Ok, down to business. I'm finally getting around to writing on this thing. Who knew I'd have a blog...certainly not me! But here we are, and I will be using this great tool to share information about health, nutrition....and maybe a little razzing in between! This will work better than the emails since you can look back in the archives for information that I write about. Plus, I get similar questions from different people, so best to just have it all in one spot! Woo Hoo!

For starters, tonight I will give some tips for those of you looking to lose some weight and gain muscle. I can't emphasize enough the value of good nutrition. You can't expect to be at the top of your game (in life) if you're fueling with crap. With that said, it it important that you don't deprive yourself of treats every now and then. Heck, I think I downed about 2 massive dark chocolate bars this weekend. I don't really recommend that on a regular basis!

Secondly, you may be asking yourself...why the heck am I torturing myself with very hard exercise by choice?

Here's the deal: Your body is burning carbs (sugar) while you work out very hard....it's the POST-workout when you're body will dip into its next fuel reserves, that being FAT. To get the best results, you want to be sweating buckets by the time you are done. Your body goes into repair mode to build up what you just broke down. It needs calories to do that! If you just burned a bunch of carbohydrate sugars during your workout...it will use fat reserves for the recovery! (Plus you need protein to build your muscle).

Here's Some Top Tips:

1. Eat no later than 1/2 hour after your workout. Eat protein, good carbs, a bit of good fat.
2. Eat clean 90% of the week. 10% of the week, give yourself some treats.
3. Combine your meals with all 3: Protein, carb, fat. For instance, if you eat a banana, put almond butter or natural peanut butter on it....it satisfies you and breaks down slower b/c of the good fat. Maybe throw in a boiled egg with it for more protein!
4. A great study was done recently (per Prevention Magazine) that in order to maintain a healthy weight or lose weight, you want to eat "MUFA'S" at virtually every snack or meal. What is a MUFA? Mono-unsaturated Fatty Acids. You find these in olive oil, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, nut butters, avocados, almonds, pistachios, and DARK CHOCOLATE! etc. It doesn't mean to go over-board on them, it just means that HEALTHY fats are necessary to lose fat :)
5. Ditch the soda. Period. Both diet and regular. Blech. Sucks calcium out of your bones and it's just full of chemicals. Who needs it? Not you.

The amazing thing about evolving good eating habits, is that you simply just feel like crap if you steer away from eating well. Have a bad weekend? You feel bloated, your skin breaks out, you feel sluggish and tired and whatever else....basically a reminder that your body is telling you something.

One step at a time. I will add more as we move along! Keep up the hard work and it's been great working with you all!