Use Yoga to Stop the Clock

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Sep 072011
 

We already know, “Black don’t crack,” but if you’d like to enhance the natural youthful beauty Black women retain well into their older years, you may want to consider taking up yoga. From Prevention.com:

 

Minimizes wrinkles Yoga can reduce stress by nearly a third, reports a German study of 24 women. As a result, clenched jaws and furrowed brows relax, helping to smooth away wrinkles. Yoga may also rejuvenate skin’s glow by reducing oxidative stress, which breaks down skin’s elasticity. In an Indian study of 104 people, oxidative stress levels dropped by 9% after just 10 days of yoga.

Slows weight gainDuring a 10-year University of Washington study of 15,500 men and women over age 45, those who didn’t do yoga gained up to 13.5 pounds. Those who practiced regularly lost up to 5 pounds.

Eases pain Yoga is twice as effective as stretching at relieving back pain, according to another University of Washington study that had 101 people with lower-back pain do either yoga or stretching once a week for 3 months.

We all have those older relatives who are in their 60′s and easily look like they are in their 40′s, yoga just seems like it woul add a little “umph” to Black women’s ability to age gracefully. Nesides, being healthier, slimmer and more relaxed is something we all can benefit from, regardless of age.

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Six Tips to Staying Motivated

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Sep 072011
 

Keeping up the day to day of working out can be tough. Motivation is key, but keeping up that motivation, particularly if you don’t like working out, can be just as difficult as saying no to that extra piece of cake. So here are six tips to keep you motivated and staying with your workout:

Six Keys to Staying Motivated

:
1. Vary your routine every so often to prevent boredom and provide enhanced benefits by working different muscle fibers within the same broad muscle groups. Try different exercises; try doing more reps and lighter weights one day; more weight and less reps another day, etc.

2. A little bit is much better than nothing and in fact goes a long way. While an hour or so 3 to 4 times a week is great, exercising for 15 to 20 minutes once or twice a week is much better than no exercise.

3. Work with a trainer when bored or discouraged– even if it is just for a few sessions – to get you back on the right track, learn some new things and rejuvenate your workout.

4. View work-out time as “your time” to escape from the demands placed on you from others and take care of yourself. Get in a “zone” by focusing on the music you’re listening to, the results you will achieve or how good you will feel after your workout.

5. Write down your goals – You are more likely to remain committed to them. Also, keep a diary of your workouts and your progress – what gets recorded and measured gets improved.

6. Workout with a friend – you will push each other and time will go by faster..

What do you think?

Do any of these tips resonate with you?

What would you add to the list?

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1200 Calorie Meal Plan

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May 302011
 
Breakfast 
  • Oatmeal: In the microwave, cook 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats with 3/4 cup fat-free milk; 1/2 apple, chopped; 1 teaspoon honey; and a pinch of cinnamon
Lunch
  • Chicken salad: Toss 4 ounces shredded skinless roast chicken breast with 1/4 cup sliced red grapes, 1 tablespoon slivered almonds, 1 tablespoon light mayonnaise, and 1 tablespoon fat-free sour cream. Serve over lettuce.
  • 1 banana
Dinner
  • 4 ounces steamed shrimp
  • 1 baked potato topped with 3 tablespoons salsa and 1 tablespoon fat-free sour cream
  • 3 cups spinach, steamed
  • 1 low-fat frozen fudge bar
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1200 Calorie Meal Plan

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May 302011
 
Breakfast 
  • Smoothie: Blend 1 cup frozen berries, 1/2 banana, and 8 ounces fat-free milk
  • 1/2 English muffin spread with 1 teaspoon light margarine
Lunch
  • 1 cup vegetarian vegetable soup
  • 1 veggie burger in a mini whole wheat pita with lettuce and salsa
  • 6 ounces light yogurt
  • 15 grapes
Dinner
  • BBQ chicken: Brush 4 ounces boneless, skinless breast with barbecue sauce and grill
  • 1/2 cup vegetarian baked beans
  • 3 small boiled red potatoes topped with 1 teaspoon light margarine and a pinch of dill
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1200 Calorie Meal Plan

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May 302011
 
Breakfast 
  • 3/4 cup bran flakes, 1 banana, 1 cup fat-free milk
Lunch
  • Sandwich: 1 mini whole wheat pita, 3 ounces turkey breast, 1/2 roasted pepper, 1 teaspoon light mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce
  • 1 stick part-skim mozzarella string cheese
  • 2 kiwifruits
Dinner
  • 4 ounces broiled flounder or sole
  • 2 sliced plum tomatoes sprinkled with 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, broiled until just golden
  • 1 cup cooked couscous
  • 1 cup steamed broccoli
  • 1 fat-free pudding cup
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1424 Calorie Meal Plan – Low Fat

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May 302011
 
Breakfast 
  • 1 cup Milk – 1%
  • 1 pack Oatmeal – instant pkt.,maple

Protein: 8.50 – Carbs:37.10 – Fats: 3.10 – Calories:202.00

AM Snack
  • 1 each Apple- medium with peel 0.30 21.10 0.00 81.00
  • 2 tbps peanut butter 8.00 7.00 16.30 190.00

Protein: 8.30 – Carbs: 28.10 – Fats: 16.30 – Calories: 271.00

Lunch
  • 1 each Chicken sandwich – Wendy’s grilled

Protein: 24.00 – Carbs: 37.40 – Fats: 13.00 Calories: 340.00

PM Snack
  • 2 each Bread whole wheat -slice 
  • 2 tsp Mayo type reg, w/salt
  • 2.5 ounces Tuna Solid White-Water small can

Protein: 25.07  - Carbs: 32.42 – Fats: 14.67 – Calories: 366.64

Dinner
  • 4 ounces Halibut – broiled
  • 0.5 cup rice-brown cooked steamed
  • 0.5 cup Vegetables – mixed, frozen, boiled

Protein: 28.10 – Carbs: 42.90 – Fats: 3.10 – Calries: 255.25

Grand Total
  • Protein: 94.00
  • Carbs: 177.82
  • Fats: 39.67 
  • Calories:: 1424.89
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1344 Calorie Meal Plan – Low Fat

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May 302011
 
Breakfast 
  • 12 ounces coffee-w/caffeine
  • 1 each Bagel-plain, Lenders Bake Shop
  • 2 tbsp Peanut butter- creamy
  • 1 tbsp Cream, fluid, half and half

Protein:17.44 – Carbs:49.74 – Fats:20.12 - Calories:427.55

AM Snack
  • 1 each apple-medium with peel

Protein: 0.30 – Carbs: 21.10 – Fats: 0.0 – Calories: 81.00

Lunch
  • 3 ounces chicken breast/ white meat
  • .25 cup Croutons-plain
  • 1 large Salad-lrg. Garden w/tomato and onion 
  • 4 tbps Thousand island-reduced cal. Kraft

Protein: 38.00 – Carbs: 36.90 – Fats: 8.30 – Calories: 348.75

PM Snack
  • 1 each apple-medium with peel

Protein: 0.30 –  Carbs: 21.10 –  Fats: 0.0  - Calories81.00

Dinner
  • 3 ounces chicken breast/ white meat
  • 1 cup pasta, corn cooked
  • 1 small salad-sm. Garden w/tomato, onion
  • 2 tbps thousand island- reduced cal. Kraft

Protein: 31.38 – Carbs: 54.57 – Fats: 6.42 – Calories: 405.65

Grand Total
  • Protein: 87.43
  • Carbs: 183.42 
  • Fats: 34.85
  • Calories: 1343.95
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1517 Calorie Meal Plan – Low Fat

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May 302011
 
Breakfast
  • 12 ounces coffee-w/caffeine
  • 1 cup Milk
  • 1 tbps cream,fluid,half and half
  • 1 pack Oatmeal-instant,maple,brn sugar Quaker

Protein:13.34 – Carbs: 44.65 – Fats: 8.82 – Calories: 299.55

AM Snack
  • 1 cup Cottage cheese- 1%fat 28.00 6.00 2.00 164.00
  • 0.5 cup Pineapple-canned, chunks 0.00 18.00 0.00 70.00

Protein: 28.00 – Carbs: 24.00 – Fats: 2.00 – Calories: 234.00

Lunch
  • 2 each bread whole wheat-slice 6.00 24.00 2.00 140.00
  • 1 cubic inch cheddar cheese 
  • .15 cup mayo
  • 1 ounce turkey breast/white meat
  • .25 small Tomato-small

Protein: 19.33 – Carbs: 34.36 – Fats: 18.19 – Calories: 378.48

PM Snack
  • 8 each Cracker/Nabisco-Low Saltines
  • 1 ounce Turkey/white meat

Protein: 10.12 – Carbs: 16.00 – Fats: 3.40 – Calories: 134.25

Dinner
  • 5 ounces Halibut – broiled
  • 1 cup rice-white cook steamed
  • 2 tbps Thousand island-reduced cal. Kraft
  • 0.5 cup Vegetables – mixed, frozen, boiled 
  • 1 small salad-sm. Garden w/tomato, onion
  • 1 tsp Sugar-white
  • 12 fluid ounces Tea-prepared w/tap water

Protein: 44.80 – Carbs: 82.50 – Fats: 7.40 – Calories: 470.75

Grand Total
  • Protein: 115.58
  • Carbs: 201.50
  • Fats: 39.82
  • Calories: 1517.04
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Spinach Lasagna with Sun-dried Tomato Sauce

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Feb 042011
 
About

Lasagna is a staple dish, an easy meal that offers an endless number of ingredients that can be added to the pasta to create any number of variations. This recipe: Spinach and sun-dried tomato sauce. 

Serves 8

Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose (plain) flour
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup plain soy milk (soya milk)
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 2 green (spring) onions, including tender green tops, sliced
  • 1/2 cup dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in water to rehydrate, drained and chopped
  • 10 ounces fresh cremini or shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 6 cups baby spinach leaves, chopped
  • 2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese
  • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg white
  • 12 no-boil spinach lasagna sheets, about 7 by 3 1/2 inches
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
Preparation

In a saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the garlic and continue to whisk until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in the soy milk and stock all at once. Cook and stir until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the green onions and sun-dried tomatoes. Set the sauce aside.

In a large nonstick frying pan, heat 1 teaspoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and shallot and saute until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley and salt. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.

In the same pan, heat the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the spinach and stir quickly until the spinach is wilted but still bright green. Remove from the heat. Let cool slightly.

In a large bowl, beat together the ricotta, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan and the egg white. Stir in the spinach and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce in the dish and cover with 3 sheets of the pasta. Spoon half of the spinach mixture onto the pasta and spread gently. Cover with 3 more pasta sheets. Top with another 1/2 cup of sauce. Spread the mushroom mixture on top and cover with another 1/2 cup of sauce, then another layer of pasta. Spoon in the remaining spinach filling and top with the last 3 pasta sheets. Add the remaining sauce and the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until golden, about 10 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with the basil.

Nutritional Information
  • Calories: 288
  • Monounsaturated fat: 4 g
  • Protein: 17 g
  • Cholesterol: 6 mg
  • Carbohydrate: 39 g
  • Sodium: 526 mg
  • Total fat: 8 g
  • Fiber: 4 g
  • Saturated fat: 2 g

Source

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Chicken Tuna!

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Jan 092010
 

From our resident personal trainer Casper:

I am a member over at bodybuilding.com forums and have been for about ten years. I really use the place as a reference guide as it is a wealth of information. Well there is also a member there who I have seen in and out of the forums and she goes by the name of chickentuna. I won’t lie, I have checked out her pics on more than one occasion, but I never actually checked out her web page.

It seems that everyone has a page or a blog or whatever. As much as you may like someone there are only so many hours in a day and you just can’t be friends with everyone. Well this morning as I was taking my 10 minutes of internet time to check email, print out my news for the day (I just print and go) I stopped by bodybuilding.com and caught out of the corner of my eye the word chickentuna and her website so I took a couple of extra minutes to check it out.



Getting right down to it, she makes a ton of sense and I wish I would have dropped by sooner. She has a no B.S. approach (which I prefer) She explains what it is that she does to look the way she wants to, and bluntly explains that this probably isn’t for you…. BUT if it is for you, its probably gonna suck real bad.

She keeps her diet very simple and leads a disciplined lifestyle. In her site she has a list of foods which I thought was very sensible and as she calls it “plain food” Given the list of things that she eats I could come up with tons of different meals but as she says herself she doesn’t cook, so if you can cook thats all the more stuff you can do with it.

If for nothing else the site is motivational, and really is worth the look. I love the rant page she has and the last paragraph “lucky”  is priceless.

Her page is http://www.bunklers.com/

and her progress pictures over at bodybuilding.com are Here

You can do it!!!

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