Top 5 Reasons Wheatgrass is My Friend

I love the fact that there is a Jamba Juice on all my normal run-around-town-routes so I can get a shot or two of “green gold” or “pure liquid sunshine” as Jamba Juice calls it. According to our JJ friends and many other wheat grass fans, the reasons are numerous and all good. Here’s a few proported from our JJ neighbors about its benefits:

1.) Wheat grass helps cleanse & detoxify your blood

2.) Wheat grass helps make your skin look great

3. ) Wheat grass aids in digestion

4.) Wheat grass helps metabolize energy and fat

5.) Wheat grass helps bolster your immune system (it’s full of amino acids, vitamins, iron and vitamin K–necessray for clotting and studies show the green stuff fights free radicals, promotes better circulation, and gives you energy)

Now, I don’t always have the luxury of my fave shot o’ green, so if I am on the run from the house, I’ll make up my own little concoction added to a bottle of water, usually Now Chlorella 1000mg or Barley Grass, or Berry Green 360 grams. I’ll add a drop or two of green tea concentrate with stevia, shake it all up and do my body some good.  It’s not as good as the fresh stuff, but I swear I can tell which days I don’t do the “green”…seriously.  Aside from how it makes me feel, just knowing what wonderful goodness I am ingesting makes me happy.  Do you body good and go GREEN!    

This week’s installation on my favorite things is athletic skorts. What fun they are! They are great to work out in and go from gym to the grocery store. Plus, now there is such a great variety. They’re not just for tennis, anymore! For a great review and descriptions of what’s available, check out the article at Runners’ World . If you’d like to get some yourself, try these sites: www.skirtgoddess.com , or www.lululemon.com , or www.runningskirts.com, or www.skirtports.com . Enjoy!

Well, for me that’s easy. I love to eat…I wouldn’t dream of missing a meal because of the simple pleasure I get from eating! Having said that, the other reasons just fall in line…I know what happens to my body if I go without food for more than 3 hours. It’s not good (and a whole other blog or two!). So many folks skip breakfast because it’s an easier meal to skip and a cup o’ Joe can often make you “feel” like you’re doing fine without your morning meal. Not so fast, Joe. Think again.

Breakfast eaters are usually slimmer than their non-eating breakfast compadres. They tend to eat fewer calories in a day–believe it or not. Eating breakfast keeps your healthy and helps boost your immune system. It also is good for your brain power. You’ve seen the studies, right? Memory and brain function get a boost from breakfast. It’s not just something good to do for school age children. The same holds true for adults. Numerous tests have been performed in this area.

According to Men’s Health (one of my favorite sources!), “ A   typical breakfast is just a couple of hundred calories, mostly in the form of simple carbohydrates that spike blood-sugar levels and leave the body starving for energy a couple of hours later.

Even a classic fiber-rich breakfast- say a cup of raisin bran with blueberries and skim milk — provides less than 300 calories and only about 10 grams of protein. An ideal breakfast needs to be much larger — between 500 and 600 calories. And it needs to be packed with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, including at least 20 grams of protein and at least 5 grams of fiber. That will give your body a high-quality, long-lasting, steady supply of energy to help you through the morning.” And of course, this is directed to the gents, so ladies, our caloric needs are a tad less.

Here are 2 breakfast ideas the editors at Men’s Health (www.menshealth.com) shared:

Prep time: 4 minutes

2 slices whole-wheat bread

1/2 c Kashi Go Lean Crunch! cereal

1 c fat-free milk

1 c frozen blueberries

1 1-oz slice Cheddar cheese

Pop the bread into the toaster. Dump the cereal, milk, and berries into a blender and liquefy. Stick a slice of Cheddar between the warm slices of toast and nuke the sandwich in a microwave for 15 seconds. It tastes grilled — but isn’t.

Benefits: “The cheese and milk in this meal are essential for building and maintaining new muscle,” says Christine Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D., a professor of nutrition at Georgia State University. “The whole grains in the bread and cereal will help lower cholesterol, and the minerals in the milk and cheese will help keep blood-pressure levels down.”

Per meal: 509 calories, 26 grams (g) protein, 75 g carbohydrates, 14 g total fat, 12 g fiber

Grab-and-Go Breakfast

Prep time: 1 minute

1 medium apple

1/2 pint fat-free milk

1 bran Vita muffin

1 pack Skippy Squeeze Stix peanut butter

Slice the apple, grab the milk, muffin, and peanut butter, and go. Squeeze the peanut butter out of its pack onto your apple slices as you eat.

Benefits: Vita muffins (vitalicious.com) contain 100 percent of your recommended intake of several important nutrients, including vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, and E. Foods high in monounsaturated fats — like peanut butter — may boost testosterone levels. This meal should help you burn energy more efficiently and lift more weight at the gym.

Per meal: 506 calories, 20 g protein, 87 g carbohydrates, 12 g total fat,

ENJOY!! 

I’m a fan of David Allen (www.davidco.com ). The man is a master at time management and ways to make the most of your time. I completely agree with his suggestion to write your action plans out, COMPLETELY, so that your mind is free to focus wholly on the effort at hand. But, do you think we’ve now gotten to the point of too much agenda? I know for my ESTJ self, that can quite often be the case. I’ve been thinking about serendipity a lot lately. How in the world can we experience the pleasure of surprise, spontaneity, or fate if we’re too scheduled and just too doggone busy? I think we need to make a conscious effort to plan OPEN time to allow opportunities for enjoyable, pleasurable, non-structured activity. Or, maybe even trying something new. I bet some of your most precious memories to date are those things you didn’t expect or plan–paths crossing, or strangely wonderful, creative ideas. Lets face it, we all know that stress can lead to weakened immunity, anxiety,  depression or heart disease. It’s time to chunk the agenda out the window–at least for some part of your week and see what life throws your way.  I bet it will be an adventure!

In continuation of my weekly sharing of “a few of my favorite things”…this week’s discovery is something I am very excited about. Remember, I love to eat…! Well, I found a place that makes snack sized squeeze packets of peanut butter. Yep. Good ol’ transportable PB! Or Almond Butter –my personal fave. When I am home, I like to incorporate AB into snacks–typically on rice cakes (remember the almond butter with cacao nibs and aquave nectar recipe?) or with granny smith apples , celery, or added to my Greek yogurt. Well, now I can enjoy it at work or on the road. I found this place called Justin’s Nut Butter and you can buy small packs in the flavors of PB, Honey PB, Cinnamon PB, Almond Butter, Honey AB, or Maple Almond. They are USDA-certified organic and have no bad stuff in them. Yum. They don’t last long around my house.

Folks often ask me what and how I eat. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy eating! You’re not going to find me skipping meals. In fact, I typically eat 5-6 times a day. Now those are not full meals, but smaller “mini” meals or snacks in between meals. I find this keeps my energy strong throughout the day by preventing big swings in blood sugar levels.

A little something that I almost always have in the fridge is what I am sharing with you today. It’s super easy to make. You can eat it as is, as a dip, on top of rice cakes-chicken-fish-eggs, or rolled into a flour or corn tortilla! Plus, it’s quick to make and keeps for several days in the fridge.

1 can black beans

1 can chickpeas or white kidney beans

1 can rotel tomatoes

1 can corn

2 large avocados

Il rinse and drain all of the above, with the exception of the rotel tomatoes. That helps remove some of the excess salt. In fact, when possible, I buy organic salt free versions of the veggies. There is plenty of sodium in the tomatoes. Cut up the avocados into small chunks and mix it all together. If you really want to make it more “dip-like” go ahead and mash it up or use a food processor. I’m not big on “kitchen-time” so I usually leave it as is.

That’s all there is to it. Quick and easy. AND, healthy for you. You will get a wonderful source of protein, fiber and complex carbohydrates. Try it and let me know what healthy recipes you have to share. Especially if they prep time takes < 5 minutes.

EAT REAL (real food, that is) and stay strong!

Lisa

You’ve got to love plyometrics. The exercises are simple, you just use your bodyweight in most cases, and you can perform them anywhere. They’re explosive movements and can be very high-intensity. Please don’t attempt plyometrics if you are injured, healing from an injury or are overtrained. Plyometrics can be very effective to your training routine so long as the exercises are done correctly, with safety and injury prevention as your primary concerns. 

So, how do they work?  Well, plyometric drills/exercises excite the elastic component of the muscles so that the muscles are trained to react powerfully and explosively. By performing upper and body plyometrics several times per week, upper and lower body power has been shown to dramatically improve power and performance.  Usually, you see them incorporated into agility type of training, like in football. However, they are making their way into mainstream training. If you try them, you will see why.

My favorites are the jump squat, box jump/step down, plank walk (up and down on bosu ball, block, or stairs), and the jump lunge. They totally kick my butt. The goal is to perform them for 30-60 seconds.  For a couple illustrations on execution, take a look at these videos on You Tube:

YouTube Video #1

YouTube Video #2

YouTube Video #3 (if you can stand the music selection, you will see a decent workout example!)

     Remember, it is important to alternate upper and lower body plyometric exercises with weight lifting so that both the upper and lower body do not get overworked on a given day.   Good luck and GET STRONG!