Healthy, low cal breakfasts ideas for you

Ladies, this is for you. If you are trying to lose fat, skipping breakfast could very well be worse than downing a dozen large pizzas. Why? Because what you consume within the first couple of hours of awakening, dictates the tone of your metabolism for the rest of the day. The potential metabolic downward shift could be as much as 50% of your optimal metabolic rate. It is recommended you eat a well balanced breakfast within an hour of awakening.


BREAKFAST IDEA 1

Ladies (up to 200 lbs)
- 4 large egg whites + 1 whole egg (cooked any way you want... no traditionally frying, though)
- 1/3 cup of dry old fashioned oatmeal (sweeten with stevia)
- 1 mini box of raisins (11 g carbs )
- Orange flavored zero calorie drink

Gents (175-250 lb)
- 6 egg whites + 1 whole egg
- 2/3 cup dry old fashioned oatmeal (sweeten with stevia)
- 20 grapes
- Orange flavored zero calorie drink
- 1 cup cooked old fashioned oatmeal


BREAKFAST IDEA 2

4 oz Extra lean turkey patty (Jenny O, 97% fat free) (Guys make it 6 oz)
1 Orowheat multi grain sandwich thin bun
1/4 sliced avacado
2 slices of tomatoes or 2 tbs salsa



BREAKFAST IDEA 3

Baked Fitness Eggwhite Bake

1 small whole wheat pie crust
3 oz of cooked (sliced or diced)
4 egg whites (set aside)
3 oz turkey sausage
1 cup chopped spinach
1/4 sliced avacado

- Combine all but avacado in a small baking dish (I like to use small pie pans so I can store in fridge for later)
- pread out the avacado on the top
- Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes

Trainer Jo's NO MERCY Legs 1 (not for the novice)

Hey guys, here is a leg routine for you to try sometime. It is intense, so make sure you eat & hydrate well before attempting it. There are two parts to this workout; one is an intense interval routine, followed by 3 traditional leg exercises targeting your glutes, hams and quads

You will need access to the following
- Leg press machine
- 25 lb Olympic plate
- yoga or exercise mat
- interval stop watch or timer (if you have an iPhone, download the app called "Rounds"- you can set it for multiple intervals, with time between each interval).
- water and towel

Set your interval timer for 30 seconds, with 10 seconds between each interval to give you enough time to transition from exercise to exercise. You will be doing a total of 5 different exercises.

Exercise 1 (30 sec) - Leg presses (first set, no weight- just the weight of the sled)

Rest/transition (10 sec)

Exercise 2 (30 sec)- Crunches with 25lb plate on chest

Rest/transition (10 sec)

Exercise 3 (30 sec)- Split jumps

Rest/transition (10 sec)

Exercise 4- Superman planks

Rest/transition (10 sec)

Exercise 5 (30 sec)- Squat jumps

REST 2-4 minutes..or as long as it takes to get your heart rate down. For those of you who are just starting out, you may only be able to one round of this. For your more advanced trainers, set your goal to finish 5 rounds, the proceed to the leg workout

LEG WORKOUT

Single leg presses
- On leg press, aim for 10-20 reps, depending on your strength. Guys add weight so you can get a good set out of 10-20 reps.

Reverse Barre Lunges (3 sets of 10- 20 reps)
- Stand with your feet directly under the barre, both hands on the bar in front of you
- with the opposite leg, begin to go back into a reverse lunge, but do not let your foot rest on the ground behind you.
- you should end up in a reverse lunge position but with only your front foot on the floor, all your weight on your heel (so you really feel it in your glute) and your torso should be completely upright with your head directly above your torso, arms straight holding on to the bar (which is preventing you from falling all the way backwards).
- Your knee should also be directly above your heel. to make this exercise more effective, the fulcrum of the entire exercise should be on your knee. From your foot to your knee, should never move, pivoting on your knee, feeling the tension on your glute.
- make sure your other toe never touches the ground behind you.

Side Lunges w/ 25-lb plate. (3 sets of 10- 20 reps per side. Finish one side at a time. Do not alternate)
- start with a sumo squat position
- lunge towards one side, making sure you knee does not go over your toe
- push off with heel back to start position... repeat.


Stationary lunges w/ 25-lb plate. (3 sets of 10- 20 reps per leg. Finish one side at a time, Do not alternate.)
- stay in lunge position
- your legs should all bend to form right angles when you lunge down
- try to keep the tension on your glute, but pushing off with your front heel

A hot potato or a cold one?

Past few years, carbs have been demonized by a segment of the weight loss community that promotes low carb diets. But if you are active in vigorous exercise, you don't want to sacrifice your carbs because it will compromise your workout, therefore your results.

In the fitness modeling community, yams and sweet potatoes are rendered as one of the best carbs to eat to prevent insulin spikes and blood sugar drops. Potatoes, depending on how you prepare them, can range from high glycemic all the way to the low end.

First off, know that on the high end, baked russett potatoes take the prize
Surprisingly, boiled then chilled yams win on the low end ! ! No wonder a baked potato leaves you hungrier than sweet potatoe salad.


Here's a easy & tasty way to try yams

Boil yams until they are tender, cut them up into 1/2 inch slices. (don't remove the skin)
Spritz with grapeseed oil and sprinkle with Truvia and Cinnamon
Chill for an hour

wow...... quick and painless. No need to reheat. And for the sake of it's glycemic rank, you won't want to reheat them !!!

Trainer Jo's 2010 Fitness Bikini Contest schedule

September 11, 2010 NPC Tournament of Champions (tentative; based off results of new diet plan)

Sept. 18, 2010 WBFF World Championships in Ontario Canada (tentative)

Sept. 24 & 25- FLEX Bikini Model Search at the Olympia

October 23- Fitness America California- Bikini California in San Diego

October 30- NPC Border States

November 6 -NPC Las Vegas Classics

Nov. 19 & 20 Fitness & MuscleMania weekend in Las Vegas- Model America & Bikini America Classics

Spice up your diet (and health) with these spices and addatives

A well planned out fat burning fitness diet can be very boring since complex recipes make it hard to count calories and are therefore discouraged. But with some forethought and planning, it doesn't have to be tasteless.

Here are 6 spices you can add to your fitness diet that will not only make bland chicken breast tasty, but are also good for your long health term health.

((Whoa... 5 of them start with a C and the 6th starts with a G))

Curry /Turmeric (India) an antioxidant rich yellow powder that helps fight some cancers, Alzheimers and joint inflammation

Cardamom (India). Stimulates the GI, relives indigestion and helps alleviate intestinal gas.

Cinnamon (from the bark of a tropical tree) common in dessert dishes. Helps improve circulation, is a natural anti-inflammatory (to releive pain) and can be a sedative. It is also beleived to help diabetics with blood sugar control as well as blood pressure control.

Cloves. These are the premature buds from an evergreen tree. Its oil has been used for centuries to alleviate tooth pain and as an antiseptic in mouthwashes. It also has anti-inflammatory properties great for arthritis. Used to also help reduce congestion and stimulate digestion.

Cumin (Mediterranean). High in Iron & Manganese and helps with digestion and bloating.

Ginger (Asia) a common root in Asian & Indian foods, especially desserts and served with sushi. It is rich in antioxidants, helps with intestinal gas and nausea (due to motion sickness, pregnancy morning sickness and hangovers).

Simple ways to incorporate these into your diet
First off, all of them but Curry/Turmeric, can be steeped into teas, which is the easiest way. If you don't like tea.

Add Cinnamon (and Splenda or Stevia) to your morning oatmeal or yams to make it sweeter.
Cardamom is great sprinkled on rice (often used in rice pilaf in India)
Ginger, sliced finely set to the side of any dish.
Curry/Turmeric- my favorite of them all, I use it on chicken and rice and squashes. And you can find curry that is spicy. I prefer it with salt.
Cloves- this is best steeped into a liquid like soup or into a tea
Cumin can be added to turkey chili to give it some flavor as well as bean dishes. But be careful because too much is very bitter


Other spices & addatives worth adding

Vinegar- Acetic acid is it's scientific name and is derived from the fermented simple sugars. Apple Cidar Vinegar has been regarded as a wonder tonic throughout human history. And the list of health benefits is endless. Added to a carb rich meal, it has been shown to help prevent a blood sugar surge/drop and has been shown to help the body absorb calcium more efficiently.

Capsaicin- the spice that makes peppers hot. It helps control hunger and very slight increase in caloric burn. Main ingredient in Paprika

Basil, an common herb, can be added to just about anything. I love it with sauteed shrimp. It's good for digestive issues and has been used to treat anxiety, memory loss. It's also good as a food preserver.

Rosemary. Another good one for memory issues, headache reliever, and minor aches and pains. Sprinkle this on lean beef or potatoes !

Garlic. Known to scare of vampires and cold bugs (in its raw form). Scientfically proven to lower cholesterol over time.

Like I said, if planned properly, you can get all of the above in one day of meals.

Meal 1
- Eggwhite omlette- sprinkle with Paprika
- Oatmeal- sprinkle with Cinnamon

Meal 2
- Grilled chicken breast- sprinkle with Curry
- Grilled potatoes- sprinkle with Rosemary
- Steamed Brocolli- add minced garlic

Meal 3
- Shrimp with Basil
- Steamed rice, Sprinkled with Cardamom
- Veggies

Meal 4
- Sashimi w/ ginger
- sushi rice
- seaweed salad w/

Meal 5
- Canned tuna
- spinach greens
- Rice- add vinegar to make it tastier

Meal 6
- Clove tea
- Cottage cheese
- fruit

Ok, did I cover them all?

Trainer Jo's Healthy Chicken Curry Dinner

Set up a rice cooker to cook some rice before hand.

In a small 9 inch wok
Boil 1 cup water with 1 tsp to 1 tbs of curry powder (however strong you want the flavor)
set aside 1 cup of cooked rice

Chop, dice or slice an entire meidum sized zucchini squash and add throw it in
add 2-3 oz of chicken breast tenders
Boil or saute this mixture until chicken is done and zuchini is of desired texture,
Remove chicken and zuchini and place it on your plate
Throw that 1/2 to 1 cup of rice into the leftover water in the wok to reheat the rice and let it absorb the curry, the strain the rice onto your plate


22-45 g carbs (from the rice)
17-26 g of protein (from the chicken)
3 g fiber & 7 g carbs (from the zucchini)
and each tsp of curry is only 7 calories !

proportions sized for an average female and an average male

Cool, low cal finds at Dunkin Donuts

OMG- just had the omlette on flat bread with turkey sausage.
SOOOOOO surprised how tasty it was for the calorie and fat content. So I decided to look up the nutritional info on Dunkin Donuts and was happy to see there was more to offer

*** Drop the cheese on any of these choices and save alot more in fat & calories

Egg & cheese English Muffin
280 calories
9 g fat, 34 g carbs & 15 g protein

Eggwhite & Cheese on English Muffin
270 Calories
- 5 g fat, 35 g carbs and 16 g protein

Egg White Veggie Flatbread
330 Calories
- 12 g fat, 35 g carbs and 20 g protein
*** Drop the cheese and save alot more in fat & calories

Egg White Turkey Sausage Flatbread
290 calories
- 8 g fat, 34 g carbs and 21 g protein

Egg White & Cheese Wake-Up Wrap
150 calories
6 g fat, 14 g carbs & 8 g protein
*** I'd do 2 of these and still stay just under 300 calories if you drop the cheese

Mediterranean Salad
- 220 Calories
- 12 g fat, 24 g carb & 10g protein

Ham, Egg White & Cheese on English Muffin
310 calories
- 7 g fat, 34 g carbs and 22 g protein


Ham, Egg White & Cheese on Wheat English Muffin
300 calories
- 8 g fat, 33 g carbs and 21 g protein