Delicious Low Fat Recipes for Slow Oxidizers!

Here are some delicious low fat recipes for slow oxidizers, also check out lowfat recipes at diet.com and here are some great recipes for vegetarians, organic cooking, and Low Carb Recipes.

Balsamic-Glazed Chicken and Bell Pepper Sandwiches

6 servings (serving size: 2 wedges)

Balsamic vinegar cooks down to a glaze that clings to the sandwich fillings, adding a hint of sweetness and a touch of acidity.  Pressing the sandwich after assembling it conducts the heat from the check to the cooked vegetables and melts the cheese.

Ingredients

4 teaspoons olive oil, divided in half

1 1/4 pounds skinless chicken breast, tenderized

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, divided in half

2 cups red bell pepper strips (about 2 medium peppers)

2 cups vertically sliced onion (about 1 large onion)

2 (8-ounce) focaccia bread rounds, cut in half horizontally

4 ounces reduced-fat provolone cheese, thinly sliced

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken to pan; cook 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned. Add 1/4 cup vinegar; cook 2 minutes or until chicken is done and vinegar is syrupy. Remove chicken mixture from the pan; cover and keep warm. Wipe pan clean with a paper towel.

Return pan to medium-high heat; add remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Add bell pepper and onion; sauté 7 minutes or until tender. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 cup vinegar; cook 1 minute or until vinegar is syrupy.

Arrange chicken mixture evenly over bottom halves of bread; top with bell pepper mixture. Arrange cheese over pepper mixture, and sprinkle with black pepper. Top with top halves of bread. Place a cast-iron or heavy skillet on top of sandwiches; let stand 5 minutes. Cut each sandwich into 6 wedges.

Nutritional Info:CALORIES 403; FAT 9.4g; CARBOHYDRATE 49g; SODIUM 259 mg; PROTEIN 34g; FIBER 1.9g

Ginger-Lime Swordfish

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 teaspoons grated lime zest

½ cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)

¼ cup honey

2 tablespoons ground ginger or 2 teaspoons fresh, minced

2 tablespoons minced green onion

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons minced garlic

4 (6-ounce) swordfish steaks (about ¾ inch thick)

Cooking spray

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Preheat broiler to high

Combine first 7 ingredients in a small saucepan. Dip each steak into the lime mixture to coat.

Place fish on a broiling pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with black pepper. Broil 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

While fish cooks, place lime juice mixture over medium heat; cook until reduced by half (about 8 minutes). Serve sauce with fish.

Nutritional Info:CALORIES 235); FAT 5.2 g; CARBOHYDRATE 22g; SODIUM 297 mg; PROTEIN 34g; FIBER 1.3 g

Source: Jillian Michaels, “Making the Cut”

How I lost 20 pounds in 90 days!

ATTRACT YOUR DREAM BODY NOW

If you are trying to lose weight and are having a difficult time I am here to help you! I committed myself to losing weight and it has changed my life dramatically!  While on my weight loss journey, I not only wanted to lose weight but I also wanted to improve my inner self.  I found myself constantly stressing out which lead to negative thinking, doubt, and fear.  My mind was always mixing undesirable thoughts with my hopes and dreams.  I finally said enough, I really wanted to remove all that negative energy.  I started reading a lot of spiritual books and learning more about the law of attraction.

I’m sure you all have heard of the law of attraction, whether you believe in it or not.  I do believe it can turn someone’s life around and help them remove their negative thinking and help put positive energy into achieving their dreams.  I also believe that if you really want something bad enough you can have it, as long as you don’t let your doubt and fears get in the way.  The law of attraction really helped me and continues to help me daily, it is great for weight loss.  It helped me turn my doubts and fears into positive thinking.   For example, when I wanted to eat something fattening or felt too lazy to work out, I would meditate, write affirmations, picture how I would look with the perfect body. You can also try weight loss hypothesis if you are still having problems reaching your goals.

I also joined a lot of weight loss programs such as diet.com and weight loss for idiots, this kept me motivated, educated me on trying new exercise and healthy recipes!

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom, so get in touch with your inner self and start improving your life! Remember you create your own life and you can make anything happen if you want it bad enough!

Lose Weight by Eating for your Metabolic Type

The best way to lose weight is to figure out your unique body type and metabolic makeup (are you a fast, slow, or balanced oxidizer?) and customize a diet plan that is perfect for you.

Take this online Metabolic Typing Test (click here) to figure out your perfect diet plan for weight loss success. After you have figured out your metabolic type and the food your body needs to lose weight, check out diet.com for recipes.  This site has really helped me lose weight by keeping my motivated.

Carbo type (Slow Oxidizers): require a higher percentage of carbohydrates than of fat and protein, both to lose weight and to feel both physically and mentally energized. (60% Carbs, 25% protein, 15% fat)

Mixed Type (Balanced Oxidizers): require an equal percentage of carbohydrates, fat, and protein and have the capacity to do well on the widest range of foods.(40% Carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat)

Protein Type (Fast Oxidizers): require a higher percentage of protein and fat than of carbohydrates.  Fast oxidizers should have protein in every meal, including snacks. (30% Carbs, 40% protein, 30% fat)

Food Choices for Carbo Type/Slow Oxidizers: Avoid high-purine and high-fat proteins it slows down your oxidation rate, which is the worst thing for slow oxidizers. Eat low-purine proteins, which are low in fat.

• Protein: Catfish, cod, egg whites, flounder, lean pork, low-fat cheese, low-fat cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt, perch, skim milk, sold, swordfish, tempeh, tofu, trout, turkey breasts, white meat chicken, white tuna.

• Carbs: Stay away from high glycemic load foods, limit starchy carbs, stay away from refined sugars and processed grains, especially when trying to lose weight.
• Low Starch Veggies: asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, dark leafy greens, garlic, mushrooms, onion, spinach, tomato
• Moderate Starch: Beets, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini
• Fruits: Apple, apricots, berries, cherry, peach, pear, plum, tropical fruits
• Grains: Barley, brown rice, buckwheat, corn, couscous, kasha, oat, quinoa, rice, rye
• Legumes: beans, peas, lentils (eat sparingly 2x a week at most b/c they are high in purines).

• Fats and oils: Be sparing with nuts raw and unsalted only. Stay away from animal fats, use vegetable or nut oils such as almond, coconut, flax, olive, peanut, sunflower seed, and walnut

Mixed Type (Balanced Oxidizers): Eat a good mix of high-fat, high-purine proteins and low-fat, low-purine proteins  Purines are natural substances found in our body that help cellular regeneration, but all metabolize purines differently.

• Protein: High Purine Protein: anchovies, herring, mussels, sardines, liver
• Moderate Purine: bacon, beef, dark meat chicken, dark tuna, dark meat turkey, duck, eggs, lamb, octopus, oysters, regular-fat cheeses, salmon, scallops, shellfish, spare ribs, wild game.
• Low Purine: Catfish, cod, egg whites, flounder, lean pork, low-fat cheese, low-fat cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt, perch, skim milk, sold, swordfish, tempeh, tofu, trout, turkey breasts, white meat chicken, white tuna.
• Avoid: overcooking meat, the heat destroys essential amino acids and valuable enzymes. Medium-rare to medium and no more done than that.

• Carbs: Limit high Gylcemic Load foods, starchy carbs, refined sugars, and processed grains.
• Low Starch Veggies: asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, dark leafy greens, garlic, mushrooms, onion, spinach, tomato
• Moderate Starch: Beets, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini
• Fruits: Apple, apricot, berries, cherries, citrus, peach, pear, plum, tropical fruits
• Grains: Barley, brown rice, buckwheat, corn, couscous, kasha, millet, oat, rice, rye
• Legumes: Beans (lentils, runner, lima, peas, and chickpeas) all should be fresh not dried.

• Fats and oils: Nuts and Seeds: Almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, coconut, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts, sunflower seeds
• Oils: Almond, butter, canola, coconut, cream, flax, olive, peanut, sesame, sunflower, walnut

Fast Oxidizers: People who have had success on Atkins-type diets are usually fast oxidizers. Best proteins are high-purine proteins, which are found in fattier meats.

• Protein: High Purine: anchovies, herring, mussels, sardines, liver
• Moderate Purine: beef, bacon, dark meat chicken, dark tuna, dark meat turkey, duck, lamb, octopus, squid, oysters, regular-fat cheeses, salmon, scallops, shellfish, spare ribs, veal, wild game.
• Low purine: cottage cheese, milk, yogurt, eggs, cheese

• Carbs: It’s best to limit your carb intake.  You should have nonstarchy vegetables as your main source of carbohydrates.
• Vegetables: Asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, dark leafy greens, eggplant, leeks, lettuce, mushrooms, peppers, spinach, zucchini
• Fruits: Apple (in limited amounts and not without protein), avocado, olives, pear (in limited amounts and not without protein)
• Breads: Sprouted-grains only (Ezekiel is a great brand)
• Legumes: Edamame, tempeh, tofu

• Fats and Oils: Nuts and seeds: Almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, coconut, filberts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts
• Oils: Almond, butter, canola, coconut, cream, flax, olive, peanut, sesame, sunflower, walnut
• Avoid: Never eat a meal that is mainly carbohydrates and avoid all trans fats.

Source: Jillian Michaels, "Making the Cut"

Weight Loss Tips! How to control your binge eating!

For some reason, when people diet they allow their binge eating or the deliciously fattening double cheese burger they ate for dinner get the best of them.  People have a tendency to feel guilty and give up because of that ONE slip up.  Don’t let the double cheese burger or the day when you eat everything in sight affect your weight loss journey to success!  We all have bad days where we eat things we wished we hadn’t.  Don’t agonize about it, one or two days will not affect you it’s when you let those days be the reason you stopped trying to lose weight, don’t give up.

Click on this image and see your virtual weight loss

This is what helps me deal with cravings and bad days.

Most important: Put your bad day behind you and wake up the next morning on a clean slate ready to continue healthy habits.

DON’T DIET: that only leads to binge eating and deprives your body leading to undesirable cravings.   Look at my 3-hour meal plan, it helps prevent overeating.

Cravings: I like to work out, read a book, or do something that will keep my mind of it.  Working out really suppresses my cravings!I also like to watch motivational speakers on youtube when I’m feeling down.

Meditate: it really helps clear my mind and generates positive thinking.  There are a lot of meditations for weight control, weight loss, and health—try to find a guided meditation.

Journal: Use a journal to express your feelings-let it be your friend and turn to it whenever you feel depressed, sad, vulnerable, guilty, angry, and lonely. Write your goals, progress, and lose weight affirmations.

Examples of good affirmations are the following:

• Every day I am growing healthier and more attractive
• Everything I do adds to my health and beauty
• Everything I eat adds to my health, beauty, and attractiveness
• I am now slender, strong, and in perfect condition no matter what I do

Check out this inspirational video at youtube.com (I tried to put it into the blog but it wasn’t showing up)

THINK POSITIVE, LOVE YOURSELF, PICTURE YOURSELF WITH YOUR DREAM BODY AND BELIEVE YOU CAN AND WILL ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS!

Favorite Low-fat chocolate treat!

This is one of my favorite things to eat when I crave chocolate.

Low-fat Chocolate treat

• 1 sugar free chocolate puddings (any of the chocolate puddings that are 60 calories)
• 1/2 a banana (strawberries and raspberries are also good)

Extra: Sometimes I add a handful of cereal to add a little crunch (Cinnamon Toast Crunch is really good in it)

It’s super easy and it’s a perfect low fat treat!

Look at diet.com for other healthy recipes

Delicious Low Fat Fruit Smoothie

While trying to lose weight by cutting back on my sweets I made a lot of fruit smoothies for a healthy treat.  They are low in calories, naturally sweet, and delicious!

Low Fat Fruit Smoothie Recipe:

• 1/2 banana
• 1 Dannon Light & Fit yogurt (only 60 calories–try blueberry, cherry, peach, strawberry)
• about 1 cup of frozen strawberries
• 3-4 slices of frozen peaches

This recipe makes about 2 cups and is approx. 165 calories and it is delicious!!  You don’t need to add milk or ice, the fresh banana and yogurt and frozen fruits is all you need to make everything blend together.  You can also try frozen mixed berries, rhubarb, raspberries, etc.  I like to get the frozen fruits that don’t have added sugar.

Check out diet.com for some great low fat recipes

Lost 20 pounds in 3 months using this exercise plan!

I recommend working out 3-5 days a week alternating cardio and circuit training. Check out www.diet.com for great workout videos that you can do at your own house.  I use these videos all the time, they really make me sweat.  I really like working out at my own house using Power 90, The Firm, and Billy Banks BootCamp!

Cardio: These workouts should be 30 min. to 45 min. long. The key to weight loss is muscle confusion using interval training: short, high-intensity cardio exercises. This allows you to burn more calories, increase your speed, and improve your endurance. For example, alternate 30 seconds of high intensity exercise (fast feet, jumping jacks, sprints, mountain climber) with 1 min. of low intensity (knee lifts, jogging, bunny hops). Use a mixture of plyometrics (jump-training), aerobic and anaerobic, kickboxing, and calisthenics (using body as resistance, no weights) exercises. 

Circuit Training: If you want to lose weight circuit training is crucial, it is the ultimate fat burning workout. It helps build lean muscle, increase strength and aerobic fitness. You will be doing these short exercises with no rest. Since muscle burns more calories than fat, circuit training is a most! Another benefit to circuit training is that it has an afterburn effect meaning you will continue to burn calories hours after your workout. Try these exercises: Side lung, jumping lung, crossover lung, squats, one-leg squat, sumo squat, push-ups, decline push-ups, dumbbell row, dumbbell press, dead lift, and dips (12-15 reps., 3 sets). Try mixing circuit training and cardio into one workout for a fat burning blast!

Check out this fat blasting working out video: Click Here

Lose weight eating good fats!

If you are trying to lose weight I recommend adding the fats below into your diet! Especially Omega 3!  Omega fats are important and help boost your metabolism, unlock fat cells so more fat is burned, and reduces your appetite naturally.  This website is great www.manageweightloss.com to help you make healthy food and lifestyle choices for you and your family.

Omega 3: The best form of fat, it helps your health, lean muscles, and waistline. Omega 3 is found in flax products, fatty cold water fish (salmon). Omega 3 is also known to help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer.

• Try: Fish Oil Vitamins 3x a day, it helps a healthy heart and suppresses your appetite naturally.
• Try: flaxseed oil—it is my favorite it supports muscle joints, shiny hair and strong nails, and beautiful skin.

Omega 6: Another form of fats are Omega 6’s (safflower oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, vegetable oil)

• Omega 3 and Omega 6 should be consumed equally–but most people tend to consume more Omega 6, which creates an imbalance in the body such as inflammation, swelling, water retention, and weight gain.  Eat these sparingly.  Eating Flax oil will help bring your body back to balance.

Omega 9: (olives, avocados, nuts, olive oil)

• Try: extra virgin oil

3-Hour Diet Plan for Weight Loss Success!

Before you begin your weight loss journey, I suggest keeping a fitness journal or binder to track your progress, share your emotions and any difficulties you may experience.  I like to cut out healthy recipes or exercises I find in magazines and keep them in my fitness binder, it allows me to mix up my routine and meals.  I also keep tract of my success online at www.diet.com

I recommend eating small meals every three hours, this increases the basal metabolic rate, increases energy levels, suppresses appetite-naturally, lowers cholesterol, reduces the hormone cortisol, and will prevent binge eating.

A sample lay out would look like this: 1,450 calories a day, you can alter the calories your body needs by figuring out your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

• Breakfast 7 am: (Eat from all food groups: protein, carbs, and fats) 400 calories
• Snack 10 am: one 100 calorie snack
• Lunch 1 pm: (Eat from all food groups: protein, carbs, and fats) 400 calories
• Snack 4 pm: one 100 calorie snack
• Dinner 7 pm: (Eat from all food groups: protein, carbs, and fats) 400 calories
• Treat after dinner or 3 hours before you go to bed: 50 calorie treat

Hey Everyone! Welcome to my Fitness Blog!

Join me on my weight loss journey!

A few months ago, through dedication and determination I achieved my weight loss goal by incorporating fitness and healthy eating habits into my life. I lost 20 pounds and 24 inches off my body in 90 days. I have always hated working out and going to the gym, but I have changed my way of living and I finally love working out.  I hope that I motivate other people that want to lose weight.  My goal for this blog is to share my fitness routine and give you health tips so you can achieve your fitness goal too!  I will be adding blogs all week sharing my tips for long term weight loss success, so make sure you come back!

Check out www.diet.com, it really helped me through my weight loss journey, it has really good exercise videos, tips, and nutrition facts!