nutrition
Welcome (MORE!) New Fitness Boot Camp Athletes!
We welcome new folks to our morning boot camp family!
Bettina Cochran
Kaitlyn Knotson
Brenda, Jack and Josh Whitaker
Welcome New Killeen Fitness Boot Camp Athletes!
We welcome these fine folks to our little family!
Lirio Navarro
David and Whitney Braun
Welcome New Fitness Boot Camp Athlete!
Welcome Juliana Attilio to our Morning Boot Camp Class!
Some Quick Photos
I haven’t uploaded pics in a while, so here are a few to keep you going…
Welcome New Fitness Boot Camp Athletes!
Welcome our newest Athletes!
Elizabeth Marshall
Alison Cruz
Lorene’s Chicken Salad
I got this in an email from Coach Lorene today…
This is the recipe I was telling you about when my shiny earrings distracted you. I added carrot, celery, and avocado.
Makes enough for 2-4 good lunches, depending on how much you eat.
3 large chicken breasts, already grilled/baked and cut into bite size pieces
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large pinch of coarse salt (Kosher or sea)
1 small pinch of cumin seeds
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 2/3 pounds very ripe but firm tomatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 small Kirby (pickling) cucumbers, cored, seeded and diced
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
1/2 cup seedless green grapes, cut in half
About 1/2 cup slivered fresh mint or basil (optional)
1. Place the garlic, salt, and cumin in a mortar (or cuisinart) and, using a pestle, mash them into a paste. Dump the paste into a medium bowl, add the vinegar and olive oil and whiskit all together well.
4. Place the chicken, cucumbers, onion, grapes, and mint, if using, in a large bowl and toss to mix. Add the dressing to the salad and toss to combine well.
So easy, refreshing, and cooking-free for these 100 degree days!
Add Flavor, Not Fat
In America, the fastest route to good flavor is rarely the healthiest option. When someone suggests a healthier alternative, the idea is often shunned as being time-consuming or more expensive than other, fatty options. But these days, healthy doesn’t always mean expensive and it doesn’t have to take a lot of extra time.
Ready to make the changes that will turn your fat-filled recipes into healthy, light dishes? Grab your apron and get started!
Cook with Care
One way you can keep your dishes bursting with flavor without added fats is by cooking food properly. If you find yourself adding unhealthy flavoring because a food is dry or bland, you may have cooked it the wrong way. This problem happens easily with meats, so avoid overcooking your poultry, beef, and pork.
Remove Fried Foods from Your Repertoire
Grandma made great fried chicken and there’s nothing better than fried okra, but scientists have yet to find a healthy fried food. With so little hope for nutritional value in fried foods, do your body a favor and cut fried foods out of your recipe books. Instead, learn how to cook using boiling, broiling, or another healthy technique.
Use the Grill
Though you may consider grilling against good health sense, giving the grill a chance may be just what the doctor ordered. When cooking on a grill, excess fat simply drips off the meat, never to be seen again. You’re then left with a nice piece of meat that hasn’t been cooking in its own fat and has a wonderful flavor that can only be achieved on a grill.
Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul. – Dorothy Day
Get Steamy
To create delicious vegetables without adding butter and excess salt, get steaming. If you don’t have a fancy steamer, toss your vegetables in a perforated basket, and place the basket above a pot of simmering water. On top of securing the vegetables’ great flavor, steaming also keeps the natural vitamins and nutrients intact, so you get the healthiest vegetables possible.
Head for Herbs
Herbs are a healthy, natural alternative to the saturated and trans fats present in butter and margarine. If you choose to use fresh herbs right out of the garden, add them toward the end of cooking and use them liberally. Dried herbs, on the other hand, should be added at the beginning of cooking and should be used sparingly to avoid an overpowering flavor.
Switch It Up
In addition to changing how you cook, adding flavor healthily requires some substitutions. You may not have to say goodbye to certain flavors altogether, but you will need to go with the healthier alternatives. To keep foods full of flavor without too much bad stuff, use the chart below the next time you go to the grocery store.
| If You Typically Use This | Opt For This Healthy Alternative |
| Bacon and sausage | Canadian bacon and lean ham |
| Whole eggs | Egg whites |
| Beef chuck | Beef loin, with external fat removed |
| Canned cream soups | Broth-based, low-sodium soups |
| Regular butter or margarine | Light butter or margarine; if used to spread on bread, go for jelly, jam, or honey |
| Whole milk | Skim, low-fat, or reduced milk |
| Ice cream | Sherbet, sorbet and ices, or frozen yogurt |
| American cheese | Fat-free cheese |
| Spaghetti and other pastas with white sauce | Spaghetti and other pastas with red sauce |
| White rice | Brown rice |
| Oil-packed tuna | Water-packed tuna |
| Croissants | Hard French rolls |
| Donuts and sweet rolls | English muffins, bagels, or reduced-fat muffins |
By implementing these easy tactics, your food should be as flavorful as it is healthy, so you should have no hesitations when it’s time to dig in!
New Boot Camp Athletes!
Welcome Marcellus and Latrice Amaker!
New Athletes In Killeen’s Best Fitness Bootcamp!
Welcome Yarixya Rivera and Diana Rivera
Reduce Muscle Soreness
Roasted Red Pepper Chicken and Avocado Salad
Looking for a cool salad to fill you up this summer? Here’s a delicious recipe from my partners over at Prograde Nutrition for you.
Roasted Red Pepper Chicken and Avocado Salad
1 medium ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 bag (10 oz.) torn romaine lettuce (about 10 cups)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 medium tomato, cut into wedges
1 small cucumber, sliced
1/4 of a medium Vidalia or Walla Walla onion, chopped
½ cup Red Pepper
1/2 cup Light or Fat-free Italian Dressing
¼ cup Parmesan Cheese
Directions:
Toss avocados with lemon juice in large salad bowl.
Add lettuce, chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions; mix lightly.
Add dressing; toss to coat.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Serve immediately.
Hey, if you like that one they’ve got 196 more! Seriously, Prograde has a really cool 197 Healthy and Delicious Fat Burning Recipes ebook for just $4.95!
Check it out here: http://jimmahan.getprograde.com/prograderecipebook.html
How Fit Are You?
Exactly how fit are you? It’s an intriguing question. Many people over and under estimate their own fitness. Often, the fitter people get, the more critical they are of their own fitness. The ways of measuring your fitness is almost as varied as the ways you can get fit. So how do we find out how fit we are?
Measuring your fitness is important for a few reasons. Knowing your current fitness level will enable you to make clear goals for your workout program. You’ll be able to measure your fitness after some time, and see how far you’ve progressed. This will help to maintain your motivation. Finally, it’s important to know your fitness level so that you can choose the most appropriate exercise and strength training for your body.
There are four primary components of fitness that you can measure. The first is aerobic fitness. This is your endurance level, and it is dependent upon your age, gender, and improves with proper training. Aerobic fitness is directly related to the proportion of your bodyweight that is free of fat. Your level of aerobic fitness implies a level of health, and thus is a very important measurement.
Aerobic movement requires the delivery of oxygen to the muscles. Oxygen is delivered to the muscles via your bloodstream. Therefore, each heartbeat you have is an indicator of the amount of blood traveling through your bloodstream. So one way to measure your aerobic fitness is to take your heart rate, or pulse. Record your resting pulse rate, and then go for a one-mile brisk walk. Take your pulse again once you’ve immediately finished the mile, and record how long it took you to walk. As you gain aerobic fitness, your heart rate should lower. So should the time it takes you to walk the mile! The average resting heart rate for an adult is 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm). Truly fit individuals can have a resting heart rate of 40bpm!
The second measurement is muscular fitness. This relates to your strength, and the endurance of that strength. Your muscular fitness can show how susceptible you are to injury. It also relates to your bone mass. A very simple way of testing your muscular fitness is with push-ups. You can time yourself, and see how many you do in that timeframe. Or, you can just complete as many push-ups as possible before fatigue sets in.
The third measurement is flexibility. This is your body’s ability to move joints and muscles through a full range of motion. It can also relate to your balance and coordination levels. A tight muscle can prevent normal movement. The most common way to measure your flexibility is via the dreaded sit and reach test. With this test, you’ll need a measuring tape. Place the measuring tape along the floor. With your feet at zero, and the tape stretching away from you, sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. Try to touch your feet or stretch as far past your feet as possible. Have a friend check how far you went on the measuring tape. If you can’t reach your toes, you’ll have a negative number. If you stretch past your feet, you’ll have a positive number. Obviously, the more flexible your legs, hips, and lower back are, the further you will be able to reach in this test. One problem, though, is that your flexibility in each joint is independent of your other joints. Therefore, you may have very flexible shoulder joints, but terribly tight hamstrings.
The fourth measurement is your body composition. This tends to relate to the amount of fat on your body, and where that fat is located. The location of fat at specific sites (in particular, the waist area) places you at higher risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. A simple way of measuring your body composition is via your body mass index (BMI). This is your body weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of your height (in meters). For example, if your weight is 61 kilograms, and your height is 1.69 meters, then your BMI calculation would be
61
(1.69 x 1.69)
That’s a BMI of 21.36. There are also charts that allow you to look up your BMI based on your height and weight. The range for a normal BMI is 18.5 – 25. You will fall into the overweight range if your BMI is anywhere between 25 – 30. Obese is anything greater than 30. Underweight is anything under 18.5.
Another important body composition test is to measure your waist. Anything larger than 40 inches for men, and 35 inches for women increases your health risks. This is particularly important to take notice of if your BMI is larger than 25.
So how fit are you? But more importantly, how fit do you intend to be? Set your goals, work your program, and watch as those numbers go down, down, down.
