FAQ: Can you make me look like this?

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So I hear it all the time and get pics like this one sent to me by clients saying, I want this butt. What most, if not all, these pics don’t show you is the kind of work that went into it. Most everyday person (man or woman) go in the gym and give marginal effort expecting maximum result. Then they go home and eat a meal which they have no clue what they’re eating, how much they’re eating and the effect it will have on that workout they just did.

All these people in any of these pics (not counting genetic freaks or ex athletes that have muscle memory) have done some serious training and do gain/cut seasons many times to achieve these looks.

Luckily, you too can maximize your body. My answer always is the same, “I can’t promise you that butt, but I can promise to show you how to MAXIMIZE your BODY to it’s potential.” Whatever your genetic disposition is… that’s what your butt will be. Yes there are secrets and exercise that isolate the glutes, but generally it’s a formula which differs from person to person. Soon I’ll be discussing the next question once I explain all this …which is … “Will I get all muscular? I don’t wanna be big!”

Contact us for more info. If don’t hear back within a couple of days, text or call.

Check This Yummy From hello healthy

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Mason Jar Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

for the salad dressing:

  • 1/2 cup (125 grams) Greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 1/2 cup (8 grams) cilantro
  • 1 lime (65 grams), juiced
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin

for the salad

  • 2 cups (370 grams) cooked quinoa (certified gluten-free if necessary)
  • 1 cup (195 grams) black beans (certified gluten-free if necessary)
  • 1 cup (170 grams) corn (certified gluten-free if necessary)
  • 4 cups spinach
  • 1 cup (30 grams) sliced tomatoes
  • 2 medium (200 grams each) avocados, diced

Directions

To make the dressing, place all ingredients for the salad dressing into a small food processor and process until smooth.

Add 3 tablespoons of salad dressing to the mason jar base. Then add the following ingredients in this order: 1 cup spinach, 1/4 cup tomatoes, 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, 1/4 cup black beans, 1/4 cup corn and 1/2 avocado (diced).

Nutrition Information

Serves: 4 |  Serving Size: 1 mason jar salad

Per serving: Calories: 393; Total Fat: 21g; Saturated Fat: 3g; Monounsaturated Fat: 6g; Cholesterol: 1mg; Sodium: 244mg; Carbohydrate: 52g; Dietary Fiber: 14g; Sugar: 4g; Protein: 14g

Nutrition Bonus: Potassium: 709mg; Iron: 29%; Vitamin A: 137%; Vitamin C: 50%; Calcium: 11%

Something We Should All Know Yet …

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From Everyday Health:

If you knew that a certain type of exercise could benefit your heart, improve your balance, strengthen your bones, and help you lose weight as it made you look and feel better, wouldn’t you want to get started? Well, studies show that strength training can do all of that and more. Strength training is not just about bodybuilders lifting weights in a gym. It can benefit people of all ages and may be particularly important for people with health issues such as arthritis or a heart condition.

Strength Training: The Benefits

Yes, strength training will add definition to your muscles and give men and women alike more fit and toned bodies. But working out with weights does so much more:

1. Strength training helps keep the weight off for good.

Not only does strength training aid in shedding pounds, it helps maintain weight loss, too. A recent study revealed that women who followed a weight-training routine 3 times a week increased the amount of calories burned in normal daily activity (in addition to those burned during exercise), helping them to maintain their current weight.

2. Strength training protects bone health and muscle mass.

After puberty, whether you are a man or a woman, you begin to lose about 1 percent of your bone and muscle strength every year. “One of the best ways to stop, prevent, and even reverse bone and muscle loss is to add strength training to your workouts,” advises Troy Tuttle, MS, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston.”

3. Strength training makes you stronger and fitter.

Strength training is also called resistance training because it involves strengthening and toning your muscles by contracting them against a resisting force. There are two types of resistance training:

  • Isometric resistance involves contracting your muscles against a non-moving object, such as against the floor in a push-up.
  • Isotonic strength training involves contracting your muscles through a range of motion as in weight lifting.

Both make you stronger and can get you into better shape. Remember that with strength training your muscles need time to recover, so it should only be done on alternate days. Always take some time to warm up and cool down after strength training.

4. Strength training helps you develop better body mechanics.

Strength training has benefits that go well beyond the appearance of nicely toned muscles. Your balance and coordination will improve, as will your posture. More importantly, if you have poor flexibility and balance, strength training can reduce your risk of falling by as much as 40 percent, a crucial benefit, especially as you get older.

5. Strength training plays a role in disease prevention.

Studies have documented the many wellness benefits of strength training. If you have arthritis, strength training can be as effective as medication in decreasing arthritis pain. Strength training can help post-menopausal women increase their bone density and reduce the risk of bone fractures. And for the 14 million Americans with type 2 diabetes, strength training along with other healthy lifestyle changes can help improve glucose control.

6. Strength training boosts energy levels and improves your mood.

Strength training will elevate your level of endorphins (natural opiates produced by the brain), which will make you feel great. As if that isn’t enough to convince you, strength training has also been shown to be a great antidepressant, to help you sleep better, and to improve your overall quality of life.

7. Strength training translates to more calories burned.

You burn calories during strength training, and your body continues to burn calories after strength training, a process called “physiologic homework.” More calories are used to make and maintain muscle than fat, and in fact strength training can boost your metabolism by 15 percent — that can really jumpstart a weight loss plan.

Strength Training: Getting Started

“Please don’t limit yourself to thinking that lifting weights, expensive machines, or gym membership is the only way to do strength training,” says Tuttle. “Pushups, jump squats, lunges, and mountain climbing are all examples of exercises that provide strength training.”

If you have any health issues, ask your doctor what type of strength training is best to meet your needs and abilities. You can also work with a fitness expert to design a strength-training program that will be safe and effective for you.

Who doesn’t want to look better, feel better, and live a longer, healthier life? So what are you waiting for? Get started now with a complete workout program that includes strength training.

Food For Thought

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Here is a nice article I read to remind us all that we still should try to do a little research and stay somewhat informed, although we try to eat clean.

 

‘Let food be the medicine, and medicine be the food,” Hippocrates.

People are learning from alternative media and taking nutrition education into their own hands, and doctors have become less and less trustworthy in the mainstream notions.

Most doctors are trained in diagnosing diseases and various ailments, pharmacology and working with specialists to send patients to the right one.

The Big Q: what about good, healthy nutrition?

According to a Y 2010 study, doctors have a long way to go despite public perception that they are authorities or even experts in this field.

Nutrition education in US medical schools was deemed “inadequate” according to a Y 2010 study from University of North Carolina Department of Nutrition Research Associate Kelly Adams and her colleagues, which was published in the journal ‘Academic Medicine.’

As of Y 2004, less than 50% of all US medical schools required the 25-hr nutrition instruction amount recommended in Y 1985 by the National Academy of Sciences, according to a survey published by Ms. Adams‘ team in the US National Library of Medicine.

In Y 2009, just 27% of the schools met the minimum standard of nutrition training

Medical doctors receive an average of just 19 hrs of total nutrition education in medical school, down from Ms. Adams and her team’s Y 2004 study that found an average of 22.3 hrs.

Medical doctors overall do not have adequate education on nutrition.

An April 2008 study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition uncovered evidence demonstrating the lack of confidence many physicians have with their own knowledge of nutrition: a survey of 61 doctors in internal medicine found that just 14% of them felt like they were adequately trained to provide nutrition counseling, despite the fact that 94% said that it was their obligation to discuss nutrition with their patients.

Many holistic health journalists note that the doctors they have interviewed have often told them that their amount of nutritional training in college is far too low.

Because mainstream doctors are not always able to provide the type of nuanced and well-researched nutrition information patients need, many of them turn to registered dietitians for help.

There is a major problem with that approach.

The largest organization of food and nutrition professionals in the world, one that is highly influential in the United States, is sponsored by many of the worst junk food possessors in the world.

Surprised?

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, continues to list the following companies as its corporate sponsors: the National Dairy Council, something called the “Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness” which was created by Coca Cola (NYSE:KO), Kellogg’s (NYSE:K), General Mills (NYSE:GIS), Soyjoy, and Unilever (NYSE:UL).

The Dairy Council is the major supporter of pasteurized, hormone and antibiotic-laden milk from cows that consume an unnatural diet of GMOs.

Soyjoy is a seller of what are almost certainly products made with GMO soy using toxic extraction processes.

Kellogg’s is a major supporter of GMOs and a company that has been the target of widespread consumer boycotts.

Coca Cola’s credentials in the world of nutrition are not good at all.

Unilever produces chemical and GMO-laced foods.

General Mills recently lobbied to have GMOs classified as natural by the FDA.

Each one of the above companies is the antithesis of good, non-toxic nutrition and that many of them are shining examples of the profit-over-health model that has doomed millions of Americans to sickness and disease, facts that many doctors choose to ignore.

Considering the influence the these sponsors have over many dieticians, would you really trust them to prescribe the proper diet over an independent health coach for example that is not beholden to such corporate sponsors? No.

Many people are not getting healthy, or happy in the United States, they are just managing their symptoms with dangerous drugs that only exasperate problems down and often lead to disaster that are reported daily but not attributed to pharmacology.

Now there is a growing movement for people to take matters into their own hands and ignore the “experts.”

Thomas Edison said, “The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.”

Prevention and cures through solid nutrition therapies are attainable, and there is no reason why doctors cannot begin working them in more often.

And the medical protocols of the West should be used to create a system that is outstanding at healing both short and long-term.

Solving this major health problem begins with admitting there is a problem, and realizing that the experts and authority figures in the West’s healthcare system are not the last world when it comes to sound advice, especially since they most often ignore the problems caused by GMOs and chemicals in our food supply.

It is up to the consumer to do the research and make the right choices while the system corrects itself from the imbalances it has created over the past 40 odd years.

Educated people have the power, they must trust in it.  If you need good nutritional advice choose an integrative, holistic physician for assistance.

Eat healthy, Be healthy and happy.

HeffX-LTN

Paul Ebeling

What We Eat/ Supplements

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As some of you know the supplement/multivitamin industry is very confusing and controversial. Which one? What do they do? Is it really helping? My big kicker is, does it really have the amount of vitamins or minerals it says it has? Supplements are allowed to have fillers, I don’t want fillers! All these pills can be hard on kidneys and livers. With some good health habits, like getting proper amount of sunlight etc and eating colorful salads/veggies/ some fruits and making green smoothies (which I’ve mentioned here before) I’ve maintained a healthier level blood work without using all the vitamins and supplements I used to take. There is a huge movement that we should be eating whole or real food as opposed to processed or made in a lab. I’m not discounting all vitamin use as I’m sure there are those that are good products plus there are people that have successfully used them. With that said, in this pic I know exactly what I’m putting in my body and the effects to expect from it. Like always, if any questions …

How Stretching Can Improve Flexibility and Health

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How flexible are you? If you’re unsure, just try leaning over and touching your toes. As a physican and martial arts practitioner, I see the good and bad effects of stretching. There are many good reasons to stretch, especially for those who want to age gracefully, because improving physical condition inside the body also shows on the outside. As we age, our muscles tighten and range of motion in the joints can decrease. This can put a damper on active lifestyles and even hinder day-to-day, normal movements. Stretching can help improve flexibility. Better flexibility may improve your performance in physical activities or decrease your risk of injuries by helping your joints move through their full range of motion. Many people don’t know that muscle type influences flexibility.

I’ve noticed throughout my years of medical training and practice that most people pay more attention to stretching their legs and hamstrings than to any other muscle group. You might try on rare occasions to stretch your biceps, chest muscles or shoulders, but I’m willing to wager that, like most people, you spend more time stretching your legs, if you stretch at all. The attention to legs and hamstrings isn’t surprising, since sitting in chairs — which we tend to do for too many hours — shortens and stiffens the muscles in your legs.

Many people want to be able to touch their toes, and it’s a good instinct. Medically speaking, if you’re suffering from back pain, being able to bring your legs up to a 90-degree angle when you’re lying down is a signal that you’re in pretty good shape regarding flexibility. Your nerves and muscles are most likely fine. If you happen to be unable to stretch your legs up to 90 degrees, your caregivers may take it as a sign that more diagnosis may be necessary.

To put it somewhat simplistically, there are generally two types of people with regards to flexibility — those who have it and those who don’t, and muscle type has a lot to do with it.

If you lack flexibility
There may be many reasons for this, but the most common cause is short, wide muscles. Those with this muscle type who are not as limber as others have their work cut out for them, but tight muscles feel much better after moderate stretching. Reduced muscle tension that results from stretching improves range of joint movement and muscle coordination, and increases blood circulation that produces higher energy levels. People in this group have to consistently stretch to prevent the physiologic loss of flexibility that comes with age. The more frequently you stretch, the more quickly you will gain flexibility, though big changes take time. After every exercise session, try to stretch your arms, your back from the base of your neck to the top of your sacrum and your legs from toes to hips. If you don’t exercise, stretch at least three or four times a week. Do each stretch to the point of “mild discomfort,” and hold each stretch for 10-30 seconds.

If you are flexible or hyperflexible
You might have long, thin muscles or just be a naturally flexible person. Generally maintaining appropriate flexibility and range of motion in joints is good for people of any muscle type. However, those who fall into this category need to be extra vigilant. Over-stretching can cause muscle and/or tendon strain, most commonly in the neck, shoulder, hips, legs and back. Less commonly, subluxation/dislocation of joints can occur. For those who are extremely flexible, over-stretching is a huge temptation. You sometimes may want to push beyond what you can do. You will have to use reason and common sense. If you feel pain, damage may already have been done.

The rules of stretching are basic. If it hurts, you’ve gone too far. Everyone who stretches should be careful not to stretch to the point of even moderate pain. Be careful not to stretch a muscle beyond its natural range, which you can see and feel. Breathe while stretching, so as not to deprive your muscles of the oxygen they need — never bounce.

Medicines
Use extra caution when stretching and participating in sports if you are taking certain medications. Muscle relaxants may enable you to go too far or dull your perception of pain. Antibiotics such as Cipro or Levaquin are associated with tendon weakening and rupture.