One of the things I enjoy about eating healthy is coming up with new meals. The other is the time I get to spend with my lovely wife. See there was a time when we would avoid talking about food just because of how different we felt about it. She believed it was for enjoyment I believed it was for fuel. We now know it can be both. Something  in us changed after fasting at the beginning of the year and now we are cooking together and enjoying a healthy lifestyle together. Here are some pics of a meal we came up with tonight. I like to call them breakfast cupcakes.

You will need the following:
12 eggs
1/4lb of farm fresh sausage
3/4 cup of white onions
1/2 cup of parsley
1 cup of mini-sweet peppers
1 cup mushrooms

Pre heat oven to 350
Beat eggs
Coat cupcake pan with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Fill slots half way with egg
Then add sausage, onions, peppers, parsley then fill the rest with remaining egg. Cook for 20 minutes

Now you have a great breakfast or whatever meal you want to use it for. We cook them at night so they are ready to go in the morning.

There is a ton of information out there on nutrition. So much that at times it can be over whelming everyone seems to have their opinion on what works best. One of my favorites is Whole 9. They have a program called the Whole 30.  This program is designed to help you gain control of what you eat, to help you understand not only what is good for you but also foods could be negatively impacting your health and why that is. Not only is the Whole 9 very informative its not over whelming. They even provide great resource like a Seasonal Guide to Vegetables and Fruit (see below). I encourage you to check out Whole 9 I highly recommend it take their challenge and see the difference 30 Days can make.

Click to enlarge

This morning my lovely 8 year old daughter Adriana showed me that kids have such great potential.  Allow me to share a quick story of this morning. I teach a boot camp class at 5:30, so I’m up and out of the house before 5 am. This morning, my wife’s alarm didn’t go off so she woke up late at 6:50am! Normally it’s 6 am. One would think this would lead to panic in a house with school age kids. Not for us though.  My daughter has her own alarm clock and when it went off at 6:00am, she got up. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, brushed her hair AND made breakfast. Now we’re not talking breakfast cereals (cereals are not allowed in my home but that’s another story.) She cooked scrambled eggs, cut up bananas and peeled oranges. She didn’t just make enough for herself, but the whole family. She finished eating then kept getting ready for school, all of this without panic or worry. So when my wife woke up and I got back from boot camp, there was our daughter doing what needed to be done and going above and beyond.

Children are capable of so much; we just have to lead them. Teach them to be a leader and to make smart choices.

Most of us don’t have problems setting goals, the problem is keeping the goals. Setting your goals is one of the first steps in your road to getting fit. We want to make sure that our goals help get us on the right track and keep us focused. Having goals like looking good and feeling better are good goals they just aren’t S.M.A.R.T. goals. Now this doesn’t mean your goals are dumb but are we maximizing all our goals can be to help set ourselves up for success and not failure.

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timed

Let’s look at the difference between some good goals and S.M.A.R.T. goals -

good goals

• go running
• start exercising
• eat better

S.M.A.R.T. goals

• run a 5k in 9 weeks
• go to the gym 3 times a week
• limit your soda intake from a case a day to 2 cans a week

We want to set S.M.A.R.T. goals to avoid the classic pitfalls of goal setting like being to vague, no time frame or setting goals that you cant tell when you have completed them. When we do things like set vague goals it not only hinders our progress but limits how we are able to plan. Take the time to look at the goals and make sure they are S.M.A.R.T. goals and not just good goals.

Truth is timeless and Jack Lalanne was way ahead of his time. We will miss him and all he did for the Health and Fitness world.
R.I.P. Jack Lalanne 1914 -2011

I know at times I have a hard time thinking of new, creative  and great tasting healthy meal options. About 2 months ago I came across a site called The Foodee Project. They collect healthy recipes from all over the web  and put them in one place on their site in what they call the  meal of the day. I encourage you to go and check out The Foodee Project and I have also added a new widget that automatically post each new meal daily.

Follow

the

arrow

for

the

new

Meal Of The Day

• Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
• Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
• Stand up for what you believe no matter the cost.
• When God gives you a dream he will see it through
• Just because you have a God size dream doesn’t mean it will be easy
• All people matter
• Leadership matters
• Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
• Vision is driving force
• The time is always right to do what is right.
• If you don’t stand up for something you will fall for any thing
• Faith is taking the first step even when we don’t see the whole staircase
• Stick with love, Hate is to great a burden to bear
• That people shouldn’t be judge by the color of the their skin but the content of their character
• Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
• Life’s most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?
• The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.
• We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

One of the #1 reasons why most people give up after a few weeks of working out is their exercise plan. They just don’t like it. When you ask them what they think a typical workout plan looks like, they would say: 10 minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes of lifting some type of weights, 10 minutes of abdominal work, then 10 minutes on the elliptical and they’re done.  This makes most people feel like a hamster on a wheel. I’d quit too if I hated what I was doing.

Somehow we assume the hamster approach is the only approach. That there is this “one size fits all” exercise program. It worked for my neighbor, sister and 3 co-workers so why doesn’t it work for me?  Let’s do some quick math (I know math is not fun but just bare with me) and see why that is.

Let’s assume the workout plan you’ve been doing is a 9 on a scale from 1- 10. Let’s be honest,  you don’t like it, so your effort is a 3 on a scale of 1-10.

Here’s the formula: Plan x effort = results and 9 x 3 = 27

Now let’s say your next workout program is only a 6, but you really like it so you perform at an 8.

Now you have: Plan x effort = results and 6 x 8 = 48

Your results are greater by 23 points even though the new plan may not be as good. You are bought in to it, therefore you are more likely to stick to it and see results. Not to mention you enjoy what you are doing along the way.

No matter what anyone tells you, and no matter how great their program is; if you won’t do it, it’s about as valuable as a $3 bill.  In my life, I have tried lots of programs; some with success and others not so much. The same was true when I first began to train clients. Those who make the best improvements are those who loved what they were doing. Don’t just do what everyone else is doing. Find something you will enjoy. There are tons of ways to exercise so don’t let doing something you don’t like be your downfall.  Out of the hundreds of programs out there, find what you love and go for it.

Seems like only 2 weeks ago it was a different year and things seemed to be winding down. Now you have looked up we are half way thru January and things are full speed ahead. So now is the  time to start assessing how things are going before its to late and your new goals are gone and forgotten. Let’s pull out that list of goals we had and see if we are closer or father away to getting those accomplished.  This can one of the most powerful tools you can use to help you stay focused and complete your goals.

Now there is no one size fits all way to see check up on your progress but my favorites is to ask yourself 5 questions.

1. Am I still going after my goal? – Making a budget= good, Join a gym = good. NOT following the budget or going to the gym = bad. First steps are great but it is all the steps after that get you closer.
2. Did I set the right goal? – nothing wrong with goal setting but is it the right one for where you are in life? Wanting to save money great goal. Getting a job first better goal.
3. How is my plan working? – Your goal to workout is great, your plan just to go whenever you have time is bad.
4. Am I having fun? Sometimes we set goals and find out its not what we expected. Now that doesn’t mean we throw out the goal with bath water but maybe we tweak our plan. Maybe running on the treadmill is boring to you. Switch it up and try something new like Kettlebells or Crossfit.
5. What can I do to stay on track? -We are about 7 days away from most people giving up on there goals. Must will find it to be to much work, some to time consuming or others just  get frustrated.Then there are those who  stop for no reason at all. No matter what the reason do be a statistic this year. Make a plan to stay on track. Have someone hold you accountable or adjust your plan to fix the areas that may cause you to quit.

14 days from now you still want to be on the right track to reach your goals. Don’t be afraid to ask yourself the tough question and then give yourself the honest answers.

Before we dive into why I wrote this post lets ask ourselves a few questions.

If you were going to play basketball would you want to be surrounded by Kevin Durant, Lebron James and Kobe Bryant or a just some so so players?

If you were going to get your cooking on would you want to be surrounded by Bobby Flay, Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray or those who can just follow the direction on a box of Mac and Cheese?

Most would say they would love to be around the experts,  those with knowledge, and the people they can learn from. That makes perfect sense. What better motivation than to be surrounded by those who are great at what they do. (Now the people I mentioned my not be your favorites but feel free to sub in your own personal favs). When we surround ourselves with people who are great at what they do, whether it is us just playing basketball with them or cooking on the stove next to them, we provide ourselves with opportunities to learn. We have someone to look up to and something we can strive for.

Now I ask you would ever want to put yourself in an environment where all the greatness has been removed. Go to a kitchen where Bobby Flay was not allowed because of how great he is or basketball court where Michael Jordan couldn’t play cause he has to many championships.  I say the answer is no. So why is it when it comes fitness it seems we want the opposite?

No body builders,
No crossfitters,
No kettlebells,
No workouts that seem weird,
No people who look like they are in shape

Now this isn’t every gym but it seems to be a growing trend.  Let’s just get rid of all the people who intimidate. Well, I say that’s just not true.  I would even go as far as to say that they are motivators. That these same people were once in the same place you were when they started. The difference is they choose to use those around them as motivation and not intimidation. See, it’s a choice as to what we let our surroundings tell us. You can look at the guy with big muscles as scary or ask him to share his knowledge.  Trust me they are more than willing to share. You can ask the lady who can do 20 pull ups in a row how she does that or find a gym where men can’t even do pull ups.

This just isn’t a fitness thing either-  it applies to all areas of your life. Remember, it’s your choice to surround yourself with those more knowledgeable who can give you goals to strive for or let what could be used as motivation and turn it into intimidation.