Try Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk!

My favorite new drink is Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk. It is amazing! It tastes like a combination of soy milk and almonds. I just add a few equals and I'm in heaven. Plus, it has only 30 calories a serving and has 50% more calcium than milk! I enjoy a cup before I go to bed each evening.

Check Out The Nutrition Guru's Eating Trainer App!

Do you eat too quickly? Then this may be the app for you! Check it out at: 
http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/nutrition-gurus-eating-trainer/id371289118?mt=8

Check Out The Eat This Not That Game App!

The EAT THIS, NOT THAT GAME challenges you to choose the healthier foods when confronted with hundreds of fast food face-offs. How fun! Go to http://eatthis.menshealth.com/game/ and http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/eat-this-not-that!-the-game/id361436133?mt=8 for more information

Check Out The Fooducate App!

Fooducate's Mission:

Providing you with the tools to make the right choices at the supermarket.

This app let's you use your Android or iPhone to scan products in the supermarket and then gives you nutritional information and ratings on the items. If you don't have an iPhone or Andriod you can get nutritional info on their website. Go to fooducate.com and facebook.com/Fooducate/info for more information!

My New Favorite 5 Calorie Drink!

Crystal light has a new line called mocktails: mixes that taste like popular mixed drinks.

Crystal Light Mojito is my new favorite new 5 calorie drink. It tastes like the real thing, just without rum! I don't know how they do it but it tastes like a mix of lime, mint and sugar! Yum!

 

The description from the Crystal Light website:

"The night is young and so are the men. Be the life of the party - guilt free. New, low-calorie mocktails are virgin drink mixes that pair well with girls’ night outs, intimate soirees and outrageous flirting. The only question is, do you take your margaritas with or without crushed ice?"

A Fitness Writer Reveals Her 3 Top Health Secrets!

I automatically receive Oprah's newsletters. This was an article I thought was worth sharing. It includes three easy ways to improve your health: increase the calories you burn, help your muscles recoup after exercise and improve your balance. Enjoy!

A Fitness Writer Reveals Her 3 Top Health Secrets!

By Gretchen Reynolds
Oprah.com   |   From the April 2012 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine

Fitness writer Gretchen Reynolds shares her new favorite ways to stay in shape. We bet you'll love them, too. (Hint: Chocolate is involved.)

Research a book about exercise science and you'll learn many things, including that sit-ups can be bad for your back and running good for your knees; that massage may not, in the ways long suspected, ease overtaxed muscles (even though it feels wonderful); and that most of the health benefits of exercise, for someone who's been wedded to her couch, accrue in the first 20 minutes or so of a workout. But some lessons have proved to be especially persuasive. These are the tips I actually use, to the benefit of my body and the occasional amusement of my husband.

Stand up to stave off pounds.

Writing about exercise almost ensures that you won't have time to do any, and I had expected to emerge from my writing cave wan and pudgy. Wan happened. But pudgy didn't, thanks in part to my reading about studies conducted at the University of Massachusetts, in which volunteers spent one day sitting and then another standing or walking nonstop. The difference in energy expenditure was "hundreds of calories," Barry Braun, PhD, a kinesiologist who oversaw the study, told me. I now leave my chair while talking on the phone and keep a music stand in my office so I can spend some time upright while reading. I love science that validates both my vanity (don't want a wide waist) and my laziness (happy to just stand there).

Two words: chocolate milk.

An enticing body of nutritional science suggests that you should eat or drink immediately after exercising, in order to help your muscles recover. If the foods you ingest contain both carbohydrates and protein, your muscles will refuel more fully. And if the food is low-fat chocolate milk, even better; it contains a nearly physiologically ideal ratio of carbs to protein. Experiments have shown that people who drink chocolate milk after a workout recover better, lose more body fat, and gain more muscle than subjects who have a sports drink. The caveat: If you don't exercise vigorously for at least 45 minutes, you don't need recovery chocolate. That's incentive enough to get me out on the trails a few times a week.

Brush like a stork.

Before I began my book, I would have told you I had no problem with my balance. Then, following the advice of Jay Hertel, PhD, a professor at the University of Virginia who studies wobbly people, I tested myself, standing on one leg and almost immediately headbutting the wall. Ever since, I've been training. My regimen consists of a single exercise—brushing my teeth on one leg. "It sounds silly," Hertel says, "but if you do that for two minutes a day, you're working your balance really well." Bonus: After months of watching me floss and wobble, my husband remains amused—which is good for another kind of health, that of our marriage.

Gretchen Reynolds's book The First 20 Minutes: The Myth-Busting Science That Shows How We Can Walk Farther, Run Faster, and Live Longer (Hudson Street) is out this month.

Stay in Shape...and Have Fun

The 20 Most Intense Workout Songs!

If your on the treadmill or elliptical machine or  just plain working out you will probably be listening to music to keep you energized. Here is a list of  intense songs that will keep you moving!

The 20 Most Intense Workout Songs

Mar 12, 2012 | By Susy Sedano- Livingstrong.com

Who knows workout music better than the trainers who work at some of the best gyms in the United States? We asked fitness experts for the most intense songs that get them going, and these were their suggestions.

1. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns and Roses:  If you’ve ever tried Tabatas (20 seconds of exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times), this is the perfect workout tune, says nutritionist Mike Roussell, founder of Naked Nutrition, LLC. (mikeroussell.com)
2.  C'mon (Catch em' By Surprise) - Tiesto featuring Busta Rhymes:  You can't really go wrong with Tiesto if you need something to bring up the pace and keep you moving, says strength coach Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S. He uses this song to help push through sprints or running steps.
3. Down - Stone Temple Pilots:  Some songs are so powerful that they make you want to hit something. This STP tune is no exception. Joe Dowdell, C.S.C.S, owner of Peak Performance, recommends "Down" for boxing workouts. 
4. Carry It - Travis Barker, RZA, Raekwon, Tom Morello:  Pop this in on your ride to the gym and start getting fired up. It’s perfect because it’s not too crazy, so you don't fry yourself before, says strength coach Jason Ferruggia, C.S.C.S. (jasonferruggia.com) 
5. Enter Sandman – Metallica:  When you’re doing a strongman circuit, which requires both strength and endurance, few songs fit the bill better than this classic, says Dowdell.
6.  Cochise – Audioslave:  If you’re looking for a song before lifting heavy weights, this has to be a go-to option, says Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S. (tonygentilcore.com)
7. Are You Ready - Rollins Band:  After you finish your warmup, this is the perfect song right before you begin your workout, says Ferruggia. "Are you ready to rip it up? Are you ready to tear it down?" The lyrics will have you ready.
8. Mosh – Eminem:  The beat alone is enough to have anyone ready to hit the gym. Tune this up before doing a heavy lift or an exercise you struggle with, suggests strength coach Jim Smith, C.S.C.S. (dieselsc.com)
9. Hot For Teacher - Van Halen:  What more could you ask for? Great drums and a good up-beat tempo that gets you moving, says health and weight loss expert, Brad Pilon. (bradpilon.com)
10. No More Sorrow - Linkin Park:  This song is good for heavy pulling exercises because it starts a little slow (while you're getting your head together) and then ramps up when you're ready to pick heavy weights up off the floor, says strength coach Eric Cressey, C.S.C.S. (ericcressey.com)
11. Lost at Birth - Public Enemy: “This makes me lose my mind right before a big set or max effort,” says Ferruggia.
12. Mouth for War – Pantera:  Some people only need songs for that final mental push. In that situation, save this song to help you work a little harder, says nutritionist Alan Aragon, M.S. (alanaragon.com)
13. Spaz Out - Army of the Pharoahs:  For anyone who does squats or deadlifts, this is perfect right before you start moving the weight, says Ferruggia.
14. Welcome Home - Coheed and Cambria:  You might have never heard of this song (we didn’t), but it’s another favorite for heavy lifts, says Gentilcore.
15. Hells Bells - AC/DC:  Intervals are one of the best forms of fat loss currently used by trainers, and this song fits the bill to help you get through the mentally draining sessions.
16. Down With the Sickness – Disturbed:  Some people think of the dynamic warmup as a passive process. But when done right, it should have your heart rate pumping and your body ready to go. That’s why strength coach, Bret Contreras, C.S.C.S. uses this song to prepare his muscles and help avoid injury. (bretcontreras.com)
17. 'Till I Collapse – Eminem:  The song’s beginning should have you focused: “You gotta search within you. You gotta find that inner strength…” If you’re looking for the perfect time to pull out this song, it’s great for metabolic circuits, Airdyne Sprints, or battling ropes, says Patrick J. Striet, Owner, FORCE Fitness & Performance LLC.
18. Power - Kanye West:  Think what you will about Kanye, but this tune has the all the elements of a great workout song. If you’re having trouble dragging yourself to the gym, pop this on, grab the keys, and go. It’s a pre-workout favorite of Smith's.
19. Electrichead Part I - Rob Zombie:  You won’t hear this song on the radio, but you’ll probably find it playing at the highly acclaimed, Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training, where co-owner Mike Robertson, C.S.C.S., recommends this as part of his go-to playlist. 
20. You Don't Know - 50 Cent and Eminem:  The best way to finish a timed-circuit still standing? Pick a fast-paced song and keep on pushing till you’ve performed all your work. This song is a favorite of Smith and his Diesel crew