Beans...The More You Eat, the More You Fart...

I realized today that we have talked about eating beans all week, but I never mentioned how to prevent bean gas, that noxious substance that can clear a room faster than bulldozer.

3 Ways to degas Your Beans:

1. Prepare your own beans following these instructions:
a. Rinse well and remove any foreign objects, like soil and small rocks.
b. Soak beans in cold water overnight OR simply boil for 1 minute, cover and let sit for an hour.
c. Drain and rinse.
d. Cover beans with water and cook until they are tender.

Voila, you've just now removed some of the gas causing agents in beans.

2. If you're buying canned beans, try Bean-O or other commercial de-gassing drops.

3. WATCH YOUR PORTION SIZES. Beans are full of fiber. If you aren't used to eating fiber, then too much fiber in one sitting is going to make you bloated and gassy and may even give you the runs.

I'm all for adding fiber to the diet, but I wouldn't recommend eating all 35 grams (recommended amount) in one meal.

Amy's Favorite Bean Salad

1 head of red or green lettuce (or mixed salad greens in a bag)
1 bag of baby spinach
2 cluster tomatoes
1/4 white or yellow onion, diced
1.5 cups (or a 12 ounce can) of Kidney beans (drained, low-sodium)

Throw everything into a big salad bowl. Dish out a huge serving. Toss your serving with 1 teaspoon of French Dressing.

Amy's Fast and Yummy Chicken and Pinto Bean Soup

Quick, easy and delicious!

4 cups of organic, low-sodium chicken broth (or water)
1 cubed chicken breast
2 cups of home prepared pinto beans (drained) or one 12 ounce can of low-sodium pinto beans (drained)
1 small bag of frozen mixed vegetables

1. Place the cubed chicken breast and broth into a large pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the chicken is cooked. (15-20 minutes usually.)

2. Add the pinto beans and frozen mixed vegetables.

3. Cook until thoroughly heated and enjoy.

Total prep and cook time: About 20 minutes.

If you want to spice it up, add your favorite spices such as thyme, marjoram, black pepper, etc. For an even heartier soup, add some cooked whole grain brown rice or whole grain whole wheat noodles.

Enjoy!

Amy's Chili Recipe

2 12 oz cans of black beans (low salt)
2 12 oz cans of pink beans (low salt)
1/2 pound (plus or minus) of ground buffalo
1 white onion diced
1 red bell pepper diced
1 yellow bell pepper diced
1 green bell pepper diced
2 big cans of diced tomatoes
2 big cans of tomato puree
1 can of diced green chilis
2-4 garlic cloves, smashed and diced
1/2 of a small bag of frozen corn
1/4 cup of chili powder (more or less to taste)
1t - 1T cayenne red pepper (more or less to taste)
1T cilantro

1. Brown the meat.
2. Dump all of the ingredients into a big pot (or crock pot), stir and simmer for several hours (stirring often).

Serve over a baked potato or mix with whole grain brown rice.

This makes a lot, so feel to freeze the extra in individual serving sized batches.

* To further reduce sodium, I prepare my own beans. Rinse and soak dry beans in water overnight. Then drain and cook in fresh water for a couple of hours until soft. Freeze what you don't need.

Beans, Beans, They're Good for Your Heart

I love beans. They're one of the most nourishing foods on the planet and they taste good. Full of vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber and they're low in fat. You know beans might just be the perfect food.

So this week, I thought it was time to honor the wonderful bean by sharing a few of my favorite bean recipes with you.

But first, I thought I'd share this story. Justin and I went to Colorado for a visit and our good friends made a wonderful dinner for us. They cooked up some beans we had never had before. They tasted wonderful and were so much fun to eat.

To eat these chunky, green colored beans, you simply squeezed the beans out of their pod and into your mouth, but the fun came when the little beans squirted out of the pod and sometimes right off of the table. It was a riot.

These beans were called Edamame or (edible soybeans). They're Japanese and they come in a frozen package. You simply boil them in water and eat. You can buy them pre-shelled, too, but that's not as much fun.

So in honor of our friends helping Justin and I discovering a new, nutritious food I declare today "Let's try Edamame soybeans" day.

My Response to Time Magazine's: "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin"

I usually don't post on the weekends because I feel that Sat. and Sun. should be my days away from the computer, my days to play outside and burn energy, but today I'm making a rare exception on your behalf.

Time Magazine recently published an article titled, "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin" by John Cloud. This article is full of inaccuracies, implications and missing information.

I wonder who is really behind the article? Some junk food company or fast food restaurant that wants you to eat once you're finished with the article? I know my mouth was watering when I finished reading it. A pharmaceutical company that stands to benefit from making you even more unhealthy?

Is someone about to release the next Phen-Phen? The next you're gonna lose weight, but at the cost of losing your life drug? Or is it the producer of some diet product? Whatever's going on:

Please read the American Council on Exercise's statement about this article to help clarify the fact from fiction.

That said, let's brush past the conjecture in Cloud's article and find the kernel of truth, the one he hid amongst images and descriptions of junk food. The truth is that yes, people do tend to overestimate their caloric need after they workout. They see working out as an excuse to binge on whatever they want with no consequences. We've all done it before and as a trainer I see it all the time.

A person will go to the gym, lift, then come home and think they've burned enough calories to down two supreme pizzas and a six pack of beer. That person maybe burned 200-300 calories at the gym, but he just ate upwards of 6,000 calories at home. Wow, if ever there were a recipe for weight gain... It really is a no-brainer.

Get on the treadmill or elliptical machine or indoor bicycle and set the computer to display the approximate number of calories you are burning. Sobering, isn't it? Sorry to say, it ain't much compared to the number of calories in the food we eat. I mean 250 calories burned is equivalent to about an hour of walking. That's not even breakfast.

You have to burn 2,500 calories above what your body needs in order to survive in order to lose one pound. Yowzers, right! Suddenly, that pizza you were going to reward yourself with doesn't look like a very good reward now does it?

So what is the solution? I'll give you a couple.

Tips to Prevent Overeating After Workouts
Nothing's worse than coming home from a brutal workout starving and not being able to find anything to eat. This leads to binge eating, eating out, ordering in, etc. We are all guilty of this, myself included.

To solve the problem, cook meals before you workout and then measure out the appropriate serving size and have it grab-and-go ready for when you get home.

In fact, take a day on the weekend and pre-make as many meals as you can for the week. Freeze them in individual serving size packets. We use Quart sized Ziploc Freezer bags. It's harder to overeat when seconds aren't available.

What to Eat?
It's best to cook a well balanced meal, something that contains protein (tofu, beans, milk, fish, lowfat meat), and both simple and complex carbs (for example: fruits and veggies (simple) and whole grain rice or pasta (complex) . I start with a juicy fruit like an apple or a peach, then move on to a mixed greens salad dressed with balsamic vinegar or the juice of a lemon. Then I'll grab a little whole grain whole wheat pasta topped with a homemade pasta sauce full of veggies and other goodies. (I'll share the recipe with you sometime.)

It is important to eat your balanced meal within 20 minutes of completing your workout. This aids significantly in recovery.

Anyway, after you eat, shower, get dressed, do your hair, etc. This will give your brain a chance to register that you are full.

If you still feel hungry, grab a small snack such as some fruit, 5 almonds, a bowl of homemade soup, half of a sandwich (regular sized bread) or munch on fruits and veggies or air popped popcorn made with no butter or oil.

Whether or now you have just returned from a workout or have just begun a workout program or have been working out forever...

One Fact Remains True
When you exercise, watch your portion sizes and make healthy choices at your meals, you significantly improve your health and well being while also losing weight.

So, please DO NOT let the Time Magazine article become your excuse to stop exercising. DO NOT let it convince you that you need to eat junk food right now. (The power of suggestion in his piece is very strong!)

Instead, get out and do what I did this morning. Have a balanced breakfast then go for bike ride, walk, run, jog, play on the playground at the park, go swimming, lift weights, hike, go indoor rock climbing, skate, in-line skate, etc...

I'm off to do another 17 miles on my road bike today. Ciao!

Amy's Favorite Stress Busters

Stress sucks! Literally. It sucks the life right out of you. Study after study has shown that people who are stressed out have shorter lifespans than people who aren't as stressed.

Stress coaxes you to do things you might not ordinarily do such as skip your workouts, snap at family and friends, eat junk food, skip sleep, etc. It's bad news all the way around.

That said, in my opinion there are two kinds of stress. The kind that makes you unable to concentrate on anything except for your desire to kill everything. I call this the Everything Must Die kind of stress. And then there's the stress that makes you feel sick and tired and run down so that all you want to do is sleep. I call this the I Feel Crappy Stress.

With that said, here are some of my favorite stress busters.

Everything Must Die Stress Busters

• Get some music pumping and beat the stuffing out of a punching bag and a speed bag. "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor is great. The rhythm works well for punches and it makes you feel like Rocky.
• Go mountain biking UP some gnarly hill.
• Go road biking UP several gnarly hills.
• Get in the car and SCREAM at the top of my lungs without going anywhere. (I can't scream in my apartment or I'd really freak the neighbors out.)
• Go to a butt kicking kickboxing class.
• Carry a backpack that's way too heavy up a mountain that's way too steep.
• Go climb the indoor rock wall at our gym.
• Do a killer weight lifting workout.
  
• Go dirt bike riding.
  
• Run as fast as I can for as long as I can.
• Swim as fast as I can for as long as I can.
• Deep clean something that requires a LOT of scrubbing.
• Anything that gets my heart rate way up and requires a huge amount of energy expenditure.
  

I Feel Crappy Stress Busters

• Write in my journal.
• Sing and dance like I'm a superstar.
• Take a bath and read a trashy novel.
• Sit in the hot tub.
• Float in the pool.
  
• Swing as high as I can on a swing in the park.
• Read a magazine cover to cover.
• Play the piano.
  
• Practice deep breathing and visualization techniques.
  
• Work on a fun project I can get lost in, such as an animation.
• Make a couple loaves of homemade whole grain bread.
• Sit down with a cup of jasmine tea and a good adventure book.
  
• Vent about life to a friend or family member.
• Brush the dog.
  
• Do light cleaning.
• Go for a really mellow road or mountain bike ride.
• Go for a meandering walk or a hike somewhere quiet and away from people, traffic, the city. Enjoy the wildlife.
  
• Get a massage.
• Go horseback riding.
• Take a long drive and explore a new place.
• Do my nails.
• Get my hair done.
  

Butt Busting Park Workout

Good morning! I thought I'd share a really fun butt busting workout that you can do in your local park.

Warm Up:
Begin by walking for 5-10 minutes, gradually increasing your pace, getting your heart rate up.

Moving Lunges: Do 1 set of 15 repetitions each leg (Watch your form. See my post on how to do lunges and squats)

Stretch: Your legs and butt.

Picnic Table Push-Ups: Do 1 set of 15 repetitions (Or however many you can get without breaking form.)

Find a picnic table (a wall works, too). Place both hands on the end of the table and extend your body into a push-up position. Keep your abs tight and your body straight as an arrow.Lower your body as far as you can and then return to your starting position.

Intervals: 5 2-minute running intervals, making each interval faster than the previous one. Walk or jog between intervals to recover.

Return to the picnic table. When's the last time you had a drink of water?

Picnic Bench Step-Ups: 1 set of 15 reps each leg
Use the bench of the picnic table as a step. With one leg, step up, then SLOWLY lower yourself back down. Switch legs. Watch your form! Do not let that knee go over your toe and don't let yourself fall off of the bench. If you have any knee pain STOP. If the bench is too high, you can find some other kind of elevated object at the park to use, such as a step or a curb or a platform that makes up a piece of playground equipment.

Stretch: Your legs and butt.

Picnic Table Dips: 1 set of 15 repetitions
Sit on the picnic table's bench facing away from the table. Put your hands on the edge of the bench keeping them close to your body. Walk your feet away from the bench. Keeping your back very close to the bench and your body nice and straight, slowly lower your body towards the ground and then return back up.

Intervals: See above.

* If you want, you can repeat this cycle two or three times. Then:

Cool Down:
Jog: A light pace for 5-10 minutes, gradually slowing it down to a nice, slow walk.

Stretch: All muscles used today.

You can do this workout three or four times a week, just not on consecutive days.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer:
Again, do this workout at your own risk. Ask your doctor before you begin. This is a workout designed for a healthy individual. If you feel any joint pain, nausea, shortness or breath, etc. stop immediately and seek medical help. If you have knee issues, it's probably better that you avoid lunges and step-ups. At some point I will post some information about knee exercises.

Serving Sizes in Europe Versus the U.S.

In my last post, I talked about how Europeans stay trim by walking everywhere and walking everywhere fast. But walking is only half of the equation. Caloric intake is the other half.

By far, most Europeans eat fewer calories than Americans because in Europe the serving sizes are considerably smaller than what they are here in the U.S. For example:

A Single Serving Container of Yogurt:

In Europe = 4 ounces.
In the U.S. = 6-8 ounces.

A Single Serving of Juice/Soda/Other Bottled Beverages:

In Europe = 250 ml (or about 8 ounces or 1 cup)
In the U.S. = 12 ounces (1.5 cups) for cans, 16 ounces (2 cups) for bottles

I could go on and on. The point is that here in the U.S. we simply eat more calories at every meal and those calories add up fast.

The Solution
European serving sizes tend to be about 1/3 to 1/2 smaller than our bloated U.S. serving sizes. Here's a little trick you can try which will help you quickly and easily reduce your caloric intake.

For each of your large meals, such as lunch and dinner, go ahead and dish up your normal serving size, then simply split your meal into two equal servings: one for today, one for tomorrow. (Don't forget to do this with the calorie containing liquids you consume, too.) Also, if you go out to eat, order a to go box with the meal and immediately split the meal into 3 or 4 equal servings.

Try this for a few days and see what happens. Can you get by on fewer calories? My bet is yes.

* A final note, don't allow your total daily caloric intake to drop below 1,200 per day for women and 1,500 per day for men.

Burn a Zillion Calories a Day: Walk Like a Parisian

You want to know the secret to how Parisians (and Europeans in general) stay so thin? Here it is. They walk.

Europeans walk everywhere and they walk everywhere fast. Fast walking is great because anyone can do it, it burns a lot of calories and it's easy on the joints.

So, if you want to lose weight and stay lean and trim, go to Paris and attempt to keep up with a Parisian. If you can't get to Paris (an absolute tragedy), simply do your best to:

Walk often and walk fast. Do your best to walk, NOT DRIVE, where you need to go. For example:

• Park far away from your destination and then walk. (Use the money you'll save on gas for a nice vacation at the end of the year.)
  
• Eat lunch at your desk and use your lunch hour to go for a walk.
• Walk your dog (or the neighbor's dog) in the morning before work and at night after dinner.

And remember, no sauntering or meandering or loitering. The point is to walk fast enough to get your heart pumping, your lungs working and the calories burning.

P.S. If you want to go to Paris, the Loire Valley, Brittany and Normandy let me know because I'd be more than happy to give you some info on amazing places to stay, things to do, etc. Check out Chateau Mont-Dol in Brittany (near the abbey of Mont St. Michel). It is beyond incredible.

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

Quick, Easy Brainless Weight Loss Strategy

I remember when I was little, my great grandma used to fix me a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of grapefruit juice for breakfast. She had the cutest bowls, spoons and glasses. They were all very small. Her frosted glasses only held 4 ounces of liquid. Her flowery bowls held more than 8 ounces and her spoons were just as small and delicate.

This morning I had a bowl of oatmeal and thought about my great grandma. Then I thought about the size of my dishes compared to the size of hers. What a huge difference! The plates, bowls, glasses and silverware of today are enormous!

Most glasses now hold 8-12 ounces. Most plates have morphed from frisbee-sized to flying saucer sized. Our spoons have become hand-held troughs, our forks, gardening pitchforks.

You know, I'm going to bet money that a very quick and easy way to lose weight is to simply downsize your plates, bowls, glasses and other eating utensils.

Bigger plates, bowls, glasses, silverware = more space to fill with food = more calories consumed = lots of gained weight

Smaller plates, bowls, glasses, silverware = less space to fill with food = fewer calories consumed = easy, brainless weight loss

Try it and see.

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

Avoid Food Temptations

One key strategy I like to share with my weight loss clients is this:

If you don't buy it and you don't have it around, you can't eat it.

It's easy to get up, walk to the fridge and devour a quart of ice cream UNLESS you don't buy ice cream.

With no ice cream (or other junk food in the house), it makes you stop and think, "Am I really hungry?" "Do I really want to eat ice cream?" "Do I want it bad enough to go to the store and get it?" Probably not, right. This is one case where laziness actually works to our advantage!


Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

Plastic Grocery Bags

While we're on the subject this week of trash...

There is zero reason why anyone should be using plastic or even paper grocery bags. Come on, this is the 21st century. It's time for all of us to use reusable cloth bags.

Please see yesterday's post about the top ten reasons why not to buy bottled water. Most of those reasons can be applied to why you should not be using plastic grocery bags.

Why Cloth Bags Rock

1. You can carry more in a cloth bag, which means less waste, fewer grocery bags and fewer trips in and out to bring in groceries.

2. Reusable cloth bags are easier and more comfortable to carry than plastic bags.

3. The straps won't break on a reusable cloth bag, which means all of the groceries make it inside in one piece.

4. Most stores give you a cash credit for bringing your own bag. In CA, it's .5 cents per bag. This adds up quite nicely throughout the year. Some stores in other states offer to donate your .5 cent per bag credit to local charities. Cha-ching!

5. Cloth bags make you feel good about yourself, like you're really making a difference in for the environment.

When you switch to cloth bags, be sure to recycle all of your plastic bags. Thank you!

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

Terrible, Awful, Dangerous Bottled Water

Being healthy means doing your part to live in a healthy environment and that's why I want to devote today's blog to water bottles.

Take a walk, what do you see? Arrowhead, Fiji, store brand, etc. plastic water bottles littering the grass, the forest, streets and gutters, beaches. These stupid water bottles are everywhere. And what's worse is that very few are being recycled.

In the May 27, 2007 Washington Times Article, Land Full of Bottles, by Ann Geracimos, the Container Recycling Institute states that "8 out of 10 bottles become garbage and end up in a landfill rather than being recycled. "

According to, Plastic Bottles Pile up as Mountains of Waste; Americans' Thirst for Portable Water is Behind Drop in Recycling Rate, by Miguel Llanos, in the U.S. in 2003 "40 million bottles a day went into the trash or became litter."

Instead of Bottled Water...
Buy two or three durable water bottles which you can refill. Then fill them up, refrigerate or freeze, and enjoy.

When they get dirty, throw them in the dishwasher and voila. You're doing your part to save your environment.

Try Nalegene's BPA free water bottles. They come in a variety of sizes and colors and are pretty much indestructable and they will last virtually forever.

If you're still worried about the quality of your tap water, simply buy a water filter that attaches to your water faucet.

Top 10 Reasons to Stop Buying Bottled Water

1. Waste. See above, but also, consider all of the cardboard and plastic wrap used to contain the water bottles, most of which will never get recycled. Waste, waste and more waste. Nuff said.

2. Reliance on Foreign Oil. Plastic is a petroleum product. It's no wonder oil prices are skyrocketing and oil companies are making record profits.

3. Price. Bottled water is EXPENSIVE and there are zero proven health benefits to bottled water verses tap water. You're better off saving your money for retirement, your kid's college education or a really awesome vacation.

4. Toxicity. Plastic water bottles leach the toxic chemical BPA. You can't be healthy if you're in a constant state of toxicity.

5. Wasted Water. I can't tell you the number of people who start drinking a bottle of water, set it down, walk away and simply go back for another bottle. The water and the bottle now wind up in the trash. Not only that, but these people wind up going through an astonishing number of bottles each day. Waste, waste, and more waste!

6. Storage Space. Buying crates full of water bottles takes up an incredible amount of space to store.

7. Lack of Regulations. There are fewer regulations on bottled water than there are on tap water which means that your bottled water may contain more contaminents than your tap water. Check out this article in The New York Times: Fewer Regulations for Bottled Water Than Tap, GAO Says By Sara Goodman

8. Paying for and Encouraging False Advertising. Think you're drinking mountain spring water...Think again. Most bottled water starts out as municipal water. Case in point, head north on Highway 395 from Los Angeles. There, in the middle of the California desert, is one of the nation's leading producers of bottled water. They advertise that their bottled water comes from from a fresh, mountain spring. Interesting considering they are in the middle of the desert. Think about it.

9. Setting a Bad Example. Like it or not, kids look to adults for guidance. Shoot, even other adults turn to their friends and family in search of positive role models. When you are wasteful, it teaches others that it is wasteful and our landfills grow as does the trash we see when we hike, bike, walk, garden, drive, etc.

10. Negative Feelings Like Guilt, Shame and Self Loathing. You know buying bottled water is wasteful. You know you shouldn't do it. Just knowing this makes you feel guilty and ashamed and perhaps lazy and loathful. These negative feelings help fuel depression and lack of motivation.

Finally
Be positive, do something good for yourself, those around you and the environment by using a reusable water bottle. As the saying goes, "Reduce, reuse, recycle."

If you see water bottles lying around, please pick them up and return them to a recycling facility.

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

"Healthy" Oils

All cooking oils, whether labeled "healthy" or not, are nothing more than liquid fat and fat contains a whopping 9 calories per gram.

Let's take a look at some healthy oils, such as olive, canola and grapeseed oil. Each of these oils contains 14 grams of fat or 126 calories per tablespoon. I want you to think about this for a moment. 126 calories in one tablespoon. 252 calories in 2 tablespoons. 378 calories in 3 tablespoons. It adds up quick!

I mention this because thanks to how oil is now marketed as a health food, I've seen more and more people begin to consume massive amounts of olive, grapeseed, flaxseed, and canola oil. They then come to me and ask why they can't seem to lose weight even though they're exercising and eating right.

Consider this, it only takes 4 tablespoons of oil before you have consumed 56 grams of fat (504 calories), the recommended daily allowance of fat if you're on a 1,700 calorie diet. So if you spread 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil margerine on your toast in the morning and 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil vinagrette on your salad at lunch, you've already consumed all of your fat for the day.

What's worse is this number doesn't include the fat in the other foods you've eaten and will eat throughout the day. For example, there's the fat in your bread, dairy and soy products. The fat in your tofu, meat and vegetables, etc. Fat is everywhere.

Another Way to Look at "Healthy" Oil
In my opinion oil by itself is almost worthless. It is a processed food. It's not filling because it doesn't contain fiber, protein or carbohydrates and it offers few vitamins and minerals when compared to solid foods.

If you're trying to lose weight, it would be better to replace some of your "healthy" oil with real food rich in vitamins and nutrients such as Omega-3 fatty acids. Try eating raw almonds, walnuts, fatty fish like salmon and even venison. Again, just watch your serving sizes because too much of a good thing is really a bad thing. Just ask the scale or your neighborhood cardiologist.

But I Like My Oil...
You don't have to give up oil completely, you should just learn how to moderate your useage a little better. Try measuring out a serving as opposed to pourring straight from the bottle, better known as eyeballing it. Try not to add oil to a dish just for the sake of adding oil. Your body will thank you for it. The scale will, too.

A Final Word About Cooking With Olive Oil
Don't cook with olive oil. Heat destroys its nutrients rendering it almost completely useless to your body. Cook with grapeseed oil instead. Grapeseed oil withstands higher temperatures much better than olive oil and the heat does not destroy its nutrients.

Have a great day! Be sure to go outside and do something active.

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

Amy's Favorite Weight Loss Workout

If you want to lose weight and tone up relatively quickly, try this workout. The beauty of this workout is that you can do it anywhere. The only equipment you need is your body.

3 Days Per Week
(Nonconsecutive Days)

Warm-up 10 minutes of progressively faster motion.

Interval Cycle #1 Duration of each interval = 1+ minute. Each time you repeat the jogging interval, increase your pace. You should also try to increase the time you spend in each interval by about 10 seconds or the distance between two objects such as streetlights.
Moving Lunges = 20 each leg
Recover = 2-3 minutes
Repeat this cycle 3 times.

Interval Cycle # 2 Same as above. Really challenge your speed and duration in each interval.
Push-ups = 20
Recover = 1-2 minutes
Repeat 3 times, again increasing either the pace or time of each interval.

Interval Cycle #3 Hill repeats (run to the top of the hill or a lamppost or street sign)
or sprint (as fast as you can for 30-60 seconds).
Recover = walk back down the hill or walk on flat ground.
Squats = 20
Recover 2-4 minutes
Repeat three times.

Cool Down = 10 minutes
Gradually slow your walking pace until you're just chillin.

Stretch = 10 minutes
Spend time stretching your muscles, especially your leg muscles. If you don't, I promise that you'll be sorry. :)

The How Tos of this Workout

Warm-up
Start with a comfortable walk, then begin to increase your pace until you are walking as fast as you can. Do this for 10 minutes. If you like to jog, then you can bring it up to a jog. The point is to get your blood flowing.

Intervals
Bring the workout up to a jog. Jog for 1 minute. Start counting only after you have arrived at your pace.

For those of you who can't jog, just continue your fast walk, but begin to pump your arms with purpose to increase your heart rate. You can also find a hill or increase the treadmill's incline.

Lunges
1 set of Moving Lunges 20 repetitions each leg. (If you can't do 20, then do as many as you can and gradually build up to doing more.)

How to Do Lunges
Take a giant stride forward with one leg and then slowly lower your body straight down, no leaning forward. Keep your weight in the heel of your front foot and do not allow your front knee to extend past your toes. Stop when your front knee is bent at 90- degrees. Do this slowly, then return to standing before you move to the next lunge.

To test your form, stand in front of a mirror, turn sideways and hold a broomstick over your spine. Perform your lunge. The broomstick and your back should be straight, as though the broomstick is the pole and you are the scarecrow. When you look straight down at your knee, you should still be able to see your toes.

For those of you new to lunges or with joints that complain, start with shallow lunges until you build enough muscle to go deeper. Those with knee issues, please ask your doctor or physical therapist if lunges are okay before you begin.

Recovery
By now your heart is racing and you're going to want a chance to catch your breath, trust me. So, it's time to recover. Walk it off for 2-3 minutes, but even though you're walking and recovering, it's important to keep your pace up. In other words, no meandering.

Push-ups
Do push-ups slowly and with good form. I'd rather see you go halfway down and keep your body straight as a picnic table than have your butt sticking up or your abs sagging towards the ground. To check your form, balance a broomstick on your back, press your spine into the broomstick, then do a push-up. The stick should not fall off of your back through the entire range of motion. Hard isn't it?

You can modify push-ups by doing them on your knees, against a wall or picnic table. If your wrists bug you, try performing push-ups on top of a set of dumbbells or make your hands into fists and then do push-ups on your knuckles. (You can put a towel or other soft object on the floor to pad your knuckles).

The key is to maintain proper form at all times no matter which push-up you choose to do. This isn't a race, it's a workout. If you want to race, I'll show you how to race but first things first...

Squats
Find a chair, preferably one without wheels, preferably one in which when you sit with your feet flat on the floor, your knees are bent at 90 degrees. (You can use a park bench, too.) Stand in front of the chair with your knees about hip-width apart.

Bend your knees and lower your butt so that your cheeks kiss the seat, then stand back up. No bending at the waist, no falling or plopping into the chair. Keep your weight in your heels and make sure that when you look down at your knees, you can still see your toes. Keep your back straight and your eyes pointed straight ahead.

If you have gripey knees, try shallower mini squats, for example only bend to 45 degrees.

Starting Out
It will take a few weeks before you can do this workout 3 days per week. Trust me. It still kills Justin and I. If it doesn't kill you or if you find it's easy after a few weeks, then you need to step it up a bit by increasing the duration of your intervals or by adding some weight to those squats and lunges. Feel free to add additional exercises, too.

Soreness
You will be sore after this workout. So on days when you're not doing this routine, I'd like you to walk or swim or bicycle or use the elliptical trainer, just move for at least 45-60 minutes each day. Then spend time stretching before retiring to a hot bath.

Believe it or not, the more blood you can get circulating on your non interval days, the faster you'll recover. Trust me.

Diet
Follow this workout with a nutritious meal. Remember that no workout will help you lose weight if you go home and empty the refrigerator into your stomach. I'll talk more about diet in later posts.

Until then, happy sweating!

P.S. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

(Always talk to your doctor before you begin and stop if you feel pain, dizziness, nausea, etc. In other words, be smart and workout at your own risk because my advice is not intended to nor does it replace the advice of a physician or physical therapist or other health care provider.)

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

Limits

Questions of the Day:

How do you know you have limits if you've never found them?

And...

How do you know those limits are limiting if you've never attempted to push past them?

We Are Mental
99.9% of our limits are mental.

I want to share a really awesome story with you. Our friend Jim, for his 60th birthday, rode a recumbent bicycle from California to Pennsylvania. Jim didn't take the shortest route, either, no he took the circuitous route and he did it hauling a trailer across the desert in June. He finished the ride in about six weeks. Total mileage: 4,013.

Throughout the process of planning the trip, Jim wondered over and over again if he was crazy, if he could succeed. He had no support, very little money, no cell phone, no Ipod or MP3 player, and very few supplies. In fact, he would be completely alone on his journey.

Despite a plethora of self-defeating thoughts, Jim pushed past his fears and began his ride. When he wanted to quit, he kept pedaling. When the weather got nasty, he kept pedaling. When people threw stuff at him from their cars, he kept pedaling.

When the mountain passes in Yosemite were too steep for him to pedal up, he got off his bike and walked. When he got caught in a brutal hailstorm in the middle of nowhere, Kansas, he tried to take cover under his trailer. When the hail stopped, he got back on the bike soaking wet, frozen and bruised.

Each day Jim pushed his mental and physical limits and discovered something new about himself and the world. He discovered all of the things he could do, all of the things at which he could succeed, things most people said were impossible. He met wonderful people, saw some of the most spectacular scenery in the U.S., and accomplished something incredible, something only a handful of people will ever accomplish.

Now I don't expect that most of you will ride a bike across America, although if you do that would be awesome. I just wanted to share Jim's story as a way to help inspire you. He found something he believed to be a limit and then proved to himself that the limit only existed in his mind.

Amy's Weekend Challenge:
Find a limit, either in health and fitness or in some other aspect of your life and challenge it. See where you go. The sky's the limit.

Be safe and have a great time!

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

Let's Go Outside!

This morning Justin and I took Mila to open space for a hike and had the pleasure of watching a coyote stalk and catch his breakfast. It got me thinking about how more people should workout outside. It not only burns more calories, but you also get:

• Fresh Air
• Sunshine (We've all heard the recent reports about how we are all supposedly deficient in vitamin D...)
• The relaxing beauty of nature
• Seeing things you haven't seen before
• Finding hidden treasures in your own community
• You meet your neighbors and other active people in your community.
• No televisions
• No computers
• Adaptation: Your body learns how to better adapt to changing conditions, everything from climate to terrain.
• You can't quit. Say you're running on the treadmill in a gym. If you get tired, you can simply decrease your speed or quit. However, if you get tired while hiking or biking, you can decrease your speed, take a break and grab a snack, but you still have to go the distance to get back to the car.
• The terrain is real and not simulated so you actually get a better workout. For example, you burn more calories walking on a sidewalk than you do on a treadmill. Research also shows that people tend to walk slower than their normal pace when they walk on treadmills versus walking on the ground.
• It's a more relaxing environment than the gym.
  
• You gain a whole new level of respect nature and the environment.

So when you get a chance, take a walk, hike, go for a bike ride. Don't worry about the distance or pace, just get comfortable and try to find one thing you've never seen or noticed before. That thing can be an animal, a bug, a strange building, a new trail, etc.

If it's too hot, find a shady trail or wait until the evening when it cools off. Take your husband, wife, kids, dog, cat, parrot and lots of water and enjoy!

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

How to Make Peanut, Cashew, Almond Butter and More

Most peanut butters are full of junk ingredients. They include things like partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, loads of salt and oil, etc...

In my opinion, nuts don't need all that garbage added to them. They are perfect as they are.

How to Make Nut Butter
(This process works with most seeds, too. For example you can turn processes sesame seeds into sesame seed paste, otherwise known as Tahini.)

You'll need a food processor (Cuisinart) with a chopping blade.

Fill the food processor bowl 2/3 full with your nut of choice and process for several minutes until smooth. We use either raw or roasted, unsalted nuts usually bought in bulk from Sprouts.

Voila, creamy, delicious, healthy nut butter!

Love Chunky Nut Butter?
If you love chunky nut butter, then reserve some of the nuts, chop them up and stir them into the processed nut butter mix.

A Note
With almonds and cashews, you may need to add a tiny bit (no more than 1T) of water or oil such as Grapeseed oil because these nuts are not as oily as peanuts. The addition of a liquid helps the food processor process the mix.

No Stirring Required
The best part, aside from the flavor, is that the oil in homemade nut butters don't tend to separate so there's no stirring required.

Enjoy!

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

This Morning's Workout

Hello everyone. Just wanted to share my morning diet and workout with you in the hopes that it'll inspire you to get moving. I hope you had the chance to see the full moon setting this morning. It was beautiful, awe inspiring and energizing. Just what I needed before my morning workout. What is that workout, you wonder? Well, here you go:

Fuel
Before my workout, I always grab a light snack of Vogel's Honey Whole Wheat Bread toasted and covered with Bionaturae Apricot Jam. (Both are amazing products! Try them! If your store doesn't carry these products, ask them to.) This combo's easy on the tummy and gives me all the fuel I need for an hour to an hour-and-a-half depending on the type of workout I do.

Interval Training with the Dog:
After toast, I was off for a walk/jog/run with our German Shepherd, Mila. We have been doing a lot of run/walk intervals due to the high heat and humidity.

Warmup: Light jog 5-10 minutes.
Intervals: We go for as long as we can with each interval, always pushing the envelope. Each interval is faster than the previous one. We then rest and repeat.
Rest: We walk or jog slowly between intervals.
Hill Sprints
We always sprint up hills during our walk. This means running both sides of the 1 hill in our neighborhood 2 times. (This is So. Cal after all.)

We usually head to the park in the mornings for some obedience training and fun.

Park Workout
1 set of 6.5 pull-ups this morning. #7 didn't count. It was weak thanks to my arms being sore from swimming the other day.

Real Breakfast
Back at home, Justin and I cooked our usual breakfast of: slow cooking oats with applesauce, blueberries, cinnamon and ginger. We are out of Soymilk, so we had to cook this oatmeal mixture in water.

After Breakfast Ride
After breakfast, I needed to run to the bank, so I did a 10.2 mile road bicycle ride while listening to Megadeth, Prodigy, and Alice in Chains. Did some fast sprints just for fun. Toasted a couple riding bikes that probably cost more than both of our cars put together. Who-hoo! Just goes to show you that money does not buy fitness.

The Weight Room
Back at home, I did the following strength work:

Seated Row:
Wide Grip: Did 3 sets of 8 at 60 pounds
Narrow Grip: Did 2 sets of 12 at 40 pounds

Chest Press:
Wide Grip: 3 sets of 12 at 50 pounds
Narrow Grip: 3 sets of 12 at 50 pounds

Leg Extension:
3 sets of 8 at 60 pounds

Stretching
Spent 10 minutes stretching and now I'm off to grab my pbj sandwich. I feel great!

How are you exercising today?

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

Speed Hiking in Sequoia National Park

Last weekend my husband, Justin, and I were invited to go camping in Sequoia National Forest with our Romanian neighbors and a group of their friends. On Saturday, Justin and I decided to go on a hike up to Mist Falls with our neighbor, Filip, and his close friend, Volley (please forgive me if I've misspelled your name). We thought the trip would be about 5 miles round trip. For us, 5 miles is doable. Just the right distance for a comfortable day hike.

When we arrived at the trail head, Justin and I saw the sign for Mist Falls 4.7 miles. We looked at one another and one of us said, "Is that one way or round trip?" But before either of us had a chance to answer, we were off.

We were on a tight schedule. Filip and Volley wanted to get back to camp in time to roast a pig for dinner, so they set Olympic record-setting pace. Justin and I really had to MOVE to keep up. I was the shortest in the bunch, so I felt like for every step everyone else took, I had to take five just to keep up.

On the hike, we learned all about Romania including the hiking and camping the guys had done there and then here in the States. We discovered that Volley was used to hiking from the wall of the Grand Canyon to the valley floor and back up again in a day. He was tall and thin and graceful and reminded me of a Praying Mantis. The man covered some serious ground with each step.

Thanks to chatting, the first few miles went by quickly and relatively painlessly. But then Filip reminded us that we needed to step it up. We had a schedule to keep.

After about 4 miles of sprinting up the trail, we finally came to a gorgeous waterfall. Yeah! We did it! We made it!

But then Volley whistled to us from farther up the trail. He shouted, "Hey guys, this isn't Mist Falls."

It's not? I thought. UGH!

"Come on. We have to hurry," he said disappearing up the mountain.

My mind swirled with ugly thoughts as we continued onwards. Why aren't we there yet? I can't do this. I'm tired. I'm hungry. I'm hot. Wah, wah, wah. The Forest Service mileage sign lies. How can those guys hike so fast? Why am I so out of shape? This is embarrassing. I'm a Personal Trainer. Why have I been so lazy lately? This is more than 4.7 miles. Wah, wah, wah.

I just wanted to pull off my shoes, dunk my feet in the water and eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwich while basking in self misery. But I didn't. Something strange happens when you're with other people, especially people you don't know too well. Your mind's racing with nastiness, but your mouth is on its best behavior and there's a need to prove that you're not a wuss.

As such, if I was going to continue, it was time I took a moment to reevaluate the situation. I know from experience that when I get grouchy on a trail it means I'm hungry, so I pulled out a handful of trail mix from my backpack. When I finished munching, I took a long drink of water from, then dunked my head in the cold river. As I watched my hair flow downstream, I thought about the longest hike Justin and I had ever been on.

We hiked over 22 miles in 2 days near Devil's Postpile National Monument near Mammoth, California. It was brutal as our packs were too heavy (45 pounds) and, thanks to snow, we wasted a lot of time navigating by map and compass. However, this was also one of the most rewarding trips we have ever done. The scenery was spectacular as was the sense of accomplishment we felt when we arrived at camp and later back at the car.


As we continued on, I took in the scenery, enjoyed the companionship of our new friends and thought about all of the things I thought I couldn't do and then wound up doing: a 5K run, two sprint triathlons, bicycling 65 miles in one day, etc... I then realized that each accomplishment came from an experience like this, one in which my perceptions of what I could and could not accomplish were blown away by people who simply don't comprehend the word can't.

And before we knew it, we arrived at our destination. It was spectacular. A gorgeous waterfall cascading off of tan stripped rocks, misting us with cool water. Volley continued onwards and hiked up the rock face in about three seconds.

Filip, Justin and I relaxed on a fallen tree and had a snack. Justin and I enjoyed our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We made it! We survived. And three seconds later, it was time to begin our hike back to the car.

Filip ran down the mountain, scaring a bear out of the way for us. Meanwhile, Volley hiked back with Justin and I. When we got to the truck, Justin and I looked at each other, proud, excited and exhilarated. We had done the second longest hike of our lives and we had done it, according to Filip, in under three hours. What a huge accomplishment!

That Saturday, I was reminded, once again, that when you beat your way through the self-defeating thoughts and just go, you can accomplish anything. Although for me this was a repeat lesson, it was one that was long overdue.

Posted August 5th, 2009

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto

Welcome to My Health, Fitness and Adventure Blog

Welcome to my Health, Fitness and Adventure Blog! I'm so excited to see you. My goal is to share with you what I, as an Ace Certified Personal Fitness Trainer, know about health and fitness.

I want to help you figure out how to separate health fact from health fiction. I want to share my experiences, adventures, workouts, feelings, recipes and much more with you in the hopes that it will inspire you to lead a healthier lifestyle and pursue your dreams.

Sincerely,

Amy Giaquinto

P.S. While I'm working on populating this blog with cool stuff, feel free to check out my health and fitness articles at: Suite101.com. Also, if you're in the mood for a laugh, head to my You Tube page and check out my claymation short, Protector of the Night.

P.P.S. Please talk to your doctor before you start any exercise program or before performing any of the exercises I may discuss in my blog. If you are unsure about how to do an exercise, please seek the advice of a Personal Fitness Trainer. Also, any advice I offer does not replace the advice of a physician.

Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto