Eat More Apples

• Prevent disease. Apples are a natural source of health-promoting phytochemicals that have been found to lower blood pressure and protect against circulatory problems caused by diabetes. Study have also shown the phytochemicals found in apples help keep LDL (bad) cholesterol levels under control.

• Strengthen bones. Apples and apple juice contain the mineral boron, which has been shown to strengthen bones—a good defense against osteoporosis.

• Protect your heart. Apples are a rich source of soluble fiber, such as pectin, which helps to prevent cholesterol buildup in the lining of blood vessel walls, thus reducing the risk of atherosclerosis and heart disease.

• Breathe easier. One study found that apple-eaters had better lung function and lower risk of respiratory disease, including asthma, than non-apple eaters.

• Fight cancer. Cornell University researchers identified a group of phytochemicals in apple peel that appear to kill or inhibit the growth of at least three different types of human cancer cells, including colon, breast, and liver cancers.

• Get quick energy. On the go? Apples are an easy, portable snack—and provide a great-tasting energy boost. This also makes them a good choice for kids’ lunches.

• Freshen your breath. Some believe that eating an apple is a natural remedy for bad breath. The rough texture of the food can help loosen food, while your saliva will help wash it away.

—Ginger Skinner

Photos/courtesy of Figo

I created this dish to celebrate October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and broccoli, spinach, kale, acai and walnuts are incredibly high in antioxidants, which help fight breast cancer. All of these vegetables are packed with plenty of vitamins. Contributing to an overall healthy and well-balanced diet, the walnuts have heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and they’re a cholesterol-lowering food, along with spinach and broccoli.

Rich in Antioxidant

Throughout the month of October, all eight Atlanta-area Figo Pasta locations will feature this special ravioli for $10. Figo Pasta will donate a portion of the proceeds from each sale of this special ravioli to the American Cancer Society to help fund breast cancer research and find a cure. SP
Sandro Romagnoli is the founder of Figo Pasta. www.figopasta.com.

BROCCOLI, SPINACH, ACAI AND KALE RAVIOLI WITH HONEY WALNUT AND ALL SPICE COMPOUND BUTTER

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS:

Filling:

• 1 bunch of kale leaves with stems removed
• 1 head of broccoli (florets only)
• 1 pound of baby spinach
• 1 medium-sized yellow onion, sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of kosher salt or 1 teaspoon of table salt
• ¼ cup of whole milk shredded mozzarella cheese
• ¼ cup of cream cheese
• ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup of whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1/8 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Pasta:

• 3 cups of unbleached white flour
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup of acai powder
• Honey, Walnut and All Spice Compound Butter:
• ½ pound of salted butter, softened and cut into ½ inch cubes
• ¼ cup of honey
• ¼ cup of chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon of all spice powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

Filling:
Chop the broccoli florets into small pieces. Remove the skin from garlic and yellow onions. Slice onion into ¼-inch thick slices. In a large sauté pan, heat oil at medium-high heat until it is slightly smoking. Add all of the vegetables and cook at medium heat for about 10 to 12 minutes or until they start to wilt. Remove pan from heat, and place vegetables in a pasta strainer so the excess water drains. Once the vegetables are cooled enough, press slightly with your hands so the water drains well. Chop vegetables into very small pieces and place in bowl. Add the remaining filling ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate until the raviolis are made.

Ravioli:
Sift flour and salt together. Place flour mixture on a board, making a well in the center of the flour. Drop eggs into the flour well and using your hand or a fork, break the yolks and beat eggs slightly. Combine the eggs and flour together, gradually adding enough warm water to make a stiff dough. Knead dough well until smooth. Cover the dough and let rest for 15 minutes. Cut dough in half and roll each half of the dough out on a floured board into a very thin sheet (about 1⁄16 to 1⁄8 inch thick), or roll dough out in a pasta machine to the same thickness. To fill the ravioli, drop 1 to 1 ½ teaspoonfuls of filing about 1 ½ inches apart along the dough. When the sheet of dough is fully dotted with the mixture, cover the filling with the other sheet of dough. Using your fingers, gently press dough between each dab of filling to seal it. Cut ravioli into squares with a sharp knife. Allow ravioli to dry for 1 hour before cooking. To cook the ravioli, drop it into 6 to 8 quarts of boiling salted water and cook 10 to 15 minutes, or until dough is tender. Remove cooked ravioli with a skimmer or large slotted spoon, and strain well.

Butter Compound:
Mix all ingredients together and whip until butter starts to turn light in color and become fluffy.

Compiling the dish:
Place cooked raviolis in sauté pan and add ¼ cup of compound butter and heat on low until the butter has melted slightly. Toss ravioli well and top with 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan.

Reprinted From: http://www.sundaypaper.com/More/Archives/tabid/98/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/4604/Olly-olly-cancerfree.aspx

Apples are not only delicious and an easy snack, but also very healthy in numerous ways. What are the main benefits of eating apples? What are some great apple recipes?

Apple Recipes

Apples are a great source of dietary fiber. As a result, they are believed to reduce the risk of some cancers, they improve the functioning of the intestines, eliminate cholesterol from the digestive tract, cleanse the lungs and colon, and help to prevent and potentially cure appendicitis.

Apples are linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer, stroke, asthma and Type 2 diabetes. Moreover, as Healing with Whole Foods reports, due to all the pectin apples contain, they can help to reduce blood cholesterol and remove toxic metals from the body such as lead and mercury. In addition, apples are also found to play a very beneficial role in cleansing the liver.

I love to eat apples with peanut butter. It’s one of my favorite breakfast combinations. But here are a couple of interesting apple recipes that go beyond my apple and peanut butter dish. Enjoy a rice casserole with apples or apple noodle pasta for lunch or dinner sometime!

Rice Casserole with Apples

Ingredients:
2 lbs of apples (5-6 apples)
1 glass of brown rice
1 glass of milk
a few spoons of butter
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
sugar

After washing the apples, peel them and cut into quarters, removing cores. Then, slice the apples. While doing this, cook rice in water and milk (half and half) with a pinch of salt. Put half of the cooked rice into a greased baking pot/casserole dish. Put a little butter on the rice and then place half of the sliced apples on top. Sprinkle that with cinnamon and sugar (the amount of sugar depends of how sweet the apples are and how sweet you want the dish to be). Place the rest of the rice on the apples, add some butter on the rice and put the apples on top of that. Bake for about 30 min at 350 F (177 C). If you are a yogurt fan, or just want to add a little more moisture to the recipe, pour some yogurt on top once it’s on your plate!

Apple Noodle Pasta

Ingredients:
10.5 oz whole wheat noodle pasta
6 apples
2 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
sugar

Wash the apples, peel them and cut into quarters. Remove the cores and slice the apples. Place apples on a greased frying pan and fry them for about 5-10 minutes until they are soft. In the meantime, cook pasta according to the instructions on the package. Place pasta on the plate, pour the apples over it and sprinkle it all with cinnamon and sugar.

Enjoy these delicious apple dishes! And keep the doctor away!

Reprinted from http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2009/10/11/an-apple-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away-recipes/

As a fitness professional, I’m always amazed (and puzzled) with the conflict people seem to have with losing weight, yet they refuse to stop eating junk food. An interesting thing I have noticed over my many years helping people to lose weight is that almost every single person that has told me that they are “attempting” to lose weight, almost always has their house filled with all sorts of junk food instead of whole unprocessed natural food.

Avoid Junk Food

It is not uncommon for people to tell me that they are trying really hard to lose weight, but I will still notice boxes of apple jacks and fruity pebbles on their counters, cakes, candies, and chips in their cupboard, and sodas or syrupy juices in their refrigerator.

So the question that always stumps me is that if all of these people honestly wanted to lose weight so bad, why in the world do most people still have their houses filled with junk foods instead of healthy food?

Interestingly, the answer usually is that they do not want to give up their favorite foods because they think that eating this junk food allows them to “live a little”… if you ask me, it sounds more like dying a little with each bite!

My take on it is that eating junk foods has nothing at all to do with enjoying your life… In reality, when you give up junk foods you actually enjoy life more because you feel better and are more energetic every day. In addition, getting into better shape by not eating junk food can obviously help improve the way your body looks (and therefore increases your confidence), thereby making you enjoy life even more.

One thing that many people fail to realize is that eating healthy does not have to mean eating bland and boring food. Instead, when you learn to enjoy natural unprocessed food and start exploring all of the varieties of natural food that this planet has to offer us, you learn that you can enjoy the natural flavors of real foods more than overly processed aggressive tastes that are so common with excessively sweet and salty junk food.

An example of this is that the other day I wanted an unsweetened iced tea while out on the road, but all that the store had available was these bottles of heavily sweetened iced tea. Well, I have not bought a fully sweetened iced tea in probably at least a few years now… I have actually gotten used to drinking unsweetened iced tea and have learned to appreciate the natural taste of tea without needing sugar or other sweeteners.

Whe I drank this bottled sweet tea, I almost gagged because it was so syrupy sweet, it was absolutely nasty.

A similar example… I used to need a lot of sugar in coffee, but after a slowly reducing the amount of sugar I would use in coffe, I can now actually drink black coffee and enjoy the natural flavor of it without needing sweeteners (although I rarely drink coffee).

These are just a couple examples of how once you start appreciating the natural flavors of real food, you find that you no longer need the super-aggressive salty, sugary, or artificial flavors that have been ingrained in us by the food companies and all of the junk food they push on us.

My belief is that everyone should actually enjoy what they eat, and can do it without eating overly processed junk food… Actually, people are often surprised to hear that a lot of the foods that they think are junk food, I have healthy alternatives that they never thought of.

A few examples:

Junk food: a chocolate candy bar, a chocolate donut, or a piece of chocolate cake

Healthier alternative: a couple pieces of extra-dark chocolate (greater than 70-75% cocoa content only)… this is higher in fiber and much less sugar than milk chocolate or even dark chocolates that are less than 70% cocoa content

Junk food: Deep fried and breaded chicken fingers and fries on the side (loads of nasty trans fats)

Healthier alternative: grilled chicken breast strips with peanut dipping sauce and vegetables on the side

Junk food: a cheap fast-food burger on a processed refined white bun

Healthier alternative: A grass-fed burger (higher in CLA and omega-3 fats) with raw grass-fed cheese on a sprouted grain roll

How about that for eating healthier yet still very tasty foods!

I hope that what you get out of this article is that there is more to life than eating junk food, and eating junk does not necessarily mean that you’re “living a little” as so many people say. Instead, I feel the opposite is true.

Eat healthier and discover the natural flavors of real foods (not processed) and you’ll soon discover that you no longer need junk food. Enjoy!

I receive a lot of questions from my readers where they have been doing much better at choosing healthy breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, but they are still struggling to find good ideas for healthy and quick “mid-meals”… especially a quick small meal or snack that can be brought to the office or on road trips (so you can avoid the fast food junk!).

Mid-Meal Ideas

Some people may call these “healthy snacks”, but I prefer to consider them meals because they should be similar in size to your breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, if you want to spread your calorie intake out over the full day to “graze” so to speak.

After all, I’m sure it’s no secret by now that eating 5-6 small meals per day is a much better strategy for getting lean compared to the traditional “3 squares” a day (which for most people, turns into only 2 big meals/day as many skip breakfast).

The problem that I see most people having is being prepared enough to bring healthy mid-meals with them to work for the day. If you don’t plan ahead,  and bring something healthy and balanced with you when you’re out and about for the day, or at work, you’re going to end up choosing the junk food at the vending machine or corner store.

So here are some of my favorite mid-meals that I’ve used for years with great success and that lots of my clients love too. I want to keep things simple here, so I’m just gonna give a couple of my easiest, quickest, and healthiest…

Quick, healthy mid-meal ideas to keep you lean:

• Apple or banana with almond butter
  
• Cottage cheese mixed with yogurt, berries, and walnuts or pecans
  
• A couple hard boiled eggs with carrot and celery sticks and hummus (roasted red pepper hummus is my favorite)
  
• Celery sticks with organic peanut butter (a classic quick snack)
  
• Avocado slices wrapped in deli turkey breast (one of my favorite quick snacks)
  
• A piece of sprouted grain toast (or whole grain, but sprouted grain preferred) with nut butter and berries
  
• Fresh sliced pineapple with a handful of macadamia nuts
  
• a bowl of blueberries mixed with raw almonds
  
• Cottage cheese with cinnamon, apple slices, and walnuts (mmm, mmm good)

That should give you some ideas to start working with. Remember that my Truth about Six Pack Abs ebook contains 84 additional lean-body meal ideas to keep your eating plan interesting and delicious!

In case you missed it the other day, be sure to check out some amazingly inspirational stories of people just like you, that are in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and even 70s, and have made incredible body transformations:

http://BestFitnessOver40.com

Feel free to email the link to this page to any of your friends, family, or coworkers that you think might enjoy these healthy delicious mid-meal ideas.

I’ll be back next week with some more Lean-Body Secrets. Have a great one!

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder – TruthAboutAbs.com & Busy Man Fitness .com

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

I was at the grocery store the other day picking up some ingredients for a black bean & brown rice with seasoned venison strips dish I was planning to make, when an interesting thing happened.

Grocery Store Health Deception

I had gone straight to the grocery store after training a couple clients at the gym. Well, as I was grabbing some frozen veggies, a friendly lady (who must have seen that I was a fitness coach from my shirt), asked me my advice on a couple frozen prepared box meals she was picking out which had “healthy” claims on the labels (by the way, those prepared frozen meals are usually highly processed crap loaded with sodium and other chemicals).

Now I will say that this woman was VERY overweight, and she mentioned that she has “tried everything” to lose the excess weight and has always failed.

Keep in mind I hear about 50 people a day tell me they’ve “tried everything” to lose weight and get in shape. The problem that they don’t realize is that they’re trying all of the wrong things… they’re trying all of the gimmicks and fat loss fads that are out there instead of just adopting a TRUE healthy active lifestyle that will make them lean and healthy for life.

Back to the woman in the store…

So we started chatting about her struggles with losing weight and getting in shape, and I began scanning her grocery cart. If I can remember, these were some of the contents she thought were healthy:

• Slim fast shakes (far from healthy…they’re actually loaded with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and a bunch of other chemicals)
• Fat Free Rice Cakes (ok…despite so many people believing these pieces of crap are healthy…they really are nothing but pure refined starch with zero fiber, which basically breaks down immediately into sugar in your body, spiking insulin and promoting fat storage…doesn’t sound so good anymore, huh)
• Protein bars “Scientifically Slim Body Engineered” or some BS statement like that (I took a gander at the ingredient list of these so called “healthy” protein bars and sure enough… hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and enough sugar alcohols to give you diarrhea for a week!)
• Canned fruit in syrup (I guess she could do worse here…but still, why not just eat fresh whole fruit which still contains the skins, fiber, active enzymes, etc, instead of resorting to processed, canned fruit that’s been cooked and loaded with syrup)
• Reduced Sugar Dessert Cakes (ok, so these are loaded with nasty artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, preservatives, and a chemical ingredient list about 15 lines long)

Do you see what’s going on here? This is the same scenario that I see all the time.

Most people are fooled by what the FRONT OF THE BOX says, leading them to believe what they are buying is healthy. On all of these items, the FRONT of the packages had all kinds of great sounding things like “fat free”, “reduced sugar”, “high protein”, “low cholesterol”, “low carb”, etc.

However, the TRUTH is on the BACK OF THE BOX! Ah yes, the ingredient list and nutrition info is where the real truth is. However, I’ve realized that most of the general public doesn’t know how to fully understand the ingredient list and nutrition info, so they rely on the advertising claims on the front of the package to guide them.

BIG MISTAKE!

If you notice, this woman thought she was doing great with her grocery shopping and buying all kinds of healthy stuff for her and her family.

In reality, EVERYTHING she was buying was highly processed and full of chemicals and industrially refined ingredients. No wonder “nothing has worked” for her to get in shape and lose the excess body fat… she actually hasn’t been doing anything right. She’s been mislead by all of the confusing marketing and labeling and conflicting nutrition info in the mass media.

If you want to discover the TRUTH about what it really takes to eat a truly healthy diet that maximizes your metabolism, brings your hormonal balance back to normal, reduces cravings, and strips off body fat faster than you’d believe is possible… it’s all found in my Truth about Six Pack Abs program.

Here’s what some of my readers from all over the globe are saying about their experiences with this fat loss program:

Truth about Six Pack Abs Reviews

Have fun and choose wisely on your next grocery store trip!

Feel free to copy/paste this link on to any friends, family, or coworkers you think might enjoy this article.

Stay lean,

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder – TruthAboutAbs.com & Busy Man Fitness .com

I was out recently with some friends and we stopped at a fast food joint. I hate fast food joints, but sometimes everybody else wants to go there, so you just have to make the best of it and find something at least somewhat healthy.

Forced To Eat Fast Foods

If you’re forced to eat fast-food, here’s a tip to make sure that you’re not doing much damage to your body…

ALWAYS AVOID the soda and anything deep fried including french fries, hash browns, and anything breaded like chicken nuggets, chicken patties, or breaded fish sandwiches. These are all absolutely soaked in deadly trans fats from the industrial hydrogenated vegetable oils they use to fry all of these items.

Note: Even though some fast food restaurants have vowed to not use hydrogenated oils loaded with trans fats any more, they are still using highly refined processed oils, which are still inflammatory and negatively affect your health (and waistline).

Remember, as I’ve said before, I’ve seen studies indicating that as little as 1 gram of artificial trans fat per day can have serious degenerative internal effects in your body such as inflammation, clogging and hardening of the arteries, heart disease, various forms of cancer…not to mention packing on the ab flab. That’s as little as 1 gram!

Consider that a typical fast-food meal of a breaded chicken sandwich (or fish sandwich), along with an order of fries can contain as much as 10 grams of trans fat! Add on a cookie or small piece of pie for dessert (which are usually made with deadly margarine or shortening), and now you’re up to about 13 grams of trans fat with that entire meal.

If 1 gram a day is slowly killing you, imagine what 13 grams is doing! And that was only one meal that you ate. Some people are consuming 20-30 grams of artificial trans fat per day, and not even realizing what they’re doing to themselves internally. Please realize that nobody, I mean NOBODY, is looking out for your health, except for YOU.

Anyway, back to the topic of how to avoid this stuff and eat a reasonably healthy meal on the rare occasion that you’re forced to eat fast-food. As for drinks, avoid the sodas…they’re nothing but heavily processed high fructose corn syrup which will surely end up as extra belly fat. And yes, that mean NO DIET SODA either!  This stuff is pure evil to your body.  Here’s an article I did about why diet soda makes you fat.

Your best bets for drinks are always water or unsweetened iced tea.  You get the added benefit of the antioxidants in the unsweetened iced tea (but stay away from any sweeteners).

At breakfast, the best choice is an egg, ham, and cheese on an english muffin (not on a croissant, which is full of nasty trans fats!), or a fruit & nut salad.

At lunch or dinner, the best choices are a grilled chicken sandwich, the chili, a grilled chicken salad without croutons (again…croutons = more trans), or even just a plain cheeseburger.   This doesn’t mean these fast-food items are truly healthy and organic, but they’re the best options you have at most fast food places.

The main take-away point from this little fast-food article is that the nastiest stuff at these fast food joints are the sodas and fries, and any other deep fried items. If you stay completely away from those items, you’re at least making better choices than 95% of most people.

For any of you that have seen the movie “Super-Size Me”, you saw how eating fast food every day absolutely destroyed that guy’s health, but did you happen to notice the one guy that was the king of eating big macs (or some kind of burger)? I don’t remember what kind of burger it was, but basically this guy has eaten these fast food burgers almost every day of his life for the past 30 years or something like that.

Did you notice that he stated that he almost never eats the fries or soda, even though he eats the burgers every day? And he’s not necessarily overweight. Now I’m not saying that fast-food burgers made with their refined white bread and low quality beef and cheese are the healthiest thing, but the point is… it’s the fries and sodas that are the real health disaster.

Alright, so next time you’re out at one of these places, remember these tips and choose smart!

Personally, I can’t remember the last time I ate at a fast food joint like mickey D’s or BK.  If at all possible, I’ll try to find some corner deli with fresh salads or sandwiches instead of fast food.

By the way, if you haven’t heard yet, McD’s has added a nutrition label to all of their food wrappers now. Remember that as little as one gram of trans may cause some internal harm and now you can actually see how many grams of trans fat you’re eating right on the food wrapper. That might change your mind about finishing it.

For a fully comprehensive program on losing as much body fat as you want by following a smart, scientifically designed training and nutrition program, check out The Truth about Six Pack Abs.

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

Today, I wanted to give you my take on a confusing subject to most people:

…why some oils and fats you may use in cooking, baking, or other food use are actually harmful to your body, and why some are healthful.

Your Cooking Oil

Here’s the deal…

A lot of people seem to think that anything labeled as “vegetable oil” is good for you. NOT A SHOT!

Most of what is labeled as “vegetable oil” is simply heavily refined soybean oil (processed under high heat, pressure, and industrial solvents)… sometimes perhaps it may also be heavily refined cottonseed, safflower, corn, grapeseed, or other oils too.

In most instances, almost all of these processed oils are NOT HEALTHY for you.

If you buy processed food or deep fried food, you can usually be certain that these unhealthy oils are used to prepare your foods (or worse, it may use hydrogenated versions of these oils… aka – trans fats!).

You may have even bought some of these oils for your own cooking or baking at home.

The problem with soybean oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, grapeseed oil, safflower oil, and other similar oils is that they are mostly composed of polyunsaturated fats which leaves them prone to oxidation and free radical production when exposed to heat and light.

Processed polyunsaturated oils are the most inflammatory inside our bodies because of their high reactivity to heat and light. This inflammation is what causes many of our internal problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases.

Note: It’s ok if a polyunsaturated fat isn’t processed such as in whole foods like various nuts and seeds… In that case it’s not inflammatory, and is a great source of healthy polyunsaturated fats for you. By the way, omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids are both polyunsaturates. Your best bet is to choose raw nuts and seeds whenever possible to avoid the oxidation of polyunsaturated fats that can occur during roasting of nuts and seeds

However, all of the vegetable oils listed above are generally heavily refined during processing, so that makes them already inflammatory before you even cook with them (which does even more damage).

Here’s the actual order of stability of a type of fat under heat and light (from least stable to most stable):

1. polyunsaturated
2. monounsaturated
3. saturated

Here’s something that mainstream health professionals will never tell you…

Saturated fats are actually the healthiest oils to cook with!

Why?  Because they are much more stable and less inflammatory than polyunsaturated oils.

This is why tropical oils such as palm and coconut oils are best for cooking… they have very little polyunsaturates and are mostly composed of natural saturated fats which are the least reactive to heat/light and therefore the least inflammatory in your body from cooking use.

That’s also why natural butter (NOT margarine) is one of the best fats for cooking. This all goes directly against what you hear in mainstream health talk… because most health professionals don’t truly understand the biochemistry of fats, and falsely believe that saturated fats are bad for you… when in fact, they are actually neutral in most instances… and saturated fats from tropical oils are actually good for you as they contain mostly medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) which are lacking in most people’s diets.

In fact, lauric acid is one of the abundant MCTs in tropical oils and is known to strengthen the immune system.  Lauric acid is even being studied currently in medical studies for controlling contagious diseases.

To summarize… your best cooking or baking fats are generally butter or tropical oils such as palm or coconut oil.  Olive oil (extra virgin preferably) is ok for lower cooking temps as it’s mostly monounsaturated, so moderately stable.  The mostly polyunsaturated oils such as soybean, grapeseed, cottonseed, safflower, etc, are the least healthy for cooking or baking.

My choices for top healthy cooking oils that I use:

• Virgin Coconut Oil
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Real Butter (grass fed if possible)

Of course, with all of that said… we should keep in mind that trying minimize our cooking with oils can help to reduce overall calories. Cooking with oils in moderation is ok and can actually help satisfy your appetite more, but be careful not to overdo it as the calories can add up fast.

Here’s a related article about good trans fats vs. bad trans fats that I did previously (an eye opener to most people)…

I’ll be back soon with more Lean-Body Secrets. Til then…

Don’t be lazy… be lean.

PS – if you liked todays article, feel free to fwd this link on to any of your friends, family, or co-workers that would enjoy it.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder – TruthAboutAbs.com & Busy Man Fitness .com
AvalancheSkiTraining.com

Ah, those good old southern recipes! It might seem that healthy weight loss while on a southern-cooking diet is impossible, but it’s not. By modifying southern recipes for healthy weight loss, you can watch the pounds drop while you continue to eat the good food you love the most!

Healthy Weight Loss Foods

The key to modifying southern recipes for healthy weight loss is to watch what you put into the meal. Many southern foods are filled with things that are bad for your weight loss goals, like refined flour and white sugar. You might even face the prospect of having almost everything fried in oil, and sometimes even fried in lard, which adds quite a bit of flavor but does nothing good for your arteries!

You can modify your southern recipes by substituting good ingredients for bad. For starters, avoid lard at all costs! It might add a great flavor, but it’s important to remember that it is nothing but fat. In fact, avoid frying foods if at all possible. Even good old-fashioned southern chicken can have that fried taste if cooked in an oven with a seasoned breading. If you must cook a recipe that calls for lard, try substituting virgin olive oil or canola oil instead, or using chicken broth as a flavoring substitute.

When you use milk in a recipe, try to use skim milk. Avoid buttermilk, and sour the skim milk instead by adding a bit of vinegar and letting it sit for a while. Try not to use real butter, and instead opt for margarine or the various products on the market that taste like butter, but are actually good for your heart. Cut down on the number of eggs you use in a recipe, or better yet, avoid the yolks and simply use the egg whites. These steps alone will save you a great deal on calories and fat content.

When you are modifying southern recipes for healthy weight loss, cutting out fat isn’t the only way to make sure you are eating better. Cutting out refined foods as much as possible will also help toward weight loss and overall better health. Instead of using white flour, substitute whole wheat flour. Instead of using white sugar, try using raw sugar, substituting honey or molasses, or possibly using a sugar substitute such as Splenda. If your meals are heavy on potatoes, try switching to sweet potatoes instead.

Many southern meals always include breads. Try to avoid white breads and substitute whole wheat bread, or eliminate them altogether and go with the southern staple: Cornbread! To obtain the best benefit though, remember to avoid the heavy butters and whipping creams that are so often used as complements to good southern breads. And rather than using an ingredient that is usually heavy in fat content, try finding a light or fat-free version, or try drizzling a small amount of olive oil on your bread to add flavor.

The key to modifying southern recipes is to be aware of what is going into your meals. With a little advance planning and some substitutions, you can produce a meal that no one would ever dream was lower in fat than the usual southern fare. The best southern cooks know that it’s all about the flavor, not about the fat!

Drop the pounds by modifying southern recipes for healthy weight loss. You’ll still eat the foods you love, and you will watch the weight melt away at the same time!

If you’re ready to get serious about eating healthy and managing healthy weight loss, visit http://www.MyLastWeightLoss.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yolanda_Keating

5-Minute Recipe to Healthy Chocolate Fudge

The major problem with most so-called “healthy” desserts is that most companies attempt to make them healthier by reducing the fat content and thereby increasing the sugar content or artificial sweeteners… there’s nothing healthy about either of those!

Below is my famous healthy chocolate-peanut-butter fudge recipe that takes only 5 minutes to make and is really simple. The great thing is that I use no added sugars, no artificial sweeteners, and all healthy fat sources. You’ll see why below.

My healthy chocolate-peanut-butter fudge recipe (peanut butter can be omitted if you prefer plain chocolate):

• Extra dark chocolate bar (3-4 oz bar works well — look for at least 70% cocoa content, between 70-85% — this minimizes the sugar content)
• 4 or 5 Tbsp of your favorite organic nut butter (almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter all work well)
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup of organic coconut milk (great source of healthy saturated fats from medium chain triglycerides – MCTs)
• 2 tbsp rice bran (additional healthy fiber source)
• 2 tbsp oat bran (more healthy fiber including soluble fiber)
• 1/2 cup raw pecans, almonds, or walnuts (yes, more healthy fats, antioxidants, and tons of vitamins/minerals)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (optional based on your tastes)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• a little stevia to lightly sweeten (stevia is a natural non-caloric sweetener as opposed to harmful artificial sweeteners)

Start with the coconut milk, nut butter, and chocolate bar in a medium saucepan and put it on the lowest heat possible. Continuously stir as the chocolate, coconut milk, and nut butter melts together. Once these melt together add in all of the other ingredients and stir together very well.

Once everything is mixed well together, spread the mixture onto some waxed paper laid out in a baking dish and throw it in the fridge to solidify.

Now you have some of the healthiest chocolate fudge ever known to man!

Keep in mind that you still need to keep your serving portions small because this is still a calorie-dense snack even though it is super-healthy. The good news is that it is lower in sugar and calories than typical fudge and has loads more nutrition than any typical fudge.

Enjoy! Tell your friends that Trainer Mike Geary gave you this recipe.

Check out these 5 tips to Get a Flat Stomach faster with no bogus diet pills or useless “abdominizer” gadgets.

Good luck with your fitness goals!

–Mike Geary