roast Chicken

1 Whole Roasting Chicken

1 lb Whole Organic Carrots, sliced big and chunky

1 lb Whole Organic Celery, sliced in 2-3in segments

2-4 Organic Yellow Onions, peeled and roughly sliced

2-4 Cloves Organic Garlic

2tbsp Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a roasting pan place washed chicken, breast side up, pat with paper towels to dry and cover with 2tbsp olive oil. Massage in and cover chicken. Sprinkle herbs de provence over chicken and salt and pepper. Place cut veggies in and around chicken. Throw in the over for 1-2hrs, 20min/lb.

Use leftover chicken and bones to make chicken soup tomorrow!

Nov

Clock Work: The Perfect Fit Day

If you spend an hour a day at the gym and 23 hours dedicated to undoing all that good, you haven’t really made any leeway in the general direction of health. Consider this, the more you indulge your body in the little healthy maneuvers, the easier it will be at the gym. Check out The Perfect Fit Day and try your hand at a little clock work.

8am: Get 8 hours of sleep! Seriously. No I am not kidding. Sleep is one of the most under-utilized methods in training, mostly because you think you are some kind of robot that doesn’t need it. But guess what? Sleep is integral to reducing stress, losing weight and recuperating from the beating you gave your bod the day before.

8:30am: Have breakfast! A big one. Your diet should actually flow the opposite way you are probably used to; biggest meal is brekkie, lunch is second, dinner should be an afterthought. It preps your body for optimal calorie expenditure. Along with breakfast have a cup of coffee–the caffeine jolt amps up your metabolism.

9am: Don’t hang out by the coffee maker chatting, head over to the H20. Ideally you should be drinking half your body weight in ounces of water. Water flushes your system of toxins and hydrates you so you have more energy and as a bonus, you’ll feel more full.

11am: Get up and stretch for a minute. Stretching increases circulation in your body, allowing it to repair itself. Also, drink more H20!

12pm: Lunch! Make sure it’s healthy–something full of good fats (grilled salmon) and antioxidants (spinach). Your midday meal is when you should be taking in lots of leafy greens and bright colored veggies. And don’t wash it down with an alcoholic drink–opt for more H20.

3pm: More stretching and physical activity. Most people are the most productive during the stretch from lunch to 3pm, but this is prime time for your body to digest and utilize those cals. If you are on a roll with whatever you are doing, be a good example to those around you and make sure to get up every 30 minutes or so and stretch/move around a bit.

6pm: If you haven’t already worked out in the morning, this is your last opportunity to get a good 30-60min of physical activity in. I suggest working out in the morning is probably the best time to burn some energy, but anytime you can find the time to be physically active is the right way to judge what’s best for you. Try sprinting on the treadmill, pushups, crunches, planks, lunges, step ups, presses, and squats. These are all exercises that will keep your whole body injury-free.

Tagged with womens health …

Yoga for Atrial Fibrillation