Linda LaRue Blog

Fat BURN Fusion Kit Review by Fit Bottomed Girls: There’s Nothing Sweet About These Sixteens (But Man Are They Effective!) February 2, 2012

2012-02-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Wanted to share with you the AMAZING review of the new Fat BURN Fusion Kit review by Fit Bottomed Girls. Here are a few snippets below of the review. Thank you Jenn Walters and Tish Merritt. We ♡ u BIG:)! To buy our new Fat BURN Fusion Kit click here! (Great news. For a limited time only, we're offering FREE Shipping.)

It’s baaaack. Just when you thought your abs were safe, Linda LaRue has released her latest and greatest workout DVD, 3D Fat Burn Fusion, which promises to help you target and tone stubborn core muscles and smoke off your belly fat—fast.

This DVD consists of two workouts. The first workout is the 30-minute Fat Burn Fusion, which consists of both standing total-body ab work and core mat work that borrows moves from yoga and Pilates. The moves, combined with the CORE TRANSFORMER tubing method that Jenn reviewed, kicks the bad ass-ness way up. The standing work was hard…challenging enough, in fact, that I was looking forward to the mat work.

And then there’s the Athletic Core Set-Up (ACS) segment. I swear a day doesn’t go by that someone doesn’t stop me and ask me how they can tone up their midsection. I want to hand this DVD to them lovingly and tell them to make sure to watch the Athletic Core Set-Up. Linda breaks down how one targets the area and what that area is called (hallelujah for those who want to actually learn what they really need to work!)

What I loved: I was so thankful the main workout was only 30 minutes because every time she said “Only 16 [reps]” I about died. You’re gonna feel the burn fast. The music got a thumbs up this time around, too. There was a bunch of world beats up in that piece that had me cracking me up! Most importantly, I loved that you’d actually get to witness Linda out of breath. Finally! We get a normal human being that actually sweats and breathes.

FBG Rating (Out of 5):

Instruction: ★★★★★
Long-Term Likeability: ★★★★★
Music: ★★★★
Fun Factor: ★★★★
Meets Expectations: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★1/2

Celery Root and Apple Puree: Healthy Recipe Makeover

2012-01-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa. Herrecipes and table scapes are inspirational—except for (AKKK!) the amount of fatand sugar calories. That’s the bad news. The good news is that I typicallymanage to tweak her recipes cutting half the fat and sugar while stillpreserving the great taste. Here is one of my favorite winter root veggiehealthy recipe makeovers of hers, Celery Root and Apple Puree. As Ina would say, “How easy is that”?

Ingredients
5 T. unsalted butter  

1 cup large-diced fennel bulb, tops and coreremoved

2 pounds celery root, peeled and (¾-inch) diced
8 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and (¾-inch)diced
3 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and(¾-inch) diced  
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup good apple cider
¼ cup whole milk

1.Melt the butter over medium heat in a shallow pot or large sauté pan. Add thefennel, celery root, potatoes, apples, 1½ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.2. Sauté the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften,about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the cider and tightly cover the pot. Simmer over lowheat (I pull the pot halfway off the heat) for 30 to 40 minutes, stirringoccasionally, until the vegetables are very soft. If the vegetables begin toburn or they seem dry, add another few tablespoons of apple cider or somewater.   

3.When the vegetables are cooked, add the milk and cook for 1 more minute.Transfer the mixture to a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade and process.(You can also use a food processor but the texture will be smoother than withthe food mill.) Taste for salt and pepper and return to the pot to keep warm.Serve warm.

Serves 8-10. Serving Size:½ cup.

For more healthy recipe makeovers that will cut calories without losing the taste, join my free Make Healthy A Lifestyle Blog at LindaLaRue.com. If your goal is to get fit in 2012, I recommend my new Fat BURN Fusion Total Body Core Transformer Kit. FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY: Free Shipping. Click here to order now.

Lose Belly Fat, Shred Abs: Fat BURN Fusion Kit SAVE 25% and FREE SHIPPING

2011-12-20T08:23:00.001-08:00

Lose belly fat, shred your abs and save 25% with our new CORE TRASNFORMER kit that includes our new, 3D Fat BURN Fusion DVD and improved, super durable resistance band with rubber foot guard--just in time to lose weight and get healthy with the New Year! The Fat BURN Fusion DVD gives you two fat-blasting High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) fusion workouts using the total body core, 3-dimensional, constant resistance CORE TRANSFORMER® system that keeps you in your customized, MAXIMUM fat-burning zone and as a bonus, our new super durable, specialty CORE TRANSFORMER resistance exercise band. You’ll build lean muscle in all the right places, plus you’ll sculpt your shoulders and back, tame that triceps jiggle, build a tighter butt, and build core strength for flat abs and a strong back.

Kit Includes:

CORE TRANSFORMER Resistance Band and Fat BURN Fusion DVD

DVD Programming:

Workout 1: The 30-Minute 3D Fat BURN Fusion Standing and Mat Fusion Workout is based upon the popular Hollywood CORE TRANSFORMER® group fitness class that’s been packing them in with standing room-only at Crunch WeHo. It’s the perfect combination of standing total-body ab and core work and core-mat work that blends functional training with yoga and Pilates inspired moves—all intensified by using the constant, 3-dimensional resistance of the CORE TRANSFORMER® tubing method. By blending standing moves followed by mat exercises, your body will resist the challenge to plateau, so you’ll be burning maximal calories all the way through! At 30 minutes, it’s a well-rounded workout that easily fits into any busy lifestyle.

Workout 2: The bonus 15-Minute Quick HIIT TORCH athletic performance workout is a sure-fire routine to blitz hundreds of calories in a jiffy. It will also boost your metabolism—the rate at which you burn calories all day long--with our best belly fat burning total body core movement progression sequences.

*The CORE TRANSFORMER® resistance band is eco-friendly and made from natural, sustainable rubber trees.

About the Creator: Core performance guru Linda LaRue, RN MEd, ATC creator of the CORE TRANSFORMER®, is a Registered Nurse and Athletic Trainer with a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology and Sports Medicine from the University of Virginia. She has been a pioneer in functional, total body core performance training for 20 years. As a Master Personal Trainer and fitness instructor, she has consulted with top health and fitness experts, and professional sports teams.

Teri Ann Krefting is the dynamic lead talent for the 15 Minute Quick TORCH HIIT Challenge. Teri Ann is a certified personal trainer, sought-after veteran workout DVD star, and one of Hollywood’s hottest group instructors. With Teri Ann expertly cueing and motivating you through these challenging workouts, you’ll sweat, smile and melt body fat fast!

DURATION: Approx 50 min.

To purchase the new Fat BURN Fusion Kit click here. Post submitted by core performance guru, Linda LaRue, RN MEd, ATC.

Wanderlust Wining

2011-08-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

THE OUTDOORSY OENOPHILE’S WINE COUNTRY COMPANION by Stefani Jackenthal (my friend Stephani's first book. WooHoo!)

Written by one of the world’s foremost wine and travel experts Wanderlust Wining available at Amazon click here, is a fun delicious journey through many of America’s finest wine countries; exploring their outdoor activities and wine tasting specialties. It’s a one-stop-read to crafting active wine tasting trips in unique (and familiar) wine countries all over the United States.

Discover how to kick off mornings with action-packed activities and spend the remainder of the day sniffing, swirling and sipping through local wineries. Learn how to taste wine like a pro and be in the “local know” about the best hiking and mountain biking trails or places to paddle, surf and sail. Visit creameries, galleries or savor a sustainable wine dinner served in the middle of a vineyard.

Each fast-paced, easy-to-understand chapter offers light-handed wine education and historic facts about the area’s wines, local parks and sports outfitter, “must-go” restaurants, art galleries, markets, vineyards, and more.

♪ FitHits: We’re Gleeked (And a Giveaway!)

2011-03-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

By Linda LaRue, RN MEd, ATC

We’ve been a little Glee obsessed here at FBG HQ for a few months now. What can we say? We just love “spontaneous” choreographed dance so much. So when Linda LaRue, the creator of Crunchless Abs and the new, constant resistance, 3-dimensional workout, The CORE TRANSFORMER, shared our Gleekness and wanted to write a workout playlist featuring songs the show, we were pretty much like, “Yes!” Times 1,000 with jazz hands.

Channel Your Inner Gleek Workout Playlist
If you like to sweat to mash-up songs or have ever felt like an underdog, this workout playlist will make your face and heart smile—while also inspiring your feet to fly faster on the treadmill. In fact, “Don’t Stop Believin’” has become my personal theme song. It has kept me going more than a few times lately—especially when I’m flat-out exhausted or when I hit major life road blocks. So grab your water bottle, your Nikes and start believing—and Gleeking out!

(3:50) Don’t Stop Believin’, Glee Cast: Go on a journey with this one! Get it? Har har!
(4:07) U Can’t Touch This, Glee Cast: With your fly cardio moves, no one can touch you!
(2:17) Borderline/Open Your Heart, Glee Cast: Hands down, the Madonna episode was one of our faves. This mash-up is perfect for relieving that Glee moment.
(3:19) Loser Like Me, Glee Cast: Know you’re a rock star? Belt this one out while you work out!
(4:41) Forget You, Glee Cast featuring Gwyneth Paltrow: Gwyneth is so fantastico on the show. Work out like her character would—by having lots of fun!
(3:56) P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), Glee Cast: We already love MJ so Glee and MJ? Double the pleasure, double the fun!
(3:20) Raise Your Glass, Glee Cast: Dirty little freaks are totally cool in this track.
(3:04) Hell to the No, Glee Cast: This sassy song is SO much fun. So get out your best take-no-ish attitude and work it, girl.
(3:36) Do You Wanna Touch Me, Glee Cast featuring Gwyneth Paltrow: Get your girl-power rock ‘n roll on with this high-energy track!
(3:36) Thriller/Heads Will Roll, Glee Cast: Don’t be a zombie! End your workout with a bang with this rockin’ track!

As a bonus, the Yes Fitness Music Team is sponsoring a three CD giveaway of their top iTunes In the Key of GLEE workout CD. Expertly cued to a perfect, heart-pumping 135 BPM, it’s a Gleeking good playlist for your next workout. Just enter a comment to win—U.S. residents only please!

The Best, New Fitness Gear and Gadgets for 2011: Core Transformer Yahoo Shine

2011-02-26T04:50:00.000-08:00

By Myatt Murphy, CookingLight.com
Here are the best, new fitness gear and gadgets for 2011. We tested the most interesting and most effective fitness gear for the year so far. Here’s our round-up of the exercise tools that are guaranteed to help you reach your fitness goals.

The Ugi
Fitness trends—and all the stuff that comes with them—come and go, but every year there are some standout products that are truly effective. Dive into our top 15 that promise to deliver results (and do more than collect dust).

1. The Ugi
($189, ugifit.com )

Why we like it: We’ve seen medicine balls and stability balls, but this plush, weighted workout tool (picture a mix of half-beanbag/half-oversized stress ball that comes in 6-lbs, 8-lbs, 10-lbs, and 12-lbs versions) is an entirely unique exercise experience. The Ugi comes with a DVD that runs exercisers through a series of 30 different back-to-back exercises in a single 30-minute workout (there are 5 different workouts to choose from—150 exercises in all—so your body never gets bored of burning fat!).

2. Nike Training Club App
(It’s free; go to iTunes App Store)

Why we like it: Nike’s new training app for the iPhone and iPod Touch has more than 90+ drill workouts for getting lean, toned, and strong—specifically for women. All you do is select your fitness goal and fitness level, then the app chooses the best selection of 15-minute, 30-minute, or 45-minute workouts for you to pick from (each designed by a Nike professional trainer). The app offers step-by-step instructions that anyone can follow and lets you listen to songs from your music library and hear the instructor at the same time. But best of all: the more you exercise, the more you unlock rewards, such as additional expert advice, celebrity workout regimes, and body-boosting nutritional recipes.

The SilverSport Silver Towel
3. The SilverSport Silver Towel
($20 to $35, depending on size; available exclusively at all Dick’s Sporting Goods—or at www.silversport.com)

Why we like it: This baby-soft sports towel is more than just gentle on your skin when you’re wiping off perspiration; it’s made from a technology that uses nano-silver particles that actually eliminate more than 650 types of surface-borne, odor-causing bacteria. It’s also made with a super soft bamboo that’s three times more absorbent than cotton, so you’ll never need another towel to dry off with, no matter how long you exercise.

Gaiam’s Calorie Coach
4. Gaiam’s Calorie Coach from Oregon Scientific
($39; available at Best Buy stores and us.oregonscientific.com)

Why we like it: Not only is this handy pedometer one of the most accurate monitors on the market for counting how many steps you take each day—and calories you’ve burned—but we love its discreetness. Unlike most pedometers that have to be clipped to your waist in order to work properly, the Calorie Coach can be placed anywhere on your body, such as hidden inside a shirt pocket, placed in your handbag, or, even hung from your neck.

Kulae tpECOmat Plus
5. Kulae tpECOmat Plus
($49; Yahoo! Shopping)

Why we like it: This comfy eco-friendly yoga mat has many of the benefits you might expect from being 100% biodegradable, latex-free to prevent allergic reactions, and sporting a germ- and bacteria-resistant surface (so it always smells fresh). But what makes this mat a cut above others on the market is the simple fact that it’s also four inches longer than a standard yoga mat—making it ideal for bodies of all sizes.

Bob Harper’s Contour Kettlebells
6. Bob Harper’s Contour Kettlebells
($24.99-$99.99, depending on weight; gofit.net)

Why we like them: Exercising with a kettlebell may be the latest fitness trend, but most are shaped like a mini-bowling ball with a handle attached to them, making them more uncomfortable on your wrists and forearms during certain moves. This kettlebell is ergonomically-designed with grooves that let the weight comfortably rest on your arms as you exercise. We also like the DVD workout that guides even the exercise novice through an easy-to-follow, full-body 30-minute routine.

Virtual Active Workout Videos
7. Virtual Active Workout Videos
($19.99; vafitness.com)

Why we like them: If you’ve ever felt like a hamster on a wheel when exercising indoors on a treadmill or bike, these DVDs offer an actual “eye view” perspective of what it would be like to exercise along 200-plus of the most scenic jogging and cycling trails throughout North America. Each 35-minute workout lets you choose between being coached by a trainer (who pops up on the screen and tells you how to adjust your workout) or you can go solo and simply enjoy the view as you sweat.

Get Fit with Mel B. Fitness
Program for the PS3
8. Get Fit with Mel B. Fitness Program for the PS3
($39.99; getfitwithmelb.com/EN-us)

Why we like it: One of the most distinctive exercise games out there is Get Fit with Mel B. (formally “Scary Spice” of the Spice Girls). The game actually places a mini real-life version of yourself standing and sweating side-by-side the Dancing with the Stars finalist. (You’ll need the PlayStation Move with the PlayStation Eye camera—but it’s so worth it!) Watching yourself exercise on screen is a great way to check your form as you go, plus, the game lets you incorporate your existing workout equipment (such as exercise and resistance bands) into your workout to make it even more challenging.

The CORE TRANSFORMER
9. The CORE TRANSFORMER
($24.95 for the tube/$34.95 for tube and DVD; coretransformer.tv)

Why we like it: It may look like another overhyped TV exercise product, but this unique—and economical—fitness tool definitely burns calories. The X-shaped stretch cord device straps onto both of your feet and hands, adding resistance to your arms and legs, no matter what direction you move them (forward, backward, to the side, and so on). The DVD offers three intense routines—ranging from 20, 40, to 60 minutes long—but we found it was just as effective at making many yoga, Pilates, and core training exercises a lot more challenging and effective.

Asics GEL-Uptempo and
GEL-Upshot Athletic Shoes
10. Asics GEL-Uptempo and GEL-Upshot Athletic Shoes
($85 each; asics.com)

Why we like them: To be able to tackle any type of exercise, you need a training shoe that offers your feet stability from any angle, shock absorption from heel to toe, and a breathable mesh upper that lets your dogs air out as you work out. Both the Uptempo and Upshot offer a superior mix of cushioning, traction, and support, all in a lightweight pair of shoes with a sock-like fit that almost makes you forget you’re wearing them.

Lifefactory Water Bottles
11. Lifefactory Water Bottles
($19.99 for 16-oz. bottles/$21.99 for 22-oz. bottles; lifefactory.com)

Why we like them: The problem with plastic water bottles is that many not only release harmful chemicals such as BPA's, but some are too narrow or difficult to wash properly. Lifefactory’s sporty-stylish glass bottles feature a wide mouth (so it’s super easy to clean), have a silicone sleeve that protects the bottle from breaking, and, you’ll actually notice a fresher taste from your water (compared to drinking from a traditional water bottle). That difference alone can help you drink more—so you always stay well-hydrated as you exercise.

Sportline’s DUO 1060
heart rate monitor
12. Sportline’s DUO 1060 heart rate monitor
($119.99; sportline.com)

Why we like it: The best heart rate monitors require you to wear a belt around your chest, but the DUO 1060 gives you the option of just placing your finger on the watch for an equally-precise readout. What we really love is that it gives you that information in 3 beats or less, making it the fastest, most accurate contact heart-rate measuring device on the market.

The Biggest Loser Challenge
Wii Game
13. The Biggest Loser Challenge Wii Game
(Starting at $28, Yahoo! Shopping)

Why we like it: One of the best health and fitness video games for the Nintendo Wii, the Biggest Loser Challenge guides users through more than 125 exercise exercises, ranging from warm-ups and cool-downs, core-strengthening moves, cardio boxing drills, yoga poses, and circuit training exercises. You can create your own custom fitness program, or, let the program think for you by selecting from one of ten preset fitness routines.

New Balance’s NB439s
2-in-1 Sport Earbuds
14. New Balance’s NB439s 2-in-1 Sport Earbuds
($39.99; ihomeaudio.com)

Why we like them: Most “fitness” earphones really don’t offer anything that’s much different than normal headphones (besides flashier color schemes), but the lightweight NB439s thinks of every possible workout dilemma. It’s got detachable, easy-to-clean ear cushions, a volume control along the cord, and you can shorten the cord so it’s tangle-free when your MP3 player is clipped onto your arm, hat, or anyplace on your body where having too much line can get in the way of your workout.

FINIS’s Circuit Trainer
15. FINIS’s Circuit Trainer
(Starting at $104, Yahoo! Shopping)

Why we like it: Doing a circuit training program—where you race from exercise to exercise with little to no rest in between—is one of the most effective ways to build lean muscle and burn fat. The problem is having to watch the clock all the time and doing the math to know when to move onto the next exercise. This lightweight, water-resistant workout timer lets you program in two time periods (how long you want to do each exercise for and how long you want to rest in between exercises). As you work out, a horn lets you know when to move to the next station and rest—and when it’s time to start exercising again—so all you have to do is sweat (and not think!).

The Best Fitness Gear and Gadgets: Core Transformer

2011-02-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

Excerpt from Cooking Light Magazine's 2011 article: The Best Fitness Gear and Gadget's, features the flat abs, total body and belly fat blasting workout CORE TRANSFORMER Kit created by Linda LaRue, RN MEd, ATC, Creator of Crunchless Abs.

We tested this years’ most interesting and most effective fitness gear. Here’s our round-up of the exercise tools that are guaranteed to help you reach your fitness goals. By Myatt Murphy, author of The Ultimate Dumbbell Guide.

ide
The CORE TRANSFORMER ($19.99 for the tube/$29.99 for tube and DVD;(www.CORETRANSFORMER.tv)

Why we like it: It may look like another over-hyped TV exercise product, but this unique—and economical—fitness tool definitely burns calories. The X-shaped stretch cord device straps onto both of your feet and hands, adding resistance to your arms and legs, no matter what direction you move them (forward, backward, to the side, and so on). The DVD offers three, intense routines—ranging from 20, 40, to 60 minutes long—but we found it was just as effective at making many yoga, Pilates, and core training exercises a lot more challenging and effective.

Fit Bottomed Girls: Focus Your Fit Intentions with a Vision Board

2011-01-07T08:17:00.000-08:00

Repost from Fit Bottomed Girls

By Linda LaRue, RN MEd, ATC

Creator Crunchless Abs and The CORE TRANSFORMER

Today’s post at Fit Bottomed Girls is written by core performance guru, Linda LaRue. Linda is the creator of Crunchless Abs and the new, constant resistance, 3-dimensional workout, The CORE TRANSFORMER, which burns nearly 1,000 calories per hour.

Recently, I had dinner with one of my BFFs Stacy Small. We were both yapping about the recession, how it’s been affecting our businesses, and what we’ve been doing to market ourselves. Stacy mentioned that every December for the past few years, she’s been making a vision board. She said her vision board really helped her define, focus and successfully achieve her goals. (You know even Oprah makes a vision board?) I like the dream-board concept because you have words and pictures, thereby creating more sensory stimulation and focused visualization.

A vision board is a collage of images, pictures, and written affirmations of the intentions and desires you wish to achieve. It helps you through visualization, thus activating the Universal Law of Attraction, or “likes attract like.” This means that the more you focus and think about something, the more likely it is to materialize and happen in your life. While mine has focused on business goals in the past, just think of what they can do for your personal, health and weight-loss goals. The sky is the limit!

How to Make Your Healthy Vision Board

1. Hone in on your goals. Take a couple days to percolate and meditate in a quiet place about what personal and professional goals you’d like to manifest and successfully achieve in the New Year. I usually choose no more than three to four as this keeps me focused and not overwhelmed. Before I go to bed at night, I also ask myself what are my goals?

2. Gather your supplies. After you are clear about your goals, you’ll need a few things, including a poster board, a glue stick, pictures from old magazines (use your old ones, get them from friends, hair salons and doctor’s offices), photographs and/or printed from the internet.

3. Find what speaks to you. Go through the images and begin to cut out photos, words and phrases that intuitively resonate with you and your new goals. Then, lay them out on the board—but do not glue them yet. Leave a space in the middle to place a favorite photo of yourself. (If you have gained weight, and one of your goals is weight-loss, post a photo of yourself when you were at your ideal, comfortable weight.)

4. Be specific. Try to be specific about the photos and words you select. For example, if you want to make more money in your job, use green dollar signs around your job picture. If you want a new car, place a photo of the car in the color you want. If you want to complete a race, find pictures of that specific race.

5. Get to gluing! When you feel comfortable with the photos and words, glue them to your board. Almost done!

6. Look at it daily. Hang your new dream board in a place where you can see it often. You don’t have to stare at it every day by any means, but at least glance at it one or two times a day so that your goals are always top-of-mind!

I hope you have fun while getting clear about your intentions and goals this year—especially losing weight and getting fit! —Linda LaRue

Top 10 Hardest Workout DVDs by Fit Bottomed Girls: CORE TRANSFORMER

2011-01-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

By Jennifer Walters Fit Bottomed Girls article reprint from Opposing Views

So you say you want a workout challenge, eh? Well, we have 10 of them—our top 10 list of the hardest workout DVDs we’ve ever reviewed. Hold on to your fit butts—it’s about to get crazy hawd in here!

1. Jillian Michaels’ No More Trouble Zones: Jillian always brings the good pain. And this workout DVD gives you a mix of strength and cardio that is uber challenging!

2. Bob Harper Inside Out Method: Bob’s Workout: Oh, Bob, how we love yet hate thee, let us count the workout ways. Even after doing this strength-cardio workout DVD regularly for three months, it still kicks my ass.

3. Personal Training with Jackie: Crunch-Free Xtreme Abs: There’s only one word to describe this crunchless abs DVD: Ouch! And, of course, that’s in a good way. With two quick workouts, your abs will definitely feel the burn and the soreness. Oh, the soreness!

4. Exhale Core Fusion Body Sculpt: This Pilates- and dance-based workout DVD is no joke. You may not think it’s that hard with all the stretching and breaks, but trust us. It’ll work you in new fabulously challenging ways.

5. Mindy Mylrea’s Action Packed/Interval Express: Mindy Mylrea is a total bad ass. While you can’t really go wrong with any of her workout DVDs, we found this interval workout DVD to be particularly awe-inspiring (just how does she do it?) and something to aspire to.

6. Fitness by Cathe: Cardio+Weights 4-Day Split: Right up there with Mindy Mylrea in crazy-fit instructor-dom is Cathe Friedrick. With endless variety, this heavy strength DVD challenges and then some.

7. Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred: Jillian makes the list again! We just couldn’t leave this hard-workout DVD standby off the list. With three 25-minute workouts that progress in intensity (read: darn near impossibleness), it’s an oldie but a goodie!

8. The CORE TRANSFORMER: Say goodbye to crunches and hello to full-body three-dimensional core training with this incredibly intense workout DVD that runs you through sports-specific moves and tons of plyometrics!

9. Pure Barre Pershing Square: If you’ve ever wanted the body of a ballerina, now is your chance with this Barre DVD. But let us warn you, getting there is hard, hard, hard! Expect your legs to feel like they’ll fall off. Fun, fun!

10. Jari Love: Get Ripped 1,000: While we’re still not convinced that this hour-long workout DVD will burn 1,000 calories for most women, we still think it’s awesome. And its advanced strength and cardio moves are enough to get the sweat pouring!

Have a workout that kicks your arse? Tell us about it in the comments! And be sure to also check out our top 10 favorite intermediate fitness and beginner workout DVDs! —Jenn

Fit Bottomed Girls Linda LaRue's CORE TRANSFORMER 1,000 Calorie BURN Workout DVD Kit Review

2010-12-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

Merci, gracias & thx to the awesome Fit Bottomed Girls for your lovely review of my new CORE TRANSFORMER 1,000 Calorie workout DVD kit. All of us at team CORE TRANSFORMER are grateful.

Linda LaRue's CORE TRANSFORMER 3D 1,000 Calorie BURN Kit

2010-11-12T07:50:00.000-08:00

Linda LaRue’s CORE TRANSFORMER: Target & tone your deepest core muscles, burn belly fat fast and train your ENTIRE body too! It’s smart training made simple.

The CORE TRANSFORMER 3D 1,000 Calorie BURN Kit featuring Linda LaRue RN MEd, ATC, Exercise Physiologist Raneir Pollard, CPT ACSM and Teri Ann Krefting, one of CRUNCH Hollywood’s top group exercise instructors is here!

Burn 1,000 calories per hour!

If you want to get flat, sculpted abs you have to do two, separate workouts. One, strength training to sculpt your abs flat. The second, hours of intense aerobic workouts to help shed that stubborn, top layer of belly fat.

Developed by core performance guru, Linda LaRue RN MEd, ATC, The CORE TRANSFORMER® is a revolutionary new, workout that torches off that top layer of belly fat fast by BURNING an incredible 1,000 calories per hour! (Testing by Body Bugg analysis.) And, it also target tones your deepest core muscles, just like a laser, along with your entire body too.
The uniquely patented, 3-dimensional, CORE TRANSFORMER® rubber tubing system creates a constant resistance that keeps you in your customized fat-burning zone. You’ll build lean muscle in all the right places, plus sculpt your shoulders, tame that triceps jiggle, build a tighter butt, a strong back, and of course, flat, chiseled abs. You'll see results in one month or less—guaranteed!

M Café's Curried Cauliflower Salad

2010-09-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

This in one of my two, favorite healthy salads I routinely buy at M Café from the LA Times Food Section. The other is their Kale Salad. Both store well in the fridge for up to five days. They’re both SOooo yummy and healthy for you!

Ingredients

Curried cashews
2 cups (1/2 pound) cashews
1 T maple syrup, preferably grade B
3/4 tsp. curry powder
Pinch salt

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the cashews on a baking sheet and roast for 5 minutes.
2. While the cashews are roasting, in a medium bowl, combine the maple syrup, curry powder and salt.
3. Toss the cashews with the spiced maple syrup, then spread again on the baking sheet.
4. Roast the cashews for 15 more minutes, tossing every 5 minutes, until toasted and aromatic. Remove from heat and cool well. This makes more cashews than are needed for the remainder of the recipe; the cashews can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

Curried Cauliflower

Ingredients
1/4 cup plus 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
2 T plus 3/4 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
Pinch dry mustard
2 T (1/2 ounce) fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
3 heads cauliflower (about 8 cups), trimmed and cut into small florets

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, curry powder, salt, cumin, coriander, mustard and ginger. Add the cauliflower florets and toss to combine and evenly coat.
3. Spread the florets in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast until golden-brown and aromatic, about 20 minutes, tossing every few minutes for even cooking. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Curried Cauliflower Salad

Ingredients
3 T agave syrup or honey
1 ½ tsp. lemon juice, fresh
1 ½ tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
8 cups (1 3/4 pounds) Curried cauliflower
1 cup (4 ounces) peas, fresh or previously frozen
2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) red bell pepper, diced
¼ cup (1 ounce) dried apricot, diced
½ cup (2 ounces) curried cashews
½ cup (1/4 bunch) chopped fresh cilantro
¾ tsp. salt, or to taste

Directions
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the agave syrup, lemon juice and olive oil to form a finishing syrup. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, toss together the cauliflower, peas, bell pepper and apricot. Pour over half of the finishing syrup and toss to combine. Stir in the cashews, cilantro and salt. Taste, adding additional finishing syrup if desired and adjusting the seasoning as needed. Cover and refrigerate a couple of hours to give the flavors time to marry before serving. This makes about 8 cups salad.

Nutritional Content: Yields 10 servings. Calories: 179, Fat: 12 g (0 Sat), Protein: 17 g, Carbohydrates: 12g, Fiber: 4g, Sodium: 440mg

Red, White & Blue Angel Food Cake

2010-06-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Top this fast and easy angel food cake with fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries for a red, white, and blue(berries that is) low cal/fat free, patriotic Fourth of July dessert. And at ONLY 144 Calories per slice and fat free, no one will feel ever feel guilty about indulging this holiday! (Add a dollop of fat-free whipped topping if desired, as it’s one of my “free foods”.)

Ingredients
1 ½ cups sugar, divided
1 (2-inch) piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cup sifted cake flour (about 4 ounces)
12 large egg whites
½ tsp. cream of tartar
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. lemon juice (preferably fresh)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place ¾ cup sugar in a small bowl. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean, and add seeds to sugar; discard bean. Work the vanilla seeds into sugar with fingers until well combined.
2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and sugar mixture, stirring with a whisk to combine.
3. Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining ¾ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Beat in juice. Sift flour mixture over egg white mixture, ¼ cup at a time; fold in after each addition.
4. Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan; cool completely. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Invert cake onto plate.
Nutritional Content: Yields 12 servings, Calories: 144, Fat: 0.1g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g), Protein: 4.3g, Carbohydrate: 31.7g, Sodium: 105mg

What We Can Do to Use Less Oil & Get Fit Too.

2010-06-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

We all agree that we all need to do a better job conserving our planet’s limited resources, but where do you begin when it comes to making your workout green without busting your budget? Here are 3 simple solutions that will easily help you get green into your workout routine without much effort at all. These eco-friendly frugal changes are easy switches that will save you time and lots of money too!
1. Join a neighborhood gym that’s within walking distance to where you work and/or live. You’ll be supporting the local economy, saving car gas, car emissions, and costly parking fees. Plus, you’ll burn more Calories walking to and from the gym.
2. If the weather is fine, walk outside—it’s free. Did you know that out of all motorized pieces of fitness equipment, treadmills use the most energy? Try holding up to 2 pound dumbbells, which will help tone and sculpt your shoulders while increasing your Calorie burn by approx. 33%. According to www.treehugger.com, a treadmill uses around 1500 watts every hour or the equivalent of 15 of those old-fashioned light bulbs. And, over 1 hour, treadmills use the same amount of power to light up your Christmas tree for 12 hours. Treadmills also pump out about 4 pounds of CO2 per hour.
3. Use organic cotton and/or bamboo, or reclaimed fabric towels. Lots of discount retailers sell eco-friendly towels, such as organic cotton, bamboo, or organic cotton-bamboo blend. For example Bed, Bath, and Beyond, www.BedBathandBeyond.com, a nationwide retail store, sells them for reasonable prices. They routinely offer 20% coupon specials, which make the towels even more affordable. And, bamboo towels are extremely soft, luxuriant, and surprisingly absorbent.

Gut Bacteria May Help You Lose Weight

2010-06-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

I am a big proponent of taking probiotics, naturally such as eating low fat yogurt oral supplements, that you can buy at www.LindaLaRue.com.

Reprint by Amber Dance from LA Times Health Section, June 21, 2010

Don't go searching for a bacteria shake just yet — scientists are still investigating which bacteria do what in humans. Something in your gut could be making you fat — and it isn't just last night's pizza. The vast, diverse community of microbes inhabiting the intestines, scientists are finding, can influence metabolism and weight. Between 10 trillion and 100 trillion microbes, mainly bacteria, dwell in a person's colon and small intestine. They function together almost like another of the body's organs, influencing, among other things, how many calories we extract from our food and whether we make or burn fat. Researchers have discovered significant links between gut bacteria and weight and metabolism in mice — and are starting to find similar associations in people.

The story in humans is far from certain, though, and scientists say it's too soon to concoct microbe-filled "stay-slim" beverages — a fact that has not prevented some companies from promoting their bacteria-laden products as helpful for weight loss.

Bacteria that draw the maximum calories from our food would have been useful to our hunter-gatherer ancestors but are less beneficial for modern people eating an American fast-food diet. In addition to our ready access to high-calorie eats, the bacteria we carry around have changed, says Andrew Gewirtz, an immunologist at Emory University in Atlanta, through antibiotic use, improved hygiene and cleanliness in the food supply. This, he believes, could be one environmental cause for obesity and related conditions such as diabetes.

On the whole, our gut bacteria are beneficial, says Ruth Ley, a microbial ecologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. They prevent disease-causing bacteria from taking hold in our body simply by filling up all the available space. And they help us digest foods, such as some starches, that we cannot break down ourselves, producing vitamins and energy sources we can use. "You might just generally be sicklier without them," Ley says.

Babies are born bacteria-free but start to pick up bacteria during and after birth. Infants mostly collect bacteria from their mothers and others around them; in a sense, the gut community is inherited from family members. If the gut-obesity theory proved correct, that would suggest obesity risk could be passed along with them.

"If a person has changes in their gut bacteria — and that could be due to anything, to diet, to antibiotic use — if that person has kids, then they can transfer those gut bacteria and maybe transfer the problem," Gewirtz says. Because people pick up different bacteria from their environments, people have different gut communities. For example, in a study published in the journal Nature in April, scientists reported that some Japanese people could digest compounds in nori, the seaweed in sushi, because they hosted the right bacteria for the job.

Every person carries at least 160 different kinds of gut bacteria, scientists estimated in another Nature study published in March. Most fall into two divisions, or phyla: the bacteroidetes and the firmicutes. Both of these groups are found in soil and water as well as in animals. Some cause disease, but many in the intestine are beneficial. The firmicutes, in particular, are good at digesting our food. The more firmicutes in a person's intestines, the more calories they can collect from a meal.

Obesity studies. This is where the obesity link comes in. In 2005, Ley and colleagues at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where she worked at the time, studied the gut bacteria found in mice, hoping to use them as a model to study obesity. They compared normal, lean mice with ones that were genetically obese because they had a mutation in the hormone leptin, which normally controls appetite and metabolism.

As in people, the main intestinal inhabitants of mice were bacteroidetes and firmicutes. But the researchers discovered that obese and lean mice had different proportions of each. In particular, fat mice tended to have more firmicutes, and fewer bacteroidetes, in their guts than lean mice.

In another study, Ley and colleagues worked with sterile mice that have no gut bacteria. These mice eat a lot, but don't get fat, presumably because they don't have the bacteria to extract the full complement of calories from their food. But when the scientists transferred the bacteria from fat mice to bacteria-free mice, the recipient mice gained weight. This result, reported in a 2006 Nature paper, directly suggests there's something about the bacterial community in the obese mice that contributes to weight gain.

What about human beings? Ley and co-workers examined the proportion of firmicutes and bacteroidetes in 12 people, in a study they also reported in Nature in 2006. They examined bacteria samples from obese people as they followed a yearlong diet program. Before the diet, the subjects had more firmicutes and fewer bacteroidetes than healthy-weight people. As the year progressed and the dieting continued, the bacteroidetes numbers went up, and the firmicutes numbers went down.

In addition to squeezing every last available calorie out of the food we eat, bacteria can also influence metabolism by signaling the body to store fat or burn less of it, and slow down food moving through the intestine so there is more time to collect calories. The exact nature of the bacterial signals that influence metabolism is unclear, but in a March article published in the journal Science, Gewirtz and his colleagues reported that bacteria can cause inflammation that alters appetite and weight.

Normally, the immune system and gut bacteria maintain a kind of peace, Gewirtz says. But the mutant mice in this experiment were not normal: They lacked a protein needed to keep bacteria in the intestine where they belong, and out of the bloodstream. In these mice, gut bacteria leak out of the intestines and cause inflammation as the immune system responds to the intruders.

That inflammation, the scientists found, altered the body's sensitivity to insulin, a hormone that normally suppresses appetite and regulates blood sugar and fat storage. With the insulin system out of whack, the brain doesn't receive the crucial "I'm full! Put the fork down!" signal it needs to stop us chowing down.

This, in turn, led to a sort of "pre-diabetes" condition in the mice — and by the time they were 20 weeks old, they weighed approximately 5 grams more than normal animals. Gewirtz's team took the bacteria from the fattened mice and transplanted them into sterile, non-mutant mice. These mice then gained weight. Again, it seemed like just having the wrong bacteria can pack on the pounds.

Scientists have plenty of data that gut bacteria affect weight in mice, but their understanding of the effects in humans remains hazy. For example, not all human studies have shown that firmicutes go hand-in-hand with obesity in people, cautions Margaret Zupancic, a microbial genomicist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

In part, that is because it's much more difficult to study people in a carefully controlled way. People, after all, are out and about in the world and have a variety of food and exercise regimes, unlike genetically similar mice living in identical cages eating identical mouse chow.

Another fact hampering scientific study is that intestinal bacteria are difficult to grow in a laboratory setting. Thus, scientists must study the entire community from stool samples and try their best to figure out from those which bacteria serve specific functions. To get a better handle on the human situation, Zupancic and others are now working with people in a variety of settings, collecting stool samples to further analyze the human gut community and how it interacts with our genetics and lifestyles.

If certain bacterial communities do cause obesity in people, replacing the bad bacteria with the good ones seems like a possible route to weight loss. The idea is not wholly unprecedented. Doctors occasionally treat debilitating diarrhea with a transplant of bacteria from healthy stool, for example. And there is certainly evidence that products called probiotics (see the sidebar) may improve health via a spoonful or swig of bacteria-laden foods. Even simply changing your diet might sway the bacterial community in a different direction, Ley says.

Next steps. Gewirtz says that someday it might be possible to swap obesity-linked bacteria for skinny-jean microbes. But scientists caution that a nice bacterial cocktail is not the next big weight-loss drink. For one thing, they don't yet know what bacteria to use if they were to try and concoct such a drink. It is difficult to sort out the relationships between all the factors that lead to obesity, including diet, exercise, genetics — and now, possibly, bacterial inhabitants.

And then, for a bacterial-replacement therapy to really work, doctors would first need a way to get rid of less desirable bacteria already in residence in someone's gastrointestinal tract. The right combination of antibiotics might do the job, Gewirtz says, but there are no well-defined methods for creating such a treatment.

Some companies, meanwhile, already are claiming that the right probiotics can slim you down. This month, researchers from the Japanese company Snow Brand Milk Products reported that people who drank a probiotic milk drink for 12 weeks lost weight. For their study, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, they offered the probiotic drink or a bacteria-free concoction to 87 people. The subjects were slightly heavy, with an average BMI (body mass index) of 24.2. (A BMI of 25 and above is considered to be overweight.)

Over the course of the study, people drinking the probiotic lost an average of 1.5% of their BMI and, on average, 1.4% of their body weight. That's about 2 pounds for a 150-pound person.

The Ultimate Workout for Summer Abs: Awesome Abs without The Crunches

2010-05-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Looking for the ultimate workout to sculpt summer abs? Start now on these crunch-free moves designed to tone your midriff and you'll be flaunting a flat belly in no time
By Amanda Vogel Best Health Magazine, May 2010

The fastest way to a flatter stomach isn’t doing hundreds of crunches. Rather, the key is to train a deep abdominal muscle that wraps around your midsection called the transversus abdominis (TA). Think of it as a sort of internal Spanx shapewear, smoothing your belly from the inside out. Your TA acts as a natural girdle, and it needs proper training to make your lower abs in particular look and feel flatter and sleeker. “However you train your ab muscles is how they develop,” explains Linda LaRue, creator of the Crunchless Abs DVD series and a celebrity trainer in Los Angeles. LaRue says that doing standard crunches incorrectly can cause you to build your ab muscles outward. The trick to a flatter belly is “pulling your abs up and in as you work them from all angles.”

Before you get started
To get the most from these exercises (and your workout in general), follow these simple pointers from LaRue:   • Check your posture. Whether standing, lying or sitting, align your ears with shoulders and hips. Next, pull shoulders down and slightly lift breastbone. Feel for equal muscle balance between your front and back.  • Contract your pelvic floor. To help activate the TA, do a soft “Kegel” during each move by gently pulling your pelvic floor muscles—the ones you use to hold back urine when you need the bathroom—upward. (Bonus: Kegels help prevent or lessen incontinence.)

What you'll need
• Equipment: A mat or bath towel, a hand towel and a one- to two-kilogram (three- to five-pound) dumbbell (optional).  • Warm-up: March in place or walk briskly for about three minutes.  • Repetitions: Begin with two sets of each exercise, working up to three sets as your abs get stronger. Perform each for the suggested reps or time (or less if you can’t hold good form). You should be able to do two sets of three moves in about six minutes (about eight to 10 minutes including warm-up).   • How often: Do this routine three times a week. For a well-rounded program, add cardio and weights, and stretch after every workout.

1. Standing cross core
Works: deep abs, sides of abs, back, thighs and butt, as well as shoulders when done with dumbbell  A. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand, arm slightly bent and held straight out to your right side. (This exercise can also be done without the dumbbell.) Place left hand on left hip and stand with feet hip width apart, shoulders relaxed, abs tight and pelvic floor pulled upward. Do a squat (as if you are about to sit into a low chair) and at the same time cross your right arm diagonally across your body until your right hand is in front of your left knee.   B. (Shown) As you return to standing, raise your right arm back across your body until you are reaching your right arm to your right side and up, with hand just above ear level and elbow slightly bent. With right arm still extended to your right side, also twist your torso right, looking slightly upward and to the right. Keep your feet flat on floor and pointing straight ahead.   C. Return to starting position; repeat. Do 10 reps; switch sides.

2. Crouching Tiger
Works: deep abs, inner thighs and arms  A. Get onto your hands and knees with your knees aligned under hips and hands in line with your shoulders. Place a small rolled-up towel between your knees; squeeze the towel to hold it in place. Curl your toes under.   B. (Shown) Maintaining a long spine, draw your abs up and in, and pull up your pelvic floor. Avoid holding your breath. With elbows slightly bent and still squeezing the towel between your knees, lift your knees about two inches off the floor.  C. Hold for 15 to 20 seconds. Return your knees to the floor. Repeat.

3. Core Clock
Works: deep abs and back  A. Lie face up with legs bent, feet on floor but heels lifted, and arms stretching to ceiling. Hold each end of a hand towel, pulling it taut.   B. Slowly rotate your torso so that both knees point toward your right side (with toes still on floor) as your extended arms reach just slightly toward your left side. Then move knees to left, with arms slightly right. Alternate 10 times total, then follow the instructions below if you feel strong enough (otherwise, repeat this move for another 10 reps).   C. (Shown) Continue same sequence as above but with feet off the floor, legs bent to 90 degrees and knees over hips. Alternate sides 10 times total. If you feel as if you’re falling toward the side, you are twisting too much; lessen your range of motion.

Skinny Margarita: Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2010-05-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Most margarita recipes use highly caloric, sugary orange flavored liquors, such as curocao, triple sec or grand marnier that will bust your diet. Here's a great recipe that is 0g carbs and only 112 calories versus a regular margarita, which has 740 calories!

Ingredients

1/4 cup fresh limejuice
½ cup club soda
2 packets Splenda
1 shot patron silver
lime wedge
½ tsp orange extract

Mix together the orange extract, Splenda packets, and club soda. Put crushed ice into a shaker and pour this liquid over the ice. Add in 1 shot tequila, lemon and limejuice. Shake thoroughly, then pour into a glass. Calories: 112 per serving. Carbohydrates: 0g.

Nutrition Tip: Healthy Plate Portions

2010-04-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

When assembling your dinner plate, try this visual: 1/2 your plate should be veggies, 1/4 should be whole grain, and 1/4 should be protein. And, a healthy plate size is 9 inches--not 12!

For more yummy & healthy nutrition tips & recipes, join my FREE Make Healthy A Lifestyle emag@http://www.LindaLaRue.com/members!

Instant Breakfast Portion Control

2010-03-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

I love this simple Mid-Week Makeover for an INSTANT BREAKFAST PORTION CONTROL from David Zinczenko, author of Eat This, Not That and Editor-in-Chief of Men's Health: Eat ur cereal from a coffee cup. (Plus, it’s easier to slurp the milk!)

M Café Kale with Spicy Peanut Dressing

2010-03-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

Lately, I’ve fallen in LOVE with M Café’s Kale with Spicy Peanut Dressing. (I honestly can’t get enough of it.) Besides being delish, kale is also one of those super foods. Kale is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties, and is considered to have anti-inflammatory properties. Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxnthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Because of its high vitamin K content, patients taking anti-coagulants such as warfarin are encouraged to avoid this food since it increases the vitamin K concentration in the blood, which is what the drugs are often attempting to lower.

Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties. Sulforaphane, which is formed when cruciferates are chopped or chewed, triggers the liver to produce enzymes that detoxify cancer-causing chemicals, inhibits chemically-induced breast cancers in animal studies, induces colon cancer cells to commit suicide. Here’s the recipe below & I hope you enjoy:

Ingredients
1 large bunch kale 
¼ cup peanuts, chopped for garnish
¼ red onion, halved and sliced for garnish
Spicy Peanut Dressing*
½ cup peanut butter
1 ½ T honey 
2 T low sodium soy sauce
2 T brown rice vinegar 
½ tsp. garlic, minced
½ tsp. ginger, minced 
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper 
1/8 tsp. salt 
1 ½ oz hot water

DIRECTIONS
1. Remove the kale from the stems.  Add a pinch of Salt to a pot of boiling water, then blanch the Kale for 3 min.  Remove the Kale from the boiling water and shock it in a container of ice water.  Finally, squeeze the excess water out of the cooled Kale.
2. To make Spicy Peanut Dressing: Place all dressing ingredients into a blender. Blend until mixture turns into a smooth consistency.
3. Drizzle the dressing on top of the Kale and mix the kale and dressing together until kale is evenly coated. Garnish with sliced red onions and chopped peanuts.
*Makes enough to dress 2 large bunches of kale. Stores well refrigerated for up to 6 weeks.
Serving Size: ½ cup.

*For more healthy, yummy recipes, join my FREE digital magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle @http://www.LindaLaRue.com/members.

Fat American Kids: Lose The Bedroom TVs

2010-03-10T08:08:00.000-08:00

Eating habits, physical activity, access to parks, ethnicity, poverty, and TV watching all play a role in our national epidemic. The percentage of American children who are overweight or obese has been growing for decades, and now our kids--nearly one in three has a body mass index that's greater than normal. And the problem continues to grow, according to a study published Tuesday, March 8, 2010 in The Journal of Health Affairs.

Using data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, the study showed marked regional differences. The five states with the highest rates of overweight and obese kids are all in the Southeast — top-ranked Mississippi (44.4%), Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Minnesota and Utah were tied with the lowest rates (23.1%).

But when researchers further divvied up state-level numbers by race and socioeconomic status as well as things such as TV-watching behavior and access to parks, they found even greater disparities.

The likelihood of being overweight or obese was greater if a child has a TV in his bedroom or watches more than two hours a day (41% greater odds) or if he lives in a neighborhood without a park or recreation center (21% greater odds).

Define & Focus Your Intentions with a Vision Board: It REALLY Works!

2010-03-05T08:31:00.000-08:00

Recently, I had dinner with one of my sista's Stacy Small. We were both yapping about the recession, how it’s been affecting our businesses, and what we’ve been doing to market ourselves. Stacy mentioned that every December for the past few years, she’s been making a Vision Board. She said her Vision Board really helped her define, focus, and successfully achieve her goals. (I do something similar each December, as I pick 3-4 business goals I want to achieve for the coming year. I write them down along with bullet deal points. AND, did you know even Oprah makes a Vision Board?)

I like the Vision Board concept, because you have words and pictures, thereby creating more sensory stimulation and focused visualization. Below is a simple definition of a Vision Board, and how to make a vision board.

A vision board is a collage of images, pictures, and written affirmations of the intentions and desires you wish to achieve. It helps your focus through visualization, thus, activating the Universal Law of Attraction, or “likes attract likes”. This means the more you focus and think about something, the more likely it is to materialize and happen in your life. Vision Boards are also called Dream Boards, Treasure Maps, or Vision Maps. I think a Vision Board is a healthy self-care tool.

How to Make Your Vision Board
1. Take a couple days to percolate and meditate in a quiet place about what personal and professional goals you’d like to manifest and successfully achieve in 2009. I usually choose no more than 3-4 as this keeps me focused and not overwhelmed. Before I go to bed at night, I also ask myself what are my goals? 
2. After you are clear about your 3-4 goals, you’ll need a few things including a poster board, a glue stick (sticks are best as you to easily move or remove picture), pictures from old magazines (use your old ones, get them from friends, hair salons, doctor’s offices, and the library), photographs, and/or printed from the internet. 
3. Go through the images and begin to cut out photos, words, and phrases that intuitively resonate with your new goals. Then, lay them out on the board—but do not glue them yet. Leave a space in the middle to place a favorite photo of yourself. (If you have gained weight, and one of your goals is weight loss, post a photo of yourself when you were at your ideal, comfortable weight.) 
4. Try to be specific about the photos and words. For example: if you want to make more money in your job use green dollar signs around your job picture. If you want a new car then, place a photo of the car with color you want too. 
5. When you feel comfortable with the photos and words, glue them to your board. 
6. Hang your new Vision Board in a place where you can see it often.

I hope you have fun while getting clear about your intentions and goals this year—especially losing weight and getting fit. I have my written goals next to my desk, sitting in the hands of my Buddha statue. I intend to place my poster board above and to the side of the Buddha. In this challenging economy we can all use a little extra help and support. Namaste to my sista’ Stacy for sharing her good karma marketing biz with me…and now you. Let me know your results by emailing me at info@LindaLaRue.com;)!

SHAPE Magazine March Issue: Get Sexy Shoulders

2010-02-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

SHAPE magazine March issue: Get Sexy Shoulders using my total body CORE TRANSFORMER that AOL ranked as one of the five hardest total body ab classes in America. Available for purchase @http://www.LindaLaRue.com/store.

"The Linda LaRue Project" Photos of Top Fitness Trainers Linda LaRue, Patrick Goudeau, Stephanie Vitroino & Paul Katami Fitness

2010-02-14T10:41:00.000-08:00

Here's a sneak peek at the upcoming Linda LaRue Fitness Project with Top Fitness Trainers Patrick Goudeau, Stephanie, Vitorino & Paul Katami Fitness.

35 Calorie Chocolate Chip Meringue Crips

2010-02-14T10:25:00.000-08:00

Try these yummy little bundle of love treats are ONLY 35 Calories each! How amazing is that? I recommend you buy a good quality semi-sweet morsel that has at least 60% cocoa content. I love popping a couple of meringue crisps if I am experiencing a sugar craving. Try adding a couple drops of red food coloring to make them pink for Valentine’s Day.

Ingredients:
½ cup walnuts, chopped
2 egg whites
½ tsp real vanilla extract
½ cup Splenda® (or sucralose) sugar blend
½ cup good quality semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Bake walnuts in a shallow baking sheet, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until toasted. Set aside.
3. Beat egg whites and vanilla at high speed with an electric mixer until eggs form a still peak.
4. Add Spenda® (sucralose) sugar blend, 1 T at a time, beating until stiff peaks form; stir in walnuts and chocolate chips.
5. Spoon rounded teaspoons of mixture on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake 15 minutes. Drop oven temperature on 200 degrees F. Bake for one hour and 45 minutes. Cool slightly on cookie sheet. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight tin.
Yields: 36. Serving size: 1 cookie. Nutritional content: 35 Calories, 1g fat, 1g saturated fat, 1g protein, 4g carbohydrates, 0mg sodium.
*Note: You can easily make these diabetic cookies by deleting the chocolate morsels. For more great tasting, low Calorie Desserts, buy Linda’s SOUPer Slim Diet ebook @www.LindaLaRue.com/store.

February Make Healthy A Lifestyle 2010 Issue: How to Beat the February Blues & Belly Bulge

2010-02-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

My Linda LaRue's health, fitness, and diet February Make Healthy A Lifestyle Issue: "How to Beat the February Blues & Belly Bulge is here. Check it out @www.lindalarue.com/members.

Seemingly unending long, cold, dark nights and short, dreary days void of summer sunshine cause many folks including me to suffer from depression and lethargy. This oftentimes leads to winter weight gain, which generally causes further depression. The medical term for our condition is called Seasonal Affective Disorder or S.A.D. For most of us who suffer from SAD, February is the worst month regarding our symptoms. Experts say it’s due to post-Christmas/New Year letdown, and an accumulation of the all-consuming winter darkness. That’s why this edition of Make Healthy A Lifestyle is about what SAD is, and how to cope with this disorder—along with “how to” combat the side effects, such as winter weight gain.

One of the best mood elevators is cardiovascular exercise. That’s why I’ve asked my friend top trainer Christopher Ross Lane who is Valerie Bertinelli’s trainer, to teach us how to begin a running routine. Christopher recently got Val to begin a running routine. In fact she’s running her first marathon (the Boston) this spring at the age of 50. How super awesome is that!?!

If it’s cold outside and you’d rather workout inside, then my #1 recommendation is to buy my total body cardio CORE TRANSFORMER exercise tube. It’s the perfect, happy endorphin, mood boosting living room workout that will also rev up your metabolism to melt off your depressing winter weight. Bottom line: Feeling fit feels good.

So get up, get moving, and start feeling happier:)!

Linda

Get Flat Abs Fast: Core Sculpting CORE TRANSFORMER Resistance Workout from Fitness Magazine February 2010

2010-01-24T15:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a great article from Fitness Magazine February 2010 featuring my total body CORE TRANSFORMER written by my friend, Nicole Dorsey Straff; Workout created by Linda LaRue, creator of the CORE TRANSFORMER class at Equinox Fitness Clubs.

Dump the crunches! These 8 belly-flattening ab exercises will take you from squishy to sexy in just 14 days.

How It Works

If you envy A-list abs like Kate Beckinsale's, we've got one word for you: rubber. "Using a resistance tube boosts the firming power of any ab move," says instructor Linda LaRue, who created the CORE TRANSFORMER class at Equinox Fitness Clubs in Los Angeles and has a list of devoted Hollywood fans including Beckinsale. LaRue put together her best new belly flatteners using this secret-weapon shaper exclusively for FITNESS Magazine. Do two sets of each move, working your way up to three sets, on three nonconsecutive days a week. Mix the order every time to really whittle your middle.

What You'll Need: A CORE TRANSFORMER exercise tube and a sturdy chair.

Do the Twist! When crossing the CORE TRANSFORMER into an X shape for each move, twist it around twice before grasping the handles, so the point of intersection is solid. "Twisting the tube increases the pull and resistance on your core," LaRue says, giving your abs maximum toning from every angle. You can aim to start with the X at belly-button level, but "it doesn't matter if the intersection moves around a bit," she adds.

Rowboat
Targets: Back, triceps, biceps, and abs
-- Sit on floor with knees slightly bent, feet hip-width apart, and heels planted. -- Loop center of tube around arches of feet, cross it once or twice in front of you, then grasp a handle in each hand, elbows bent 90 degrees and tucked by sides, palms facing up. -- Keeping abs tight throughout, lean torso back about 45 degrees and slowly curl handles to shoulders. Make it harder: Hold for 3 seconds. -- Hinge forward at hips slightly as you extend both arms behind you, keeping elbows close to body, to complete one rep. (Exercise pros can hold here for another 3 seconds.) -- Do 16 reps.
Watch a video demonstration of this move!

Crouching Tiger
Targets: Back, arms, abs, and quads
-- Stand with feet hip-width apart on center of tube, cross it once or twice in front of you, then grasp a handle in each hand, arms by sides. -- Crouch down and walk hands forward until you are in full push-up position, arms extended with palms directly under shoulders, legs directly behind you so that you form a straight line from head to heels. (Hold handles lightly by thumbs so that palms can lie flat on floor.) -- Keeping palms planted and abs tight throughout, press hips back toward heels, bending knees so that they hover just above floor. -- Straighten legs to return to full push-up position and complete rep. -- Do 16 reps.
Watch a video demonstration of this move!

Baseball Swing
Targets: Shoulders, back, arms, abs, and obliques
-- Stand with feet hip-width apart on center of tube, cross it once or twice in front of you, then grasp a handle in each hand, arms by sides. -- Bend knees slightly in a half squat and bring both handles together in front of you, elbows slightly bent, palms nearly touching. Make it easier: Cup both hands around both handles as if they were fused together. -- Keeping elbows bent, bring both hands together over right shoulder as you rotate torso to right, pivoting on left toes and straightening both legs. -- Slowly return to half-squat position. -- Do 8 reps. Switch sides; repeat.
Watch a video demonstration of this move!

Hooray Squat
Targets: Chest, arms, abs, butt, and quads
-- Stand with feet hip-width apart and your back to a sturdy chair; place feet through tube handles (like stirrups) so that soles press handles to floor. -- Cross tube once or twice in front of you, then hold center of tube with both hands in front of chest, elbows bent by sides, palms facing forward. (Either grasp tube or notch it between thumb and forefinger and keep hands open, as shown.) -- Squat to sit in chair, then immediately stand up, pressing arms directly overhead to stretch tube. -- Return to seated squat, lowering hands to chest level again, and repeat. -- Do 16 reps.
Watch a video demonstration of this move!

Upstream Swim
Targets: Shoulders, back, arms, and abs
-- Stand with feet close together on center of tube, cross it once or twice in front of you, then grasp a handle in each hand, arms by sides. -- Squat, hinging forward at hips so that back is nearly parallel to floor with arms extended down. -- Simultaneously lift left arm in front of you and right arm behind you until both are parallel to floor, palms facing down. -- Hold for 1 to 3 counts, then lower. -- Do 16 reps, alternating sides.
Watch a video demonstration of this move!

Tubing Half-Teaser
Target: Abs
-- Lie faceup on floor with right knee bent, foot flat, and left leg extended toward ceiling. Fold tube in half, then loop it around left arch and grasp ends together with both hands. -- Roll torso off floor slowly to sit up; try to use abs, rather than pulling with arms, by drawing navel into spine. -- Hold for 1 to 3 counts, then engage abs to roll slowly back down to start. -- Do 8 reps. Switch legs; repeat.
Watch a video demonstration of this move!

Cat's Cradle
Targets: Abs and obliques
-- Stand with feet hip-width apart and your back to a chair; put feet through tube handles. -- Cross tube once or twice in front of you, then hold its center with both hands in front of chest, elbows bent by sides, palms facing forward. (Grasp tube or notch it as shown.) -- Sit near edge of seat and lean torso back 45 degrees as you lift legs off floor, knees bent 90 degrees, until feet are at seat level. -- Extend right leg forward as you rotate torso left to bring right elbow toward left knee. -- Switch sides, bringing left elbow to right knee to complete 1 rep. Do 8 reps.
Watch a video demonstration of this move!

Resistance Side Plank
Targets: Shoulders, chest, back, abs, and obliques
-- Stand with feet hip-width apart on center of tube, cross it once or twice in front of you, then grasp a handle in each hand, arms by sides. -- Crouch down and walk hands forward to get in full push-up position. -- Shift body weight into left hand and rotate extended right arm to reach for ceiling while keeping shoulders down. -- Hold for 1 to 3 counts, then return to full push-up. -- Do 16 reps, alternating arms.
Watch a video demonstration of this move!

Originally published in FITNESS Magazine, February 2010.

Win a FREE CORE TRANSFORMER Exertube: $25 Value!

2010-01-21T12:13:00.000-08:00

1st 5 ppl who email me @info@lindalarue.com & sign up for my FREE digital magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle win a FREE CORE TRANSFORMER Exertube valued at $25 dollars! U must pick up my CORE TRANSFORMER at the Equinox Woodland Hills open house this Saturday, January 23rd where Stephanie Vitorino, Ilyse Baker & me, Linda LaRue, will be giving CORE TRANSFOMER demos from 12:30 to 3 PM. Plus, we'll have a raffle to win a 1:1 CORE TRANSFORMER training session w/me.

My new CORE TRANSFORMER is the next evolution of total body crunchless core training. This device will sculpt your entire core from the inside out 3 dimensionally. From side-to-side, front-to-back, and top-to-bottom, it trains your entire core to act as a natural abdominal girdle helping to banish that lower belly pooch. Best of all Linda's CORE TRANSFORMER time saving exercise tube trains your ENTIRE body too—great if you’re time “crunched”.

Pumping Rubber is the most affordable way to reshape your ENTIRE body (beginning first and always from your core). Make sure you sign up for Make Healthy A Lifestyle’s FREE digital magazine to get all your CORE TRANSFORMER exercise tube workout videos FREE.

*This eco-friendly product is made from sustainable rubber trees.

Born to Run? No, But This Former 'Butterball' Does Now

2010-01-12T08:10:00.000-08:00

Reprint from LA Times Health Section 1/11/10 By Carrie Luger Slayback

Last night at dinner, my 6-foot-tall husband looked down at my plate and said, "You eat more than I do." It's true, and it's odd, considering I'm nearly a foot shorter than he.

In my 20s, my dad referred to me lovingly as "Butterball." Headed for size 12 at 36, I wear size 2 at age 66. So what's the secret? I'd say run -- don't walk -- away from fad diets and phony diet foods. In fact -- just run. Start slowly. Jog for five little minutes, then walk back. Next day, run 6 minutes, then walk back. Work up to a 15-minute jog, then walk back.

Here's my guarantee: In time, your body will command you to run back, not walk.

During a recent holiday visit, my brother asked, "Carrie, what happened to you? In high school, you hated any kind of exercise." True. In the 1950s, way before Title IX, my friends and I looked down at athletic girls. Now I'm 66, and I've run a marathon every year since I turned 55.

When I first started running, every step hurt. I gasped for breath. If my partner stopped mid-run to walk, the pain of resuming the run made me miserable. Still, I stuck with the early morning jogs, pleased with the gradual weight loss.

Note that I said "partner." A running partner is not necessary but is helpful. Running alongside a pleasant conversationalist distracts from discomfort. Besides, having a partner was safer, since I ran at 5:30 a.m., before work. Just as important, the obligation to meet my partner pulled me out of bed. Early running had other advantages. My husband and children slept, and I didn't need a sitter. In fact, I didn't need a club, a fancy outfit or any equipment except running shoes -- which I bought on sale.

So here's my simple formula for weight control:

1. Wake early enough for a half-hour workout on the street or treadmill, five to six days a week.

2. Ease into it gradually, but never give up.

3. Find a partner, if that helps you.

4. If you miss one day, get back. If you experience a muscle ache, walk or ride a bike -- but don't stop moving for that half-hour before breakfast.

My extra pounds came off gradually. Eating is still a big part of my day but no longer my major preoccupation. As I continued my runs, another great pleasure revealed itself. It feels fantastic to move through the morning air.

Luger Slayback recently placed 10th in the age 65-to-69 group at the New York City Marathon. She writes on issues of fitness and running. Read her blog at lazyracer.blogspot .com. She lives in Newport Beach with her husband and a house full of dogs.

Begin Your Day & Year Right: A Week of Healthy Breakfast

2009-12-30T11:16:00.000-08:00

*For Linda LaRue's Make Healthy A Lifestyle Breakfast Bruschetta with Basil-Parmesan Scrambled Egg Whites and High Protein Pumpkin Pancake recipe, see Recipes and Nutrition @www.LindaLaRue.com.

Begin your day with a healthy, balanced breakfast. Yes, breakfast is the MOST important meal of your day. Don’t skip meals or snacks, especially breakfast—you’ll actually activate your body’s starvation response, which will slow down your metabolic rate! A healthy, balanced breakfast will give your body the right fuel to keep your energy soaring, keep your body functioning optimally, and burning calories most efficiently.

When you first wake have a glass of 6 to 8 ounces. It will help rehydrate the body and stimulate the elimination process most efficiently. (Drinking water when you first wake is popular in Western cultures, such as Japan and India.) Here is a week of healthy breakfasts to help you begin your day and New Year off right.

Sunday: *Breakfast Bruschetta with basil-parmesan scrambled eqq whites. To drink, have 1 cup coffee or your favorite tea. (Bruschetta recipe click here.)

Monday Breakfast: ¾ cup of steel-cut (not instant) oatmeal, 3 scrambled egg whites, and ½ cups of fresh or frozen blueberries. To drink, have 1 cup coffee with low-fat milk or your favorite tea. Due to it's high fiber content and high levels of certain fat-burning antioxidants, it may be considered a "fat burning" food. Plus, it will fill you up, so you won’t feel starved then, want to reach for something unhealthy.

Tuesday: 2 slices whole grain bread, such as Ezekiel @www.foodforlife.com, 2 tsp. almond butter, 1 T. dried cranberries. Toast break then, spread 1 slice w/almond butter and sprinkle cranberries. Top w/other slice to make a sandwich then, cut diagonally. To drink, have 1 cup coffee w/low-fat milk or tea.

Wednesday: TLT (Turkey Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich) 3 slices cooked lean turkey bacon, toast 2 slices whole grain bread, lettuce, and 1 tsp. low fat mayonnaise. Spread 1 toasted slice of bread with low fat mayo, and set aside. Place slice bread then, top with 2 thick slices tomato, lettuce, lean turkey bacon then, top with other slice of bread w/mayo. Slice in ½. To drink, have 1 cup coffee with low-fat milk or your favorite tea.

Thursday: 1 Whole Wheat, Oatmeal, and Raisin Muffin (recipe taken from The SOUPer Slim Diet ebook), 2 tsp. almond butter

Friday: 2 High Protein Pumpkin Pancakes, and 1 T organic, unprocessed agave syrup. To drink, have 1 cup coffee w/low-fat milk or your favorite tea. ( Hi Pumpkin Pancake recipe click here.)

Saturday: 1 Whole Wheat, Oatmeal and Raisen Muffin and 6 oz. high protein blueberry smoothie. (see for recipe that is taken from The SOUPer Slim Diet ebook).

Top Fitness Trainer Patrick Goudeau and Linda LaRue

2009-12-21T11:05:00.001-08:00

Fun photo of top fitness trainer Patrick Goudeau and Linda LaRue at his birthday party yesterday in Chinatown LA. Delish dim sum with red velvet birthday cake--YUM!

December Top 10 Workout Playlist: Let Your Freak Flag Fly

2009-12-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

There’s a VISA debit commercial narrated by Oscar winning actor, Morgan Freeman telling people, “to let your freak flag fly”. Everyone’s dancing and rockin’ freestyle to Rick James’ Super Freak. Every time I see that commercial I want to jump up off the couch and dance. Here’s an ole’ and new skool Top Ten Workout Playlist put together by my friend fitness DJ Deekron www.MotionTraxx.com and me of super freaky tunes to get your feet dancing or flying a little bit faster on the treadmill. Let your freak flag fly ppl—and get movin’.

1. Super Freak—Rick James (3:24)
2. I’m in Miami—LMFAO (3:47)
3. Atomic Dog—George Clinton Greatest Hits Straight Up (4:46)
4. Get Ur Freak On—Missy Elliot (3:56)
5. Flash Light—Parliament Funked Up: The Very Best of Parliament (5:47)
6. Krazy (feat. Lil Jon)—Pitbull (3:52)
7. Give It to Me Baby—Rick James (4:07)
8. I Would Die 4 U—Prince (2:57)
9. Boom Boom Pow—Black Eyed Peas (4:11)
10. Freaks Come Out At Night—Whodini (4:43)

For more inspiring Top 10 Workout Playlists, visit Linda LaRue's bi-monthly digital, green health, fitness, and diet magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle at www.LindaLaRue.com.

Climb Stairs: Green Your Lifestyle

2009-12-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

By Linda LaRue from Make Healthy A Lifestyle at www.LindaLaRue.com

Climbing stairs is one of the best ways to green your lifestyle and burn a few extra bonus calories during your day. According to this American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) study conducted, you’ll burn about .11 calories climbing up each stair, and .05 calories descending each stair. This approximates to burning 10 calories per minute.

Although elevators do not expend much electricity (approximately 5 kWH per floor), everything DOES add up—or every little bit helps save our planet. For example walking up and down 3 flights of stairs instead of using an elevator, saves 15 kWh a day or 450 kWh per month. That’s enough to power a 37" Plasma TV for 3 hours. Or if you live in a high rise in a densely populated city, primarily using stairs will save your car the energy equivalent of more than 1 gallon of gasoline per month.

Make Healthy A Lifestyle January 2010 Issue: Let's Get Connected!

2009-12-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

The Make Healthy A Lifestyle January 2010 Issue is here, and it's all about Getting Connected beginning first and always from your coeur!

Did 2009 fly by way too fast or is it just my perception? Well folks, it’s now 2010. I believe this year is all about getting connected—from connecting with old and new friends on Facebook and Twitter, to getting health and fit biz info, to ordering anything and everything workout related on Amazon. Most importantly I believe this year is about getting your body, especially your core, connected to your brain—primarily your movement and emotional centers.

Making that connection to your body, mind, and emotions will help you eat better, move better, and feel better too. How you learn to hold your body will help you move most effectively. How you deal with your emotions will help you process your emotions more healthfully, which will help prevent emotional over-eating.

Making Healthy A Lifestyle is about helping you connect to your core, body, and life. Hopefully, this site will help provide safe and effective science based info to help you get and stay connected in all aspects of your life this year. My #1 best workout tool to help you get mind-body core connected is my new CORE TRANSFORMER®, which you can buy at www.LindaLaRue.com/store.

Linda LaRue’s Blog: Persimmons 3 Healthy Ways

2009-11-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

Diospyros the Greek word for "food of the gods" is also the botanical name for persimmon. In Japan, where the persimmon is wildly popular, the word for the fruit is kaki. Japanese botanists oftentimes use the phrase Diospyros kaki when speaking about the Japanese persimmon.

The Japanese persimmon that has become the dominant variety sold in the United States originated in China, and one of the traditional foods eaten during the Japanese New Year. A sub-tropical plant, the persimmon grows well California and the Southeastern United States. Sometime in the mid-1800s the first persimmon cultivar arrived in California.

The two types most commercially available are the Hachiya and Fuyu—with the Hachiya dominating 90% of the market. It is an astringent fruit, bright orange in color, and shaped like a large, slightly elongated tomato that almost comes to a point at the bottom. Hachiyas must be fully ripe or soft to the touch to be enjoyed. The taste is compared to that of a sweet, ripened apricot with a smooth, slippery texture.

The Fuyu, also bright orange in color, is non-astringent. It is eaten when firm, just like an apple—shiny skin and all. You can recognize a Fuyu by its squat shape, and flat bottom resembling the appearance of a medium-sized tomato.

Nutritional content. The Fuyu is about 118 calories with 31 grams carbohydrates. The Hachiya has 32 calories and 8 grams carbohydrates. Both varieties contain about 6 grams of fiber. The two varieties seem to be nutritional opposites with some of the data. The Hachiya has 16.5 mg of Vitamin C, while the Fuyu contains 12.6 mg. Another opposite is the potassium content of the Fuyu with 270 mg versus the Hachiya that has only 78 mg. Fuyu contains 13 mg and the Hachiya has only 7 mg of calcium respectively.

Fuyu persimmons contain a whopping 2733 IU of Vitamin A and 425 mcg of beta-carotene. Unfortunately, there are no Vitamin A figures available for the Hachiya. However, if color were any indication of the presence of beta-carotene, the Hachiya's bright orange color would indicate its availability. The Fuyu contains a good profile of B vitamins—especially B6. Other antioxidant values in the Fuyu feature 2431 mcg of cryptoxanthin beta, 267 mcg of lycopene, and 1401 mg of lutein and zeaxanthin.

Here are my 3 favorite ways to enjoy persimmons—that is besides eating them fresh from the farmer’s market:

1. Cubed in oatmeal for breakfast with a dollop of 2 % Greek style yogurt. The sweetness of the persimmon plays deliciously against the creamy tanginess of the Greek style yogurt.
2. Farmer’s Market Sliced Persimmon and Arugula Salad with Dijon Mustard Lemon Olive Oil Dressing. Peel and finely slice a persimmon then toss with 2 cups of arugula. For dressing 1 tsp. Dijon, 1 T. fresh squeezed lemon, and 2 T good quality extra virgin olive oil.
3. Persimmon and Greek style yogurt. This is my favorite fall harvest lunch. Peel and cube a persimmon, then fold into 1 cup 2% Greek yogurt. I like adding ½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice and a few chopped nuts such as pistachios or toasted pepitas.

Benefits of Kids Eating Vegan

2009-11-09T07:56:00.000-08:00

By Emily Sohn from The LA Times Health Section November 9, 2009

*I do offer vegan recipes on my website www.LindaLaRue.com's Make Healthy A Lifestyle digital bi-monthly magazine. I am not a vegan, as I eat fish and occasionally chicken, but no meat. I find the percentages of childhood obesity for kids who eat vegan versus a diet eating animal protein compelling.

Parents of non-meat-eating children need to make sure the youngsters eat a balanced diet. Studies show that, properly done, such eating is fine, and can provide benefits. Toddlers who refuse to eat furry animals; teenagers who suddenly hate everything their parents cook; children of vegetarian parents. Whether it's your choice or theirs, raising a vegetarian kid can be a challenge.

Along with the power struggles -- refusals by kids to eat what's served, refusals by Mom or Dad to prepare something else -- are parental fears, fanned by old studies, that kids aren't getting the nutrition they need to support their rapidly growing bodies.

As vegetarianism becomes more accepted and maybe even more common -- and that includes the nation's younger set -- here's the good news: Based on an exhaustive study review, the American Dietetic Assn. concluded in July in a new position statement that as long as vegetarian diets are planned well, they're safe for people at every stage of life: pregnant and nursing moms, babies, teenagers and just about everyone else.

The report was the first to emphasize the benefits of a meatless meal plan as opposed to simply stating that a vegetarian diet was OK. A meat-free meal plan, it stressed, may lower rates of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

This doesn't mean that raising meat-free kids is a cakewalk -- especially given children's notoriously picky eating habits. Unusual lunch box contents can make a school kid feel ostracized. Restrictive eating among adolescents can be a sign of an eating disorder and should be viewed with caution if the behavior accompanies other warning signs. (See related story online.)

Mac-and-cheese alone is not enough to sustain a growing child's nutritional needs. Failing to plan carefully can deprive developing brains and bodies of essential nutrients -- notably protein, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, iodine, calcium and vitamins D and B-12 -- especially if kids become vegan and shun animal products altogether.

"The benefits of a vegetarian diet are wonderful for adults and can be wonderful for kids, but parents can make the mistake of forgetting that children are not little adults," says Meredith Renda, a pediatrician at Doctor's Pediatrics in Wilton, Conn. "Kids have small stomachs and short attention spans. You really have to pack a punch with as many nutrients as possible."

Growing in numbers. It's hard to pin down just how many people are eating vegetarian diets. For one thing, definitions vary. Some people call themselves vegetarian even if they occasionally eat fish or chicken, while others have stricter views.

For another, statistics vary depending on how surveys are done. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that about 1.5% of adults followed a vegetarian diet in 2007, about the same number as in 2002.

But those numbers may be lowballs because the poll questions catch people who use vegetarianism only to address health, not ideological, concerns, says Reed Mangels, a registered dietitian in Amherst, Mass., and one of the authors of the American Dietetic Assn. report.

Polls by the Vegetarian Resource Group find that among adults, vegetarianism has become slowly and steadily more popular in the last 15 years, says Mangels, who is a nutrition advisor for the advocacy organization.

In 1994, the group estimated that 1% of American adults were true vegetarians, eating diets free of meat, fish and seafood. Today, about 3% of American adults (between 6 million and 8 million people) avoid those foods, according to the vegetarian group's 2009 poll of more than 2,000 people.

The stats for children also differ depending on source. A recent CDC poll of about 9,000 parents and guardians found that 367,000 kids under the age of 18 -- or about 1 in 200 -- are vegetarian. Again, Mangels says the true rates may be higher. A 2005 Vegetarian Resource Group poll of more than 1,200 young people estimated that 3% of 8- to 18-year-olds (about 1.5 million kids) were vegetarian and 1% were vegan.

There are also a growing number of people -- kids included -- who still eat meat but are eating less of it and choosing more typical vegetarian foods instead.

Sales of processed vegetarian products, such as soy milk, soy yogurt and vegetarian breakfast sausages, totaled about $1.4 billion in 2008, according to the market research firm Mintel, up 15% from 2003. Close to one-third of adults say they ate a soy-based meat substitute in the last year, Mintel reports.

These days, even Burger King offers veggie burgers.

Meat's pitfalls. At least for adults, there is accumulating evidence that a traditional meat-and-potatoes diet is not the healthiest way to eat. For example, a March study of more than 500,000 people ages 50 to 71 found that adults who ate the most red meat were more likely to die over a 10-year period than were those who ate the least, mostly due to extra cases of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The biggest meat-eaters in the study consumed the equivalent of about a quarter-pound burger or small steak each day, while people who ate the least meat took in about 15% of that amount. The authors concluded that 11% of deaths in men and 16% of deaths in women could have been prevented if everyone in the study ate the smallest amount of red meat.

Similar results have come from research on Seventh-day Adventists, a Christian denomination that advocates a healthy lifestyle. Most Seventh-day Adventists exercise regularly and avoid tobacco and alcohol, but those who avoid meat (about half of the population) have lower risks of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and some cancers than the meat-eaters do.

Health benefits may come as much from what vegetarians do eat as from what they don't. Studies show that vegetarians not only consume less artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol but also get more of certain antioxidants and vitamins, such as potassium, magnesium and vitamin C. They eat up to twice as much heart-healthy fiber, from fruit, vegetables and whole grains. They have lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure readings. And they tend to be leaner than meat-eaters.

In a 2003 study of nearly 38,000 people in the United Kingdom, vegans weighed in at about two points lower on the Body Mass Index scale than meat-eaters did, while vegetarians and fish-eaters fell between the two extremes. Keeping extra weight off may be one way to avoid a number of chronic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

For young vegetarians, health consequences are less straightforward. Few researchers have focused specifically on vegetarian kids, and outcomes are hard to measure because chronic diseases just aren't common in young people.

Spotty and outdated information has left an alarming impression on many parents. Some studies in the 1980s worried people about dietary deficiencies that can result from vegetarianism, Renda says. They suggested that kids weren't getting enough of nutrients such as vitamin B12 or calcium to grow well.

But this research focused on extremely restrictive diets, such as veganism or macrobiotic diets. Doctors at the time were less informed about how to counsel their patients who chose to feed their families vegetarian meals. Meat substitutes and fortified foods were also less common.

"As doctors, we weren't great about telling people they might need to take supplements, and we saw kids with nutritional deficiencies," Renda says. "Now there are a lot of articles focusing on kids, saying they can be pretty normal."

Other research suggests that if pregnant vegetarians make sure to eat a well-balanced diet, babies are no more likely to be born early, small or with complications.

As they grow from babies to preschoolers, vegetarian kids rival their peers in size. A British study in the late 1980s, for example, found that vegan kids raised by well-informed parents were all within the normal range of height, weight and head circumference.

An American study around the same time found that vegetarian kids all hovered near the 50th percentile in those measurements.

When they reach adulthood, lifelong vegetarians are similar in size and body mass index to people who become vegetarian later in life.

"As long as they are receiving enough of the key nutrients and enough calories," says Laurie Dunham, a registered dietitian at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, "they can grow perfectly well and measure up to their non-vegetarian counterparts just fine."

Beyond doing no harm, vegetarianism may also help kids, research suggests. For one thing, cutting down on meat early in life might be one way to counter the rising rates of obesity, along with the chronic diseases associated with it.

Some evidence suggests that vegetarian kids are slimmer than their meat-eating peers and that teenagers are less likely to be overweight or obese if they don't eat meat. Studies also show that vegetarian teens eat fewer sweets and junk food and get more fruits, vegetables and fiber.

In a 2002 study of more than 4,500 teenagers, University of Minnesota researchers found that 70% of vegetarian teens were within the guidelines for total fat intake, compared with 48% of non-vegetarians. And 39% of the vegetarians ate five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables, compared with 28% of meat-eaters.

"Just by their diet alone, vegetarian children tend to be leaner," Renda says. "That helps them as adults because they're not getting the double whammy of being overweight as kids already."

Food habits also form early, which means that learning to like a variety of grains and vegetables as a kid is easier than learning to like them as adults.

Despite the endorsements, there are some serious pitfalls when kids stop eating meat. That's especially true when the idea is new to parents, some of whom may have never heard of Tofurky or soy meatballs.

Just because a meal is technically vegetarian doesn't guarantee that it's good for you, says Ruth Frenchman, a registered dietitian in Burbank, and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Assn.

"I've had many vegetarian clients who didn't eat vegetables," Frenchman says. "If they're just eating chips and soda, they're vegetarian, but they're not healthy."

health@latimes.com

Read the accompanying LA Times story about the important nutrients for a vegan child, and check out the articles on conflict with kids and special issues pertaining to vegetarian teens @http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-vegetarian-kids-tips9-2009nov09,0,7319554.story.

Saturday Morning Top Trainer Holiday Tip: Pumpkin Cappuccino

2009-11-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

Here's one of my fav Eating Holiday's Top Trainer Tips: Try substituting 1/2 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice in ur coffee=0 cal. versus 12 oz. serving of pumpkin cappuccino 240 cal. w/8 gms fat.

Add Plants to Oxygenate & Green Your Workout Room

2009-11-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

Green Plants=Fresh Air

A number of plants are recommended for cleaning up indoor air by “scrubbing away” harmful gases, such as formaldehyde and benzene, in addition to recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen. Try placing a few of these plants listed below in your home gym area or rally your local gym to buy a few. Then, breath deeply from the newly cleaned fresh air!

• Areca Palm
• Mother-in-Law’s Tongue
• Money Plant Chinese Evergreen Dracaena
• Heartleaf Philodendron
• Pothos
• Snake Plant
• Spider Plant
• Weeping Fig

Article from Make Healthy A Lifestyle @www.LindaLaRue.com. For more ways to green your workout and help our planet join my FREE digital Make Healthy A Lifestyle magazine today.

Late Harvest High Protein Pumpkin Smoothie

2009-10-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

People always ask me for my favorite tricks to keep the weight off during the "Eating Holidays" beginning with Halloween. Try this Late Harvest High Protein Pumpkin Smoothie as a yummy, alternative to pumpkin pie and all the other fall/winter sugary, high Calorie desserts that will expand your waistline between now and the New Year. I like having this yummy protein smoothie before I go out, as it keeps me full so I'm not so tempted to overindulge. Orange colored squash varieties are chock full of powerful phytochemicals (or plant chemicals), such as antioxidants, vitamin C, and betacarotine, which is helps improve your vision.

Ingredients
1 cup canned pumpkin
¼ cup nonfat vanilla yogurt (or reduced fat, firm tofu if you are vegan)
2 cups unsweetened apple juice
1 T honey of agave
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1. Place the canned pumpkin, honey, pumpkin pie spice, and yogurt or reduced fat tofu in blender.

2. Pour in juice and process until blended well. Serve immediately. May store in refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
Yields: 4 Servings. Serving size: 6 ounces. Nutritional Content: 140 Calories, 0.4g fat, 2g protein, 34g carbohydrates, 20mg sodium.
*May top with 1 T of nonfat, whipped real dairy topping (a free food portion) and a dusting of pumpkin pie spice mix.

*For more delicious, healthful, and quick recipes that will get you through the holidays without packing on the pounds, buy Linda’s new SOUPer Slim Diet ebook at www.LindaLaRue.com/store.

Healthy Pumpkin Maple Nut Bread

2009-10-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

Using prunes as a natural whole food sweetener is a healthy “trick” used by top chefs and dietitians. Prunes also add moisture, fiber, and loads of important nutrition, such as iron.

For this and more deliciously frugal healthy recipes, buy my SOUPer Slim Diet ebook at www.LindaLaRue.com. I invite you to join my FREE digital magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle, where you'll find recipes, exercises, and articles to help you transform your core, transform your body, and transform your life at www.LindaLaRue.com.

The BEST EVER Flat Ab Workout Video FREE

2009-10-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

Humor is the best ever flat belly workout (besides my new, Crunchless CORE TRANSFORMER of course). Here's my big, fluffy marmalade colored Maine Coon Cat Bernie on the BOSU going cat CORE crazy. Enjoy and LOL:)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohvF5jlDStM

Fall Issue of Make Healthy A Lifestyle is Here!

2009-10-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

How to Win the Winter Weight Gain War

How did summer fly by so fast? Seems just yesterday I was asking my friend from Yang Farms at my local farmer’s market when he would be selling summer heirloom tomatoes. Now I’m seeing vibrant yellow, orange, and green squash varieties when I hit the market stands. But, let’s get back to message. That is how to effectively keep from once again gaining those 5-10 pounds around your mid-section (even tho' ur doing ur Crunchless Abs workouts) and hips over the “eating holiday’s” season.

That’s why I’ve provided more than a few simple and smart strategies to help keep your workouts and eating on-track for maintaining (or even losing), instead of gaining weight this fall thru winter. When it’s cold outside and the weather is bad, how about a challenging workout in your living room with my friend, Stephanie Vitorino’s new DVD, The Ultimate Body Shaper? AND, I am now selling my new CORE TRANSFORMER®, which is the next evolution of Crunchless Abs and Total Body Training too. I’ve shot more than a few spots in the Move-of-The-Month section that are designed to create an awesome total body workout beginning first and always working your core from the inside out—or 3-Dimensionally.

For most everyone I know including me, gaining weight is much scarier than Halloween, so keep eating healthfully and moving instead of hibernating and gaining weight this season.

Boo:)!

Linda

Join free Make Healthy A Lifestyle for FREE @www.lindalarue.com/members

Linda LaRue's CORE TRANSFORMER-Get Hollywood Trim Abs

2009-09-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

Great post on AOL's That'sFit.com about Hollywood's Hot New Ab Trimming Workout featuring my CORE TRANSFORMER. @http://www.thatsfit.com. It's the Ultimate Crunchless Abs 2.0 evolution of Crunchless Core, AND total body training too.

To view my CORE TRANSFORMER and moves, join my FREE digital magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle at LindaLaRue.com.

Oneness, Bliss, and Desire for Enlightenment

2009-09-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Posted from www.Intent.com 09/07/09

Question:

I understand and know that pure consciousness is not dual but One, and that you have to go beyond opposite values to experience oneness. All our emotions have opposites too, so does that mean we must get beyond all emotions? - and if we go beyond our emotions, doesn't that just make us indifferent? Does becoming enlightened mean becoming indifferent?

I also know that unconditional love is an expression of pure consciousness, because unconditional love is not an emotion, therefore has no opposite - it’s a way of being, allowing everything and everyone to be what they are - but what about bliss, pure consciousness is suppose to be bliss, but bliss is and emotion that has an opposite value doesn't it ? My final question is, is there a wrong reason to want to become enlightened? I for one want to try become as enlightened as possible, so I Never have to come back here.
I suppose these are almost childish questions, but anyway many thanks and much Love.

Answer:

The oneness of pure consciousness is our own true Self. This Atman is described as Sat Chit Ananda- absolute bliss consciousness. Bliss in this context is not an emotion or feeling. As Maharishi used to say, “absolute bliss is not blissful.” That is simply a relative word that is used to describe the exuberance and effervescence of that state of awareness, even though the experience is non-relative. In and of itself, the Atman is beyond opposites, duality, thoughts, emotions, or desires.

The desire for enlightenment itself doesn’t matter as much as the transformation toward enlightenment that it brings. Even if our initial desires for enlightenment are egoistic or petty, as we move closer to self-knowledge and freedom, our desires change and will start to reflect the more universal and altruistic values that are consciousness is changing into. So it doesn’t matter so much how pure or enlightened our vision is initially, what matters is that we start where we are and move onward spiritually from there to the next level of knowledge and liberation. From there the process of awakening gains momentum and takes care of itself.

Love,

Deepak

*To view my blogs @Intent visit, www.intent.com/search/node/linda+larue

Group Cycling Class Generates and Captures Clean, Renewable Energy

2009-08-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

With our human-powered conscious generation today, a new group cycling workout can now make a real difference generating renewable energy. A group spinning class generates about 300 kWh, according to Jay Whelan, founder and president of the Green Revolution, www.egreenrevolution.com. Green Revolution helped set up the new system that captures and stores energy at Ridgefield Fitness Club in Hartford, Connecticut, using Schwinn stationary bikes, which are connected to a cabinet that functions as an inverter connected to the club's grid. On average each class member generates between 50-100 watts when exercising at a moderate pace for about an hour.

The entire group cycling studio, comprised of 17 indoor cycles, is connected to the club’s electrical grid through an inverter, so that human electricity can be used to power all aspects of the facility. Any excess electricity generated from the club has the potential to return to the power grid for others in the community to use.

A typical group cycling class with about 20 bikes has the potential to produce up to 3.6 Megawatts (3,600,000 Watts) of renewable energy per year. This is equivalent to the amount of power needed to light 72 homes for a month, while also reducing carbon emissions by over 5,000 pounds, according to Whelan.

*Note www.KineticCycling.com, a new group cycling center located in Brentwood, CA, has a few Green Revolution’s bikes, and are testing their popularity within the group cycling experience.

Right to Bare Arms: How to Get Michelle Obama's Sexy Shoulders and Awesome Arms

2009-08-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

From the covers of Oprah to Vogue Magazine, first lady Michelle Obama has been seen baring her toned, graceful, and athletic arms on more than a few, presidential White House events. Time and again our first lady seems to rock it out at The White House with her rock solid Action Heroine Arms every woman seems to covet these days. She’s made strong, toned, arms sexy, beautifully bold, and SOoo 2009.

The key to getting gracefully strong and beautiful, toned arms is two fold. First, you must weight train to challenge the arm muscles to change, adapt, and grow. Second, you must lose fat, because if you have a layer of fat covering your beautiful, new toned arms, all you will see is the layer of fat.

This CORE TRANSFORMER™ ultimate are shaper move adapted from my friend, Stephanie Vitorino’s www.stephanievitorino.com soon to be released V Body workout DVD, incorporates both weight training, AND aerobic fat burning. This is a full body compound core cardio sculpting move with a weight resistance emphasis on toning your arms fast. The secret is the 4-point inwardly directed to the core resistance, that constantly places resistance on your arms too.

To view this CORE TRANSFORMER™ ultimate arm shaper move demonstrated by my friend Stephanie Vitorino, visit my FREE digital Magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle @http://www.lindalarue.com/members/?page_id=189&cat_id=37.

The Late Summer Make Healthy A Lifestyle Is Here!

2009-08-13T11:36:00.003-07:00

The late summer Make Healthy a Lifestyle is here! For me, summers have always been about 3 things: swimming, grilling, and salads. That’s why I’ve decided in this issue to feature these 3 things I love most about summer.

First, swimming. I’ve included two articles about the powerful and healing properties of water along with one of my favorite water power workouts. This workout is one of my best ever ways to cross train optimally without pounding the crap out of your spine and joints. Plus, according to the Lose It app., you’ll be burning lots of calories too—about 500—with NO impact. Now that’s about the equivalent of running 5 miles—AWESOME! (As I said, water is pretty powerful. It is the only element that can go around and through just about everything and everwhere, including mountains.)

Second, grilling. Living in California for the past two decades has influenced all aspects of my life—especially food. I am crazy about Mexican food. My favorite dish is grilled Mahi Mahi fish tacos. For me summer’s are about having Mahi Mahi Taco Tuesday’s with loads of fresh pico de gallo made with fresh, farmer's market heirloom Brandywine tomatoes—YUM. Try my fast food fav Mahi Mahi fish taco recipe.

Third, salads. As I stated in #2 living in SoCal has made my tastebuds expand to also include Mediterrian food. My love of Mediterrian flavors began working as the head nurse at The Pritikin Longevity Center in Santa Monica on the beach looking directly at the Pacific Ocean. One of my fast food favorite salads is Summer Heirloom Tomato Tabbouleh Salad. So healthy and stores well in big batches. Right now the heirloom tomatoes have the most intense sweetness. (They’re almost better than chocolate:))

I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer,

Linda

To join my FREE digital magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle, click here.

Top Trainer Tip: 100 Calorie Thomas' Light Whole Grain English Muffins

2009-08-10T13:36:00.001-07:00

I recently discovered Thomas' Light Whole Grain English Muffins, which I love. They are ONLY 100 Calories per whole (not 1/2) muffin, and have 8 grams of fiber. Most muffins have about on average twice the calories (and fat too). A yummy, filling, and healthy breakfast food to begin your day right!

My Favorite, Healthy Julia Child Vegan Recipe: Ratatouille

2009-08-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

By Linda LaRue, RN MEd., ATC
Creator, www.CrunchlessAbs.com
www.LindaLaRue.com

Can’t wait to see the movie Julie and Julia this Friday, as I am a big fan of Julia Child—and I always love watching Meryl Streep too. Thought I’d dedicate this piece in honor of an extraordinary woman who helped change the food movement in America. Julia’s advice for eating healthfully was to have, “small helpings, lot’s of variety, no seconds, and no snacking”. Here is my favorite, healthy vegan recipe by her. This classic French casserole is now associated with a cartoon rat, but the dish—a delicious stew of eggplant, onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and zucchini—inspires you to try your hand at cooking. Bon Appétit!

Ingredients
1/2 pound eggplant
1/2 pound zucchini, trimmed
1 tsp. sea salt
7 T olive oil, divided
1 8-ounce onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
2 green bell peppers, thinly sliced into strips
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 pound firm but ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, cut into 3/8 to 1/4-inch-thick strips
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Peel eggplant; cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, then cut into 3-inch-long, 1-inch-wide strips. Cut zucchini into same size strips. Place vegetables in large bowl; sprinkle with 1 tsp. salt. Let stand 30 minutes. Drain; dry with paper towels.

2. Heat 4 T oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add eggplant and zucchini to skillet; sauté until light golden, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to plate; reserve.

3. Add 3 T oil to skillet; heat over medium heat. Add onion and peppers; sauté until just tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in garlic. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper.

4. Place tomato strips atop onion-pepper mixture in skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover skillet; cook over low heat until tomatoes begin to juice, about 5 minutes. Uncover; baste vegetables in skillet with juices. Boil until juices are almost evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Transfer 1/3 of onion-pepper-tomato mixture to 2 1/2-quart pot; sprinkle with 1 T parsley. Top with half of eggplant and half of zucchini then, remaining onion-pepper-tomato mixture; sprinkle with 1 T parsley. Layer remaining eggplant and zucchini over; sprinkle with 1 T parsley.

6. Cover; simmer over low heat 10 minutes. Uncover; tilt pot and baste with accumulated juices. Increase heat to medium; simmer uncovered, basting several times with pan juices until only 2 to 3 T juices remain in pot, watching closely to avoid scorching, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper.

Yields 8 servings. Serving size: 1 cup. Nutritional content: 152 Calories, 12.05g fat, 1.75g protein, 11.15g carbohydrates, 3.17g fiber, 440g sodium. *Can be made 8 hours ahead of time. Cool slightly, cover then, chill. Serve at room temperature or rewarm over medium-low heat before serving.

For more healthy recipes, weight loss, and fitness articles, join my FREE digital magazine, www.MakeHealthyALifestyle.com

A New Crop of School Gardens

2009-07-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

By Krista Simmons
Reprint from The LA Times July 29, 2009

Even as state funding wilts, support for school gardens is growing. A freckle-faced Malloy Sparling wraps her dirt-dusted fingers around a three-pronged cultivator and looks up with a big-toothed smile. "We're making a garden," she says, plucking a weed out of the ground, then wiping her little hands on her tomato red T-shirt.

Sparling and other young volunteers, plus parents and politicians, are taking part in a community work day at Farragut Elementary School in Culver City. But they're not the only ones spending this summer working toward a greener fall semester.

Tools for getting started on school. While most schools sit like dormant ghost towns during the summer, a few are breaking up the asphalt, planting seeds that will be sprouting edible gardens come September.

It may seem counterintuitive to start new programs in this economic climate. Summer school was canceled at many campuses this year, the $1.7-million California Instructional School Garden Program grant to the Los Angeles Unified School District has expired, and the budget crisis has left countless teachers unemployed.

But this groundswell, largely sparked by parent and community interest -- and perhaps some inspiration from Michelle Obama's White House garden -- is finding support in all the right places.

Ben Ford, chef-owner of Ford's Filling Station, and Akasha Richmond, chef-owner of Akasha, both restaurants in Culver City, spearheaded the recent work day at Farragut where parents, grandparents, children, chefs and politicians worked to lay the ground for a green space for students.

There have been gardens on the Culver City campus for more than 50 years, which have gone through several cycles of productivity and abandonment, but Ford and Richmond are using their connections in the food industry to help make this plan as sustainable and financially painless as possible. They've secured soil, seed and supplies from local farms and nurseries, and food and refreshments for the volunteers from several local restaurants. In total, the two have spent only about $200 on the garden thus far.

The organizers at Farragut hope they'll soon be able to tap Alice Waters for an Edible Schoolyard (ESY) certification, which will bring not only publicity but a seasoned veteran's perspective. Waters' ESY program is known for her implementation of seed-to-table gardens within the Berkeley school district, and has recently gone national, helping schools throughout the country execute curriculum-based gardens and locally sourced school lunch programs.

In addition to her campus in New Orleans, Waters is working with the Larchmont Charter Schools in Hollywood, which have two fully functional gardens and a lunch program where meals are prepared with organic, local ingredients by an in-house chef.

Waters says there is a shift in priorities that needs to happen within federal policy to give garden programs longevity. In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy implemented the President's Council on Physical Fitness to instill values of physical fitness. She considers the current prevalence of childhood obesity and early-onset Type 2 diabetes to be signals for immediate action similar to the fitness council.

"Now we need a curriculum that's about ecology and about gastronomy so that we can make sure that children are making the right kinds of decisions for themselves, and for the planet. There's no way to address the issues of obesity unless you let children come into a relationship of food that's positive, restorative and desirable," Waters says.

Carlos Lopez, a graduate of the garden program at Crenshaw High School, thinks a garden's value extends beyond promoting good health. "This is a way of giving kids a sense of ownership, a place to stay off the street. It saved me, and it saved a whole bunch of us. It can become so much bigger than just a garden."

Lopez was part of the team that created Food From the Hood, a student-run business that sprouted from selling Crenshaw High's produce at local farmers markets and eventually expanded to create a national brand of salad dressing that was distributed at more than 2,000 locations. But since the students from Food From the Hood graduated, the garden has become overgrown and left unattended.

A teaching garden. This summer, the Garden School Foundation, led by master gardener Nat Zappia, hopes to change that. On the first garden cleanup day, dozens of community members, former students from Food From the Hood, teachers and volunteers from Starbucks showed up to re-till soil, planting the seed for the soon-to-be student gardeners returning in the fall.

Bill Vanderberg, dean of students at Crenshaw High, plans to use the garden as a vehicle for learning within the newly created Smaller Learning Communities (SLCs). He hopes the Business SLC will be able to model off the Garden School Foundation's 24th Street School garden, where the fifth-grade children have struck a deal with Pitfire Pizza Co. to trade their herbs for pizza.

But the possibilities for educational incorporation don't stop there -- science, botany, social studies, history, geography, art and nutrition have all been included in existing local programs. Zappia hopes to use his background in history to introduce garden beds that are shaped like continents, where classes of students will learn about the history and culture of other nations through food.

Mud Baron, gardening guru for LAUSD and caretaker of the North Hollywood High School farm, says that special-needs teachers often come to him for seedlings. "There's no such thing as a special ed sunflower. It's just a sunflower," he says.

His 7-acre North Hollywood High School farm serves as a nursery for the rest of LAUSD -- it hosts a small Chardonnay vineyard, a greenhouse, a plethora of dahlias, several chickens and a pig named Francine. Baron also oversees the remaining 500-some-odd gardens across the LAUSD, which are at varying levels of production. This summer, he'll be working with students from the Summer Jobs Program who will be cultivating 500 Green Zebra tomatoes for Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, chef-owners of Ciudad and Border Grill.

But even with his infectious enthusiasm, Baron's job is constantly at risk. Though California Instructional School Gardens Program grant funds are no longer available, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines has agreed to match the funds that Baron and the LAUSD School Garden Program raise, given that they reach $100,000. Donations can be made at www.laschoolgardens.com, which will go live at the end of this week. Community support may be the only way for school garden programs to survive.

Friends of the earth. It appears that Angelenos from all walks of life are interested in lending a hand to advance the school garden movement, regardless of tough times. The Environmental Media Assn. and Yes to Carrots have partnered with LAUSD to sponsor 10 new school garden projects, one of which will be at Saturn Elementary in L.A.. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal will be their mentor, and architect Rogerio Carvalheiro, who worked on the Getty Villa and Union Station, will work pro bono on the design. Once completed this fall, they hope to add a "scratch kitchen," where children will prepare the food they grow.

Saturn's garden project was started by an enthused group of parents who call themselves the "Rings of Saturn." Through applying for grants, working with local politicians and school leaders, and fundraisers, they have put together a garden plan for Saturn that they hope will boost its public image.

"To be successful, this needs to be viewed as integral. These are skills that kids used to learn at home. Today, that's not a reality," says Melissa Patrick, who is heading the Saturn project.

"You can't expect a whole person if you don't educate the whole child," Baron says. "We don't strictly learn within four square walls."

Walking 101: 4 Simple Steps to Save Your Stride

2009-07-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

Oftentimes, people cannot walk, jog, or run anymore due to pain and/or injuries, but with correct re-education of proper mechanics you can get out of pain and successfully run again. Proper mechanics is the piece to the puzzle that all the “How To” boilerplate fitness magazine running articles and fitness books have been missing. This is key to optimal performance, injury free running. And, you’ll also be more efficient which will have you burning the most fat and be able to experience the pure joy of walking outside.

You need to begin with proper walking/running biomechanics before you even attempt to design a routine! Essentially, we start walking then, running when we’re between 1 to 2 years old by leaning forward then, attempting to keep ourselves from falling forward primarily by pushing or using our quadriceps and calf muscles when we walk and/or run. (We don’t really change much from that as adults).

This creates the wrong walking and running mechanics as we are not using our big powerful hamstrings and gluteal muscles, or lifting our legs with our hip flexor muscles. Most people do not sufficiently engage the hamstring and gluteals when they walk or run, because they do not get into the proper position to enhance the efficacy of those muscles.

This leads to two big problems: (1) People don’t learn the correct walking and running mechanics and, (2) They assume they did learn the right biomechanics. *Think about this: People take golfing, tennis, and private training lesions, but they never think about taking running lessons--because they assume they know how! This leads to people walking, jogging, and running incorrectly then, as a result, getting hurt.

Key Points to review: (1) Proper Arm Mechanics. (2) Break in stride cadence or a pause, which occurs and interrupts every stride. (3) Drills to generate horizontal velocity strengthening the muscles around the ankle, knee, and hip joint to create proper mechanics. Proper mechanics must focus on flexion and extension. The progression is: (1) Learn the sequence of when muscles should fire, develop range of motion, (2) Strengthen those muscles that relate to how to the joint functions, and (3) Increase frequency without compromising the sequence. (Otherwise speed is retarded and the potential for injury is increased significantly. Because speed is stride length x stride frequency, always work on one or the other of those functions to achieve peak gait form).

Here are four simple steps to keep you stepping in good form optimally and injury free.

Head, shoulders and chest: Keep your head up and centered between your shoulders. Focus your eyes straight ahead. Keep your shoulders back and down. Your chest should be naturally lifted, as if there were a string attached to the center that gently pulls it upwards. Always try to maintain this neutral spine optimal posture.
Arms and hands: Your arms should be bent at 90 degrees. Swing them back and forth—not side-to-side—and keep them close to your body. Keep your hands loosely cupped as if you are holding a butterfly that you don’t want to escape but you don’t want to crush either.
Core: Pull your belly button gently in toward your spine and tuck your pelvis forward and maintain a continuous, soft Kegel ever so slightly, so you feel tall, stable and upright, (or remember to always keep my Crunchless Abs Set Up).
Hips, thighs and feet: Power your movements from your hips rather than your thighs, but keep your hips loose and natural. Take short, fast strides that still feel natural rather than awkward. Land firmly on your heels and roll smoothly to push off with your toes. Think of planting your heel and then "pushing the ground away from you" as you roll through your foot.

For more inspiration to help you get fit and lose weight, join my FREE Make Healthy A Lifestyle digital magazine at www.LindaLaRue.com today!

RUBY: Hurdling Over Your Weight Loss Plateau

2009-07-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

Lately, I’ve been loving watching a reality show, RUBY, on the Style Network. It’s a show about Ruby Gettinger a 500-pound blooming Steel Magnolia from Savannah weight loss journey. I’ve become her fan, and am passionately rooting for her success. The first season she managed to lose over 100 pounds. This week on episode 2 of Season 2, she’s hit a weight loss plateau at about 350 pounds. (Emotionally she’s never weighed less than 350 during her entire adult life, and she’s having back and knee pain when exercising on the treadmill.) So what’s the hitch as she is working out diligently, and eating a prescribed, healthy meal plan?

One of the most common frustrations in weight loss is when all progress halts, despite the fact that you are diligently following a smart plan. Such plateaus are predictable and explainable. Why? Because Basal metabolic rate (BMR)—the energy required to keep the heart pumping, lungs expanding, kidneys filtering and all other vital bodily functions going when the body is at rest—accounts for 60 to 70 percent of the calories you burn and depends, for the most part, on body mass. When weight-loss occurs, body mass goes down. Therefore, so does BMR.

Consider an example: You weigh 162 pounds and eat 1,900 calories a day. To lose a pound a week, you've got to cut between 500 and 600 calories per day. So you restrict yourself to 1,400 calories, and the weight comes off. But suddenly, after week six, the scale refuses to budge. This is because with the weight loss, your BMR has also declined, and where your body used to burn 1,368 calories per day, now it's using only 1,080. At this weight, there's less of you to move around, so you burn fewer calories working out and waste fewer calories as heat. All in all, your daily calorie expenditure is now pretty close to what you're taking in. You've hit a new—and probably very annoying—equilibrium. Once you've hit a weight loss plateau, how can you get past it? Here are 6 steps to help get the needle on the scale moving again in the right direction—that is downward.

If you've hit a weight loss wall get my 6 simple weight loss steps to begin moving again downwards at Make Healthy A Lifestyle at http://www.LindaLaRue.com.

July Top Trainer Workout Playlist: A Tribute to Michael Jackson

2009-07-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

It seems an appropriate tribute dedicating this month’s Top Trainer Workout Playlist to Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. Say what you will about his controversial private life, but there is no denying that his musical talent was true genius, and will live on forever. His songs both as a young boy in the Jackson 5, and as a solo performer always inspire you to get up and dance, AND energize your to workouts too. The only problem is what songs to choose, as there have been more than a few that have motivated my feet to fly faster on the treadmill over the years? Let’s remember the memories of joy, passion, and happiness Michael’s songs have provided us during his lifetime.

1. Rock With You—Michael Jackson (3:23)
2. Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough—Michael Jackson (5:51)
3. Dancing Machine—Jackson 5 (2:36)
4. Remember The Time—Michael Jackson (3:59)
5. Thriller—Michael Jackson (5:57)
6. ABC—Jackson 5 (2:59)
7. Wanna’ Be Startin’ Somethin’—Michael Jackson (6:01)
8. Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)—Michael Jackson (3:44)
9. I Want You Back—Jackson 5 (2:58)
10. Off The Wall—Michael Jackson (3:45)

For more healthy inspiration, I invite you to join my FREE digital magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle @ www.LindaLaRue.com.

June Move-of-The-Month: Hip Opening Stretches

2009-06-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

A key component to having proper walking mechanics, especially stride and preventing low back pain, is hip flexibility. Desk jobs, spending time at your computer, and driving in your car tighten your hip and pelvic girdle. Here are a couple of my favorite hip opening stretches. Remember to include a hamstring stretch too. Having proper flexibility in your hips will also help you sufficiently engage all you walking muscles, and prevent injury—especially low back.

When you stretch I recommend going to the point of feeling muscle tension, not pain.

Groin Stretch

Kneel with knees together on bath towel; hips stacked directly over knees, and shoulders directly over shoulders, looking directly at floor.
Inhale then, exhale breathing rhythmically and comfortably while slowly sliding knees apart allowing groin to stretch comfortably. Remember to keep hips in line with knees. Hold for 20 seconds until you feel your muscles releasing naturally.
Repeat 2x.

Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

Kneel on right knee reaching right arm overhead while reaching left arm downward to floor.
Inhale then, exhale and activate a pelvic tilt. Press pelvis forward to stretch hip flexors. Keep right knee stacked directly over right foot. Hold stretch for 20 seconds until you feel your muscles releasing naturally.
Repeat on left side 1x each side.

To view these stretches visit my FREE digital emagazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle, at http://www.LindaLaRue.com.

Just Say "NO" to Spammers on FB!

2009-06-14T08:59:00.001-07:00

Walking 4 Weightloss

2009-06-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

I really do love to walk, because you can walk anytime, anywhere, and it’s FREE—my favorite four-letter word. There is nothing that clears and works my mind and body more than an invigorating power walk at the beach in Santa Monica pumping my pink 2 pound dumbbells. Did you know that walking is the #1 most popular exercise in America? According to Prevention Magazine, 1 in 4 Americans use walking as their primary mode of exercise. Here 7 simple steps to help you walk off your weight, and have fun too. Plus, you’ll be stepping stronger, and connecting your mind, body, and spirit.

Get Inspired! Find one or a few awe inspiring walking routes, which will help motivate and inspire you.
Recruit a Walking Buddy. Find a friend to walk with to give you support and motivation when you are feeling weak.
Calendar Your Walking Times. Accountability is key to establishing any new behavior. Make a plan. Write your walking times on your monthly planner, www.google.com/calendar.
Add Upper Body Resistance. Holding a pair of 2 pound dumbbells will create upper body resistance, and sculpt your chest, back, shoulders, and arms. Plus, studies show power walking briskly with 2 pound dumbbells may increase your calorie burn by up to 40%!
Wear the Right Gear. Wear sunscreen and sun protective clothing, especially a broad brimmed hat. Excessive sun exposure causes cancer along with prematurely ageing your skin. Check out Solumbra for great sun protective, active wear www.sunprecautions.com. Wear proper reflective clothing if you are walking early in the morning or evening when it dark outside.
Add Incline. Find a set of stairs or climb a hill. Incline ups your heart rate, which in turn ups your calorie burn—both during, and after you are walking. It’s also a great way to tone your tush, and help you build a better butt.
Break Up Your Workout with Resistance Stations. Resistance training builds lean tissue to create a sculpted physique, and helps your body burn more calories per day. Try 12 reps each of push-ups to side plank hold on a park bench, tricep dips on a park bench, lunges, and side lunges. Carry a green SPRI resistance tube www.lindalarue.com/store_linda.html then, loop it around a tree for some standing rowing and horizontal core wood chops. With a resistance tube, you’re your training move possibilities are infinite.

For a great green weight loss and workout plan, order my SOUPer Slim Diet ebook click here.

Monday Weekly Weigh-In: It's a 4-Legged Affair

2009-06-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

A too cute photo of my cat Bernie, my favorite weight loss buddy-:)!

Energize Your Walk with a FREE Non-Stop Walking Mix!

2009-06-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t heard, thousands of bodies are moving to a new workout music podcast called Motion Traxx. It features high-energy, non-stop dance mixes that are set at different Beats-per-Minute. The faster pace makes it great for cardio. Its producer, Deekron ‘The Fitness DJ’ recently created an episode that’s set at an ideal pace for your walks. It also happens to be FREE.

You’ll have fun on your walks with this non-stop, hour-long walking mix called “Walker’s Delight”. It is available free when you sign up for the Motion Traxx workout music podcast.

The mix is set at 120 – 130 Beats-per-Minute, which is a good pace for your walks. According to Deekron ‘The Fitness DJ’, producer of Motion Traxx, “The mix is very groovy and uplifting. It features House music tinged with Jazz, Gospel, and Disco flavors.”

Walker’s Delight Playlist
1. A New Day by Black Liquid – House Sound of LA (120)
2. Nico’s Trumpet by ARA – Para Disco (120)
3. Jazzy Hooligan by Thierry Thomas – Open Bar Music (121)
4. Sax Machine feat. Mad Sax (Smooth Mix) by ATM – Sunshine Records (122)
5. Breathe (Kiko Navarro Classice Re-Edit) by Blaze – Slip N Slide (123)
6. Sanctify (Vincent Kwok’s Lift Me Higher Mix) by Morrison & Vincent Kwok (124)
7. Summer City (Instrumental Dub) by Blackliquid – House Sound of LA (125)
8. Return to Flight (Benji Candelario Mix) by Vicent Kwok – Azucar (126)
9. Let the People (Original Mix) by Allane – Sunshine Records (127)
10. Luminance (Original Mix) by Dave Horne & Gravity – Progressive Grooves (127)
11. For Love (New Mondo’s Touch of Soul Mix) by New Mondo – Azucar (128)
12. What About You (VK’s Vocal Mix) by Nina Lares & Vincent Kwok – Azucar (129)
13. After My Love (Vincent Kwok’s Pumped Up Mix) by Morrison – Azucar (129)
14. 2 Deep In Love by Thierry Thomas – Open Bar Music (130)

To download your free walking mix, visit my Top 10 iTunes Workout Playlist at click here.

Time to Make it Happen NOW!

2009-06-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

Mercury is officially out of retrograde today. Time to plant positive seeds of thoughts then, take action to grow them into tall, strong, beautiful trees. If your goal is weight loss then, begin by eating more healthfully. To learn how click here.

Summer Grillin': Rosemary Shrimp Scampi Skewers

2009-05-23T18:38:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite, summer grillin’, fast-fix entrees that never fails to get ooh’s, aha’s, and raves from everyone, because it’s visually beautiful and elegant. Everyone will think you’re a gourmet chef. (You can also substitute Paul Newman’s low-fat Cesar salad dressing instead of making the marinade—so semi-homemade easy!)

Ingredients
1 T dry white wine
1 t fresh lemon juice
1 t olive oil
1/8 t salt
1/8 t freshly ground black pepper
1 large clove minced garlic
18 large shrimp, peeled and deveined (about ¾ pound)
6 (6 inch) rosemary sprigs
Cooking spray
Lemon wedges for garnish (optional)

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a zip top plastic bag. Add shrimp to bag, seal and shake to coat. Marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes, turning bag occasionally.
2. Working with 1 rosemary sprig at a time, hold leafy end of sprig in 1 hand. Strip leaves off sprig with other hand, leaving ½ inch of leaves attached to leafy end of sprig. Repeat procedure with remaining rosemary sprigs to make 6 rosemary skewers. Thread 3 shrimp onto each rosemary skewer.
3. Heat a grill pan over medium high heat (or outdoor grill). Coat both sides of shrimp skewers with cooking spray. Arrange 3 skewers on pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until shrimp are done. Remove from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining skewers. Serve with lemon wedges for garnish if desired.

Yields: 3 servings. Serving size: 6 shrimps per skewer. Nutritional Content: 208 Calories, fat 5.2g , 0g saturated fat, 34.7g protein, 2.4g carbohydrates, 0.1g fiber, 259g cholesterol, 4.mg Iron, 400mg sodium, 93mg calcium.

Find more, great tasting, quick-fix, money and time saving recipes in my SOUPer Slim Diet eco-friendly ebook click here.

Crunchless Abs Wins Prestigious 2008 Jordan Whitney Award

2009-05-19T04:37:00.000-07:00

Wow! Just found out from the folks at Savvier that the Crunchless Abs short form commercial spot I line produced including being lead talent and casting all talent, won the prestigious 2008 Jordan Whitney award for best use of testimonials.

Awesome!

The Full Story

2/9/2009
2008 SHORT-FORM AWARD WINNERS
Short-form marketers continued to impress us in 2008 with their creativity and imagination. The challenge of short-form is to provide sufficient information in a clear and concise manner to convincingly promote a product in just 120, 60 or 30 seconds without cluttering the screen or confusing the viewer. The list below contains our selections for those that accomplished that task with great style and admirable effectiveness.

Best Short-Form Production of the Year — Snuggie – Allstar/Blue Moon

Best Short-Form Demonstration — Pet Zoom - Emson

Best Short-Form Direct Offer — Wonder Hanger - Hampton Direct

Best Short-Form Beauty Presentation – Spinlash – Akasha /Blue Moon

Best Short-Form Electronic Presentation – Magicjack – Magicjack

Best Short-Form Fitness Presentation – Iron Gym – Ontel Products

Best Short-Form Hardware Presentation — Point ‘n Paint - Point ‘n Paint/Sullivan

Best Short-Form Housewares Presentation — Steam Buddy – Legacy Products/Sullivan

Best Short-Form Personal Care Presentation — Smooth Away - Ideavillage

Best Weight Loss Presentation – Slim Shots – Ideavillage

Best Short-Form Direction — Get A Grip - Telebrands

Best Short-Form Writing — Titan Peeler – Tristar Products

Best Branded Short-Form Presentation — Ivory Snow – Procter & Gamble/SMW

Best Use of Short-Form Testimonials - Crunchless Abs – Savvier

Follow Me on Twitter

2009-05-17T09:18:00.001-07:00

Follow me on Twitter @LindaLaRue, and I will follow you.

THX!

How to Brew The Perfect Cup of Tea

2009-05-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

If you are a fan of green tea like me, today's LA Times Food Section has more than a few good reads about green tea, such as the one by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee. There is also an article about chocolate and matcha (powdered green tea) truffles. Can yin-yang, East-West fusion food get any more perfect?

Traditionalists say that green tea tastes best when steeped for less than two minutes in water that hasn't quite reached the boiling point (about 180 degrees). Others say that using water at boiling temperature (212 degrees) and steeping the tea for at least four to five minutes increases concentration of the antioxidant (polyphenol) in the tea. Maybe it's more healthful to brew the tea longer, but I prefer the more delicate taste of a briefer steeping time.

However you decide to make it, loose-leaf teas are, of course, preferred. A teaspoon of leaves is enough for an eight-ounce cup.

Con Agra Foods Adds VP of Social Media Marketing

2009-05-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

Wow! Even Con Agra the MEGA food consortium that has best selling brands such as Healthy Choice, has added a social media marketing person.

Check out this link: http://www.foodprocessing.com/industrynews/2009/062.html

For Cinco de Mayo Eat Salsa, Not Guacamole

2009-05-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

For Cinco de Mayo eat fresh salsa with baked chips, instead of guacamole with fried chips. Fresh salsa is only 40 calories with 0g fat for a 1/2 cup serving. Guacamole is 184 calories with 16g fat per 1/2 cup serving!

Lose weight for summer now without starving. Order my SOUPer Slim Diet ebook. Click here.

Still Time to Shed Weight for Summer

2009-05-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

Bikini season and summer is almost here. Still time to shed your winter weight and get great abs without starving. Start losing weight now by ordering my SOUPer Slim Diet ebook today. AND go green by saving trees too.

To order my SOUPer Slim Diet ebook click here.

Groucho Marx's Position About Joining Facebook Fan Clubs

2009-05-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

"I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as a member."

Groucho Marx

The Law of Attraction and Sankalpa

2009-05-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to read this short piece by Dr. Chopra on Intent this morning. It's the perfect Friday morning into-the-weekend boost:

The Sanskrit word Sankalpa helps us understand how conscious desire serves as the underlying structure for the manifestation of one's intention.

Sankalpa is the subtlest level of intention at the cusp of choiceless awareness and thought. It is like the seed structure of intelligence around which time, space, and matter consolidate into a manifested event. The fundamental mechanics of intention manifesting into reality is based on the principle that intent in the field of pure potentiality organizes its own fulfillment through the synchronicity of space, time, energy, information, and matter.

Swine Flu is Now H1N1

2009-04-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

If you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig...

How to Avoid Getting Sick at The Gym

2009-04-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

The other day I was completely grossed out and horrified when some rude, sneezing, snarfing, and sick person was working out next to me. (Makes no sense, because we’re working out to feel good and get fit/healthy right)? With all the people, sweat, and warmth, gyms are the ideal breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. Here are a few ways to protect yourself and avoid getting sick from nasty germs (and people) at the gym.

Stay home if you're sick. Do you want to catch a cold from a sick person at the gym? Of course not! And other people don’t want to pick up your sick germs either. If you are have a fever, are sneezing, and/or coughing, you are contagious. Stay home. If you have a cold, give yourself a chance to rest and recover and return to the gym when you are feeling better. If you do feel up to working out, try exercising at home or outdoors instead where you won’t infect others.

If someone is sick, stay away from them. Studies show germs from a sneezing/coughing person travel up to a 4 to 6-feet. So stay at least 8 to 10 feet away from someone who is coughing or sneezing. If the person seems really ill then, inform the gym manager who should ask that member to leave immediately. (Plus, you’ll avoid a potentially uncomfortable confrontation with the person. Let the gym manager play bad cop.)

Clean the gym equipment before and after use. All gyms should have spray bottles with cleaning solution and paper towels available. Don't assume that the person who used the machine before you cleaned it. Wipe the machine down before you use it and clean it again when you're finished. Clean the handles, keypads, and tension adjusters—any place the person before you may have touched.

Rally your gym to properly clean the equipment. Ask your gym to use green, biodegradable anti-microbial cleaning disinfectant to clean the gym equipment. During flu season the equipment should be cleaned and wiped down frequently during the day, especially during high use periods. *One pet peeve I personally have is when the cleaning crew uses the same filthy rag over and over again. This is spreading germs, not killing them. Speak with the gym manager to inform the cleaning crew to change rags frequently along with washing them afterwards for proper disinfecting.

Wash your hands frequently. The most important thing you can do to protect yourself from germs at the gym is to frequently wash your hands. Washing your hands with soap and water reduces the risk of transmission of viruses and bacteria. Avoid touching your face, especially your eyes, until you have washed your hands. Most gyms also have available hand sanitizer wipes. Always wash your hands before you leave the gym.

Bring your own towels and mat. It's best to bring your own towels and mat, especially if you're unsure of your gym's cleaning regimen. Place your towel down on any machine you're going to sit or lie down on. (You might want to invest in an antimicrobial mat that prevents bacterial growth and odor.)

Stay well hydrated. Everyone knows it’s important to drink plenty of water when you are working out. Staying well hydrated keeps your eye, nose, and mouth mucous membranes moist, and less likely for germs to “stick” thus infecting you.

Get out of your sweaty clothes. Once you're done with your workout, you should change as soon as possible. Your sweaty clothes are the perfect breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. If you don't have time for a shower, at least wash your hands or wipe them down with hand sanitizer.

Keep your feet covered. Wear flip flops or water shoes when walking around the locker room or pool area to avoid picking up germs or fungus that can cause warts, athlete’s foot, and other issues.

Keep your gym bag clean. To prevent germs from growing in your gym bag, remove your sweaty clothes, towels, and workout kicks from your bag when you get home from the gym.

Eating healthfully is one of the best ways to stay well. I recommend my SOUPer Slim Diet ebook, which you can purchase by clicking here.

Frugally Green Shopping Tip

2009-04-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

Off to my Sunday morning Farmer's Market using my straw tote then, yoga. Did you know that if every American used just ONE reusable tote for all shopping trips, we would save more than 60,000 trees?

AND, many grocery stores such as Whole Foods give a cash rebate if you bring a reusable tote.

For more green grocer and weight loss tips buy my digital SOUPer Slim Diet ebook click here, and join my digital Make Healthy A Lifestyle emagazine, click here.

10 Frugally Green Workout Tips

2009-04-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

We all agree that we need to do a better job conserving our planet’s limited resources, but where do you begin? Here are 10 simple suggestions that will help you get green into your workout routine without much effort at all. Plus, these eco-friendly changes are easy switches that will save you time and lots of money! How awesome and easy is that?

Curb your consumerism. Buy less active wear, expensive running shoes, and/or fad, workout gizmos (that you know are NOT quick-fixes for proper exercise and diet). You’ll leave a smaller carbon footprint and leave more money in your wallet too.
Recycle your water/sports bottles. Buy a recyclable water bottle instead of plastic one-use water bottles. Recyclable water bottles will save you big bucks in the long run, as most designer waters are very expensive. Many individual 16-ounce designer waters that include minerals and vitamins are now over $2.00 a bottle. These outrageously overpriced waters are unnecessary, as you can obtain all your vitamins and minerals by eating a sensible diet along with taking a daily multivitamin. Did you know that according to the Container Recycling Institute only 23% of plastic bottles are recycled in the US? 38 billion plastic bottles go into landfills in the US each year. Plastic bottles take up to 1000 years to biodegrade. I recommend these two recyclable water bottle companies: MySigg and Klean Kanteen.
Use biodegradable body products. Buy biodegradable body wash and shampoo in bulk, which will save you money and decrease bottle use. Then, fill them into smaller, personal-use size reusable bottles. (Most major discount retailers sell biodegradable body wash and shampoo in bulk and oftentimes run brand-name specials.)
Join a neighborhood gym that’s within walking distance to where you work and/or live. You’ll be supporting the local economy, saving car gas emissions, and costly parking fees.
If the weather is fine, walk outside—it’s free. Did you know that out of all motorized pieces of fitness equipment, treadmills use the most energy?
Use organic cotton and/or bamboo, or reclaimed fabric towels. Lots of discount retailers sell eco-friendly towels, such as organic cotton, bamboo, or organic cotton-bamboo blend. For example Bed Bath and Beyond, a nationwide retail store, sells them for reasonable prices. They routinely offer 20% coupon specials, which make the towels even more affordable. And, bamboo towels are extremely soft, luxuriant, and absorbent.
Buy recycled and/or natural fitness products. Fitness product manufacturers such as GIAIM and Natural Fitness Inc., are beginning to manufacture products using recycled materials, especially rubber.
Choose eco-friendly organic and/or recycled active wear. Today, there seems to be an over abundance of green materials being made into clothing. Time will tell what materials consumers like best due to price, performance, look, and feel. LuLu Lemon and Giaim offer organic cotton and soy fiber blend, seaweed blend, and recycled polyester active wear for men and women that is form flattering, comfortable, and long-lasting. (I like LuLu Lemon, because their clothes look and fit me best, and their retail stores are built eco-friendly too.) Brooks Sports, Brooks Running, makes a biodegradable athletic running shoe. Another frugally green idea is to shop your local, upscale thrift shops. The best days to find great clothes are Mondays and Tuesdays after folks have dropped off their clothing over the weekend. Thrift shops are hit and miss—so you may need to visit them more than once.
If you upgrade your home gym, make it eco-friendly. You can easily incorporate all these planet friendly measures when creating your home gym: http://www.intent.com/blog/2009/01/23/be-your-gyms-green-advocate
Buy used workout DVDs, as it’s a great way to recycle and save money too. You can find great quality, popular used home workout DVDs for less than half price at Amazon and EBay, and Half.com.

LA Times: Daily Attacks Against Cancer

2009-04-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

The LA Times has an excellent book review article in today's Health Section regarding "Super Foods" that help fight against cancer. The book by Dr. David Sevan-Schreiber, a 2 time brain cancer survivor, prescribes diet, meditation, and exercise to help fight against cancer. Nutrition is one thing that cancer patients or survivors "can go home and take control of," says Dr. Sevan-Schreiber.

For example, did you know, a component found in the spice turmeric has been shown to inhibit a key chemical pathway in cancer cells? That pathway is important to a cancer cell's ability to keep dividing.

Polyphenols in green tea, including one called EGCG, reduce growth of new blood vessels in animal studies (a process tumors need to grow), and suppress the growth of several cancer cell lines in the lab.

Garlic, leeks and onions strongly inhibit growth of colon, brain, lung, prostate, and breast cancer cells in the lab.

Omega-3 fats in fish oil reduce inflammation, a culprit in cancer and heart disease.

*I think I'm going to have a cup of green tea with my lunch today...

To read the full LA Times Health Section article click here. To order Dr. Sevan-Schreiber's new book, "Anticancer: A New Way of Life" on Amazon click here.

Awe Inspiring Action Hero Abs

2009-04-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

It's not just the boys these days that want Action Hero Abs. I've been training Ally Walker 1:1 for her upcoming role as a hate-to-love-her FBI agent on Sons of Anarchy. We're working on the 3 A's--Arms, Ass, and of course Abs.

As Ally says, "You have to have ass to kick ass!"

Check out some awe inspiring Action Hero Ab workouts we're doing at www.MakeHealthyALifestyle.com.

Donald Trump is now on Intent.com!

2009-04-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

Donald Trump is now a contributor on Intent.com. Check out his first post here about when it's time to move on.

Dr. Deepak Chopra and Donald Trump--interesting combination don't cha' think?

April Top Ten iTunes Workout Playlist

2009-04-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

We're also giving you a couple old skool tunes with songs by U2, as they recently dropped their new cd, No Line On the Horizon. Use all 10 songs in this order to get you through a 35+-minute uphill walk, interval workout on the elliptical, or a circuit training session—so get out there and move!

1. By my Side—JadaKiss & Ne-Yo (3:30) 
2. Amazing—Kanye West (3:58)
3. One—U2 (4:36)
4. Beat It—Fall Out Boy (Feat. John Mayer) (3:53) 
5. Beautiful Day—U2 (4:08)
6. Ching A Ling—Missy Elliott (3:43)
7. Poker Face—Lady Gaga (3:57)
8. Day ‘N’ Nite (Crooker’s Remix)—Kid Cudi (4:42)
9. Get On Your Boots—U2 (3:25)
10. Halo—Beyonce (4:21)

A great workout tune tempo should be between 120 and 140 bpm, which roughly corresponds to the average person’s heart rate during a workout routine. A beginning walker’s bpm should be between 110 to 114 bpm, intermediate below 120, and advanced walker/jogger up to 150 bpm.

If you want to be guaranteed a consistent beat, I love downloading pre-mixed Digital Fitness Music album compiled by the fitness pros at Dynamix or iSweat. Both offer hundreds of Digital Fitness Music Albums available in 30, 45 or 60 minute workouts.

Each Dynamix music album offers a variety of music styles including dance, disco, country, rock, with well-known popular songs, in various speeds for different fitness levels. The music plays non-stop on your iPod or MP3. Each album is pre-programmed to keep you on pace to achieve your cardio or strength workout goals. (Yes, this means no cheating since the music speed keeps you going!)

For more inspiring weight loss, nutrition, health, and fitness top trainer tips, join my FREE digital emagazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle!

Quotes from The Jewish Buddhist

2009-04-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.
Accept misfortune as a blessing. Do not wish for perfect health, or a life without problems. What would you talk about?
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single Oy.
There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?

Coach John Wooden: The Wizard of Westwood

2009-04-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Check out one of my hero's websites, Coach John Wooden. He always inspires me to push to greatness--especially when times are challenging.

Happy Holidays,

Linda

Gimme' a Break(fast)! High Protein Pancakes

2009-04-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

The best way to send your body and mind the message that you plan to have a healthy day is by choosing a healthy breakfast. A great breakfast will jumpstart your metabolism, keep you satiated and energized for a morning workout, and give you something to get out of bed for! Try this High Protein Pancake recipe from The SOUPer Slim Diet ebook, and let it give your morning routine a kick in the pants. These pancakes freeze well individually for up to 4 weeks.

Ingredients
3 Cups Old Fashioned Oats
¾ Cup Ground Flax Seeds
3 Scoops Whey Protein Powder (Vanilla Flavor or otherwise)
3 ½ Cups Liquid Egg Whites

3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1T Ground Cinnamon
1t Vanilla Extract
1. Spray large pan with cooking spray. Blend all ingredients together in large bowl until well mixed. Then, gently fold in blueberries being careful not to break the blueberries.
2. Place enough batter in pan to create a thin crepe, moving pan around until batter is evenly distributed.
3. Cook until light golden brown. Flip and lightly brown on other side. Serve with 1T sugar free maple syrup.
Serving size: 2 pancakes (1/15 of the batter). Nutritional Content: 150 Calories, 4g fat, 6%, 0g sat fat, 14g protein, 15g carbohydrates, 14g fiber, 5 mg cholesterol, 110mg sodium.

From The SOUPer Slim Diet eBook. To purchase the book click here.

Confidence is The New, Hot Commodity, and Muscle to Exercise!

2009-04-02T09:40:00.001-07:00

Check out this month's Make Healthy A Lifestyle digital E-Magazine!

Click here.

Join Me On Facebook

2009-04-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

I invite you to join me on Facebook

The April digital e-Issue of Make Healthy A Lifestyle is here!

2009-03-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

Don’t Let April Fool or Foul Your Workout and Weight Loss Goals

April is an early spring transition month that can frustrate and foul all your weight loss and workout intentions and goals. Seasonally our bodies are intuitively yearning to get outside and move again. However, the weather oftentimes brings April showers or maybe one last big snow storm to foul our best laid intentions for a walk, hike, or jog. One minute it's beautiful and sunny—the next dark storm clouds and rain.

That’s why this in this month’s issue of Make Healthy we’ve designed Part 2 of MH Lifestyle’s How to Create Your Best Ever Home Workout with indoor and outdoor workout options. Plus, we’ve given you a great breakfast recipe, my high protein blueberry pancakes, from The SOUPer Slim Diet to start your day out right, and an article about a very important muscle, Confidence, by my friend Maura Barclay. Confidence is the new, hot commodity to have today.

Check out our new, Weight Loss, Nutrition, and Fitness Applications column featuring Lose It!. I’ve been using this free app for the past couple weeks, and plugging in my food and workouts every day. (It’s always an eye opener to actually record what you put in your mouth. Yikes! Did I really eat that many cookies throughout the day?!?) I like the fact that with a only a couple quick strokes I can input all my food and workout data then, get immediate Caloric and weight loss feedback.

As part of our “How To” plan to help you achieve optimum health and your best body ever, we’ve added a male perspective by well known NYC Fitness and Wellness expert Celebrity A-Lister and owner of The Madison Square Club Workout and Wellness Center David Kirsch. Many of you guys have emailed about getting a guy onboard to give their wellness, training, weight loss, and nutrition views. David is one of the best-selling mind-body wellness book and workout DVD experts in the industry today. We are honored that he is reaching out and contributing. I love David’s line in his article about riding thru the streets on his bike in Manhattan early in the morning alone. It paints such a simple, bold picture.

Hibernation time is over. Although summer (and bathing suit) season is only weeks away, you still have plenty of time to lose a couple dress or bathing suit sizes and get in shape if you commit and start now. Our Best Ever Workout Plan along with Lose It’s! free and easy accountably app will keep you on track, and will help you steadily achieve your goals.

If you feel that you need a little 1:1 attention, plz contact me at info@LindaLaRue.com for some personal training.

Being in the Now: A Great Way to Begin Your Monday

2009-03-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is a great post on Intent today by one of my spiritual hero's and avatar, Dr. Deepak Chopra. What a great way to begin your Monday...

Question

You can teach us about the "now" and we can think about being in the "now", but in order to be in the "now", we cannot be thinking about it. How do we reach this mind frame if we cannot force ourselves into being there?

The very act of thinking puts us out of where we desire to be, and it seems almost impossible to stop thinking and just "be". Therefore, the instant you realize you are in the "now", you have just brought yourself out of it.

What can we do to allow ourselves to "be"?

Answer

You have astutely explained why using the ego directed mind could never take us out of the mind’s realm. What the sages have told us is that we must first transcend thought through meditation where we experience our essential nature, our pure Being in the now. In the beginning, this state of being and silence will be lost after we come out of meditation. However, over time that state of pure consciousness in meditation becomes so firmly established that it is not lost even when we are engaged in our daily activity. This is explained with the analogy of dying a cloth. The early method of dying involved dipping the white cloth in a vat of dye then, putting it in the sunlight where the dye would fade out. But some of the color would remain even after being bleached by the sun. The cloth would be dipped in the vat again and put out in the sun. Again it would fade, but this time a little more of the color would remain than the last time. And so the process of dipping and exposing to the sun would continue, each time making the color stronger and more colorfast. Eventually a time comes when after dipping the cloth in the vat of dye, the sun does not fade it anymore, and it has become completely colorfast and permanent.

This is what happens when we dip our awareness into pure consciousness during meditation and then come out into our daily activity and it fades away. But each time a little more of that silent witness, or that presence of the now remains. Eventually the time comes when we engage in all our normal behavior, but we effortlessly maintain that inner attention that is always seated in the present moment. It is a quiet presence of Self that keeps awareness open and unconditioned regardless of what we are doing.

Love,
Deepak

Happy Birthday Elisabetta!

2009-03-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

Today is my dear friend, Elisabetta Rogiani's birthday, so I wanted to post a recent photo of Elisabetta, top Hollywood fit biz photographer Todd Vitti, and me.

She's having a birthday party on the roof top of Le Petite Hotel in Hollywood tonite which should be fun. Hope to see my friend fitness icon Kathy Smith there too...

Happy birthday E.

XOXO,

Hugs: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly...

2009-03-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone-It's Friday, so couldn't we all use a hug? Thought I would post this Vlog and Intent piece by irreverent yoga teacher, friend, and a fellow Intent contributor, David Romanelli.

Here goes...

We all have crushes. Sometimes they are innocent...like when you're in 3rd Grade. And sometimes they are not as innocent...like when you're married and lust for another. Can you relate?

In my book Yeah Dave's Guide to Livin' the Moment, there's a chapter sharing a fool-proof way to determine if the other person reciprocates your crush. My hugs Vlog is based on that chapter, and teaches how to decipher the body language of a hug.

So the next time you have a crush, keep it simple. Let a good hug be your saving grace. What you can never tell from another's face, you can tell from their embrace.

I invite you to check out my book, click here, to get a taste for some lighthearted fun + feel-good inspiration in these dark times. Think irreverent humor (aka Saturday Night Live) fused with heartfelt insight (aka Eckhart Tolle) mixed with a touch of Cheech and Chong..

My Favorite, Fast-Fix Vegan Entree: Vegetarian Meatloaf

2009-03-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

I thought I would offer my favorite, fast-fix vegan entrée for you vegan fans. This is such a quick and easy main dish. I buy the Boca Burgers in bulk at Costco—real frugal and stores in the freezer for a couple months. This recipe also freezes well in individual servings.

Ingredients
16 Boca Burgers, thawed
1 ½ 16-ounce can of garbanzo beans, drained and chopped
1 cup red peppers, chopped
1 cup green peppers, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
2 tsp. garlic, minced
3 T fresh basil, chopped
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
¼ cup egg whites or Bob's Egg Replacer
½ cup plus 2 T low sodium, sugar-free barbecue sauce

1. Process Boca Burgers and beans in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, except 2T of barbecue sauce. Add the burger mixture, and mix well.
2. Place the burger mixture in a loaf pan, and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, covered, for 30 minutes. Top with an additional 2 T barbecue sauce, and bake, uncovered, for an additional 15 minutes.
Yields: 10. Serving size: 1 inch slice. Nutritional content: 125 Calories per slice, 0g fat, 14g protein, 16g carbohydrates, 255mg sodium.

*If you'd like more great recipes click here.

March Top Trainer iTunes Workout Playlist

2009-03-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Keep some spring in your step as we move away from those cold, winter months. These jams are sure to save your workout on a tired morning, or push you to sprint when you didn’t think you had it in you. That’s why once again I’ve gotten together with some of my hottest, Hollywood exercise friends Keith Irace SoCal group Exercise Manager and Liz Marmesh, Top Personal Trainer in Century City, CA at EquinoxFitness to create the perfect Top 10 Hottest Workout iTunes Playlist for you.

We’re also giving you a couple old skool tunes with songs by R.E.M., The B-52’s, and Lynyrd Skynyrd as a tribute to my Southern Skool roots then, ending with Jai Ho from my favorite movie this year, Slumdog Millionaire. Use all 10 songs in this order to get you through a 35-minute uphill walk, interval workout on the elliptical, or a circuit training session. Get out there, girl!

Shiny Happy People by R.E.M. time: 3:46
Bottle Pop (feat. Snoop Dogg) by Pussycat Dolls time: 3:30
Untouched by The Veronicas time: 4:14
Change (feat. Wale) by Daniel Merriweather time: 3:20
Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd time: 4:45
Love to Love You Baby by Tom Novy and The Tom Toms time: 4:00
My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson time: 3:31
Love Shack by B-52’s time: 5:21
American Boy (feat. Kanye West) by Estelle time: 4:44
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack by AR Rahman time: 5:19

A great workout tune tempo should be between 120 and 140 bpm, which roughly corresponds to the average person’s heart rate during a workout routine. A beginning walker’s bpm should be between 110 to 114 bpm, intermediate below 120, and advanced walker/jogger up to 150 bpm.

If you want to be guaranteed a consistent beat, I love downloading pre-mixed Digital Fitness Music album compiled by the fitness pros at Dynamix or iSweat. Both offer hundreds of Digital Fitness Music Albums available in 30, 45 or 60 minute workouts.

Each Dynamix music album offers a variety of music styles including dance, disco, country, rock, with well-known popular songs, in various speeds for different fitness levels. The music plays non-stop on your iPod or MP3. Each album is pre-programmed to keep you on pace to achieve your cardio or strength workout goals. (Yes, this means no cheating since the music speed keeps you going!)

For more great training tips, contact me at info@LindaLaRue.com or subscribe to my monthly E-Magazine, Make Healthy A Lifestyle click here.

How to Create Your Best Ever Home Workout

2009-03-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone-Wanted to let you know that the March e-issue of Make Healthy A Lifestyle is all about how to help you create your best ever home workout. First, you need to know how to get prepped, which is our lead story written by my friend, Top Tier 4 Equinox trainer, Liz Marmesh.

We’ve dedicated both March and April’s issues to helping you create and successfully achieve your best ever, home workout routine. Hey, whether it’s a newborn baby or a 24/7-hour work day/work week schedule, sometimes making it to the gym is out of the question. That’s why the idea of a two-part issue designed to help you create a working out in your living room sounded ideal to us—no commute, no waiting for machines, no fighting for blow dryers in the locker room—and you can be in the shower then, to work in only 20 minutes flat.

We invite you to join The Make Healthy A Lifestyle E-Magazine movement by clicking here. Now you can receive expert advice from some of the fitness industry’s leading professionals, such as fitness icon, Kathy Smith, without leaving the comfort of your own home. Each monthly issue will deliver top trainer health, fitness, and nutrition info that will easily and quickly help you truly get fit and lose weight forever. We’re passionate about creating a health and fitness mind-body online experience that’s new, fun, and exciting for you. Making Healthy A Lifestyle is unique because we’re a FREE, open source based online community E-Magazine that’s published and written by healthy lifestyle fitness professionals who not only write about the latest info, but we also teach it, preach it, live it, and love it. Making Healthy A Lifestyle is our passion. We invite you to join our FREE community today!

Calories Count When It Comes to Weight Loss

2009-02-26T10:46:00.000-08:00

Low-Carb? Lowfat? Study Finds Calories Count More
By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer - Thu Feb 26, 4:15 AM PST

LOS ANGELES - Lowfat, low carb or high-protein? The kind of diet doesn't matter, scientists say. All that really counts is cutting calories and sticking with it, according to a federal study that followed people for two years. However, participants had trouble staying with a single approach that long and the weight loss was modest for most. As the world grapples with rising obesity, millions have turned to popular diets like Atkins, Zone and Ornish that tout the benefits of one nutrient over another.

Some previous studies have found that low carbohydrate diets like Atkins work better than a traditional low-fat diet. But the new research found that the key to losing weight boiled down to a basic rule — calories in, calories out.

"The hidden secret is it doesn't matter if you focus on low-fat or low-carb," said Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the research. Limiting the calories you consume and burning off more calories with exercise is key, she said.
The study, entitled Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates, which appears in Thursday, March 26, 2009 issue of New England Journal of Medicine, was led by Harvard School of Public Health and Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana.

Researchers randomly assigned 811 overweight adults to one of four diets, each of which contained different levels of fat, protein and carbohydrates. Though the diets were twists on commercial plans, the study did not directly compare popular diets. The four diets contained healthy fats, were high in whole grains, fruits and vegetables and were low in cholesterol.
Nearly two-thirds of the participants were women. Each dieter was encouraged to slash 750 calories a day from their diet, exercise 90 minutes a week, keep an online food diary and meet regularly with diet counselors to chart their progress.

There was no winner among the different diets; reduction in weight and waist size were similar in all groups. People lost 13 pounds on average at six months, but all groups saw their weight creep back up after a year. At two years, the average weight loss was about 9 pounds while waistlines shrank an average of 2 inches. Only 15 percent of dieters achieved a weight-loss reduction of 10 percent or more of their starting weight.

Dieters who got regular counseling saw better results. Those who attended most meetings shed more pounds than those who did not — 22 pounds compared with the average 9 pound loss.
Lead researcher Dr. Frank Sacks of Harvard said a restricted calorie diet gives people greater food choices, making the diet less monotonous." They just need to focus on how much they're eating," he said. Sacks said the trick is finding a healthy diet that is tasty and that people will stick with over time.

Before Debbie Mayer, 52, enrolled in the study, she was a "stress eater" who would snack all day and had no sense of portion control. Mayer used to run marathons in her 30s, but health problems prevented her from doing much exercise in recent years. Mayer tinkered with different diets — Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach — with little success. "I've been battling my weight all my life. I just needed more structure," said Mayer, of Brockton, Mass., who works with the elderly. Mayer was assigned to a low-fat, high-protein diet with 1,400 calories a day. She started measuring her food and went back to the gym. The 5-foot Mayer started at 179 pounds and dropped 50 pounds to 129 pounds by the end of the study. She now weighs 132 and wants to shed a few more pounds.

Another study volunteer, Rudy Termini, a 69-year-old retiree from Cambridge, Mass., credits keeping a food diary for his 22-pound success. Termini said before participating in the study he would wolf down 2,500 calories a day. But sticking to an 1,800-calorie high-fat, average protein diet meant no longer eating an entire T-bone steak for dinner. Instead, he now eats only a 4-ounce steak. "I was just oblivious to how many calories I was having," said the 5-foot-11-inch Termini, who dropped from 195 to 173 pounds. "I really used to just eat everything and anything in sight."

Dr. David Katz of the Yale Prevention Research Center and author of several weight control books, said the results should not be viewed as an endorsement of fad diets that promote one nutrient over another.

The study compared high quality, heart healthy diets and "not the gimmicky popular versions," said Katz, who had no role in the study. Some popular low-carb diets tend to be low in fiber and have a relatively high intake of saturated fat, he said. Other experts were bothered that the dieters couldn't keep the weight off even with close monitoring and a support system. "Even these highly motivated, intelligent participants who were coached by expert professionals could not achieve the weight losses needed to reverse the obesity epidemic," Martijn Katan of Amsterdam's Free University wrote in an accompanying editorial.
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On the Net:
New England Journal: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/360/9/859

*Note: This study seems to indicate that folks will have the most success losing and keeping weight off if they find a diet or eating plan that they find fits into their lifestyle and tastes good to them.

Timmy Goes Hollywood After The Big SlumDOG Win!

2009-02-23T18:17:00.001-08:00

How is Tim The World's Cutest Dog Getting Red Carpet Ready for The Oscars?

2009-02-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

Taking a long walk to work off those Calories and trim his waistline. Then, a nap to calm his nerves, as he is rooting for S lum DOG Millionaire of course!