Evolve: Fresh Week- Fresh advice

I found an awesome article titled, "Want to be more successful? Revamp you Mornings"by Jessica Stillman, which gave some great advice that can be applied to all your goals and to your lifestyle: 

"Seizing your mornings is the equivalent of that sound financial advice to pay yourself before you pay your bills. If you wait until the end of the month to save what you have left, there will be nothing left over. Likewise, if you wait until the end of the day to do meaningful but not urgent things like exercise, pray, read, ponder how to advance your career or grow your organization, or truly give your family your best, it probably won’t happen," Vanderkam writes." 

On other notes, I was recently at a party and my friend referred me to a site called pinterest.com, which is full of really interesting recipes, shopping, etc. One recipe that my friend made this weekend was chocolate chip cookie dough dip! It was so good. I asked her what was in it? and she answered, "Uhh, I don't want to tell you, just eat it." I was like. "I don't care if it is made out of a pound of butter..." she answers, "it is made with garbonzo beans!" Ha! It was fantastic! 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip- goes great with TJ Animal cookies or for a healthier alternative try putting it on fruit! 

Ingredients
1 can organic garbanzo beans, drained
heaping 1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup almond butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Add all ingredients except chocolate chips to a food processor and process until smooth. Chocolate Covered Katie says not to use a blender. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Eat by the spoonful and let me know what you think!

Source for recipe

Evolve: Getting the "Mindset" for Summer 2012

It has been too long of not writing to you all. Life has definitely gotten busy, but not without growing in so many ways and furthering my knowledge base in the field of health and wellness. The early 20's is definitely a time, compared to other ages I have been so far, of highs and lows and many changes constantly. However, one tactic of mine in order to maintain motivation and optimism in all these changes has been to develop a positive mindset and attitude of success no matter what adversity presents its self. True, this epiphany has not come without reading some great books, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck and Be Quick But Don't Hurry by Andrew Hill. What I have taken home from these reads and my experience is to view each day as an opportunity to further myself even if mistakes are had. Although small failures along the way cause setbacks they also inspire growth. Dweck discusses a fixed mindset versus an growth oriented one. The fixed see their life as "I must avoid failing, failures are bad and nothing good comes from them" and a growth oriented individuals views a failure as a learning opportunity and and inevitable consequence of taking risk sometimes. Similarly, Wooden's definition of success: "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable,” illustrates how success is relative. The key is taking the results from your actions and learning and applying the new skills to the next goal and to keep moving forwards. Turning my mind to a more growth oriented one and understanding how to interpret success, in this way, has helped to create a more positive and motivating environment to keep achieving versus viewing some outcomes as failures, which leads to dead ends.

For Summer 2012, it is essential to adopt a growth oriented mindset to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself to reach new heights. We all can do it. For instance,  when it comes to your health, it is time to put the excuses to rest and enter these goals with the attitude that "I will be successful" and although, failure is possible, it is the challenge that will be exciting and the potential great outcome that supersedes the risk of failure. Instead of avoiding all situations with a smidgen of failure- embrace them.

Evolve: Fall 2010

Making your Minutes Count in the Gym via the "Super-Set"

The key to starting and not stopping a workout regimen is to part-take in one that is realistic and not ridiculous. This means that, although excited and fired up to begin working out and seeing results, the worst thing you can do to your psyche is to spend 5 hours in the gym working out only to wake up the next day sore as sore can be and feel like, "I need a week off". This not only ruins any motivation you once had, but can cause injury and burnout as well. Don't get me wrong, a moderate amount of soreness is to be expected when starting any workout plan. Recovery is required, but progression and a rational approach is necessary to prevent injury and allow working out to become an integrated benefit of each week.

Each workout I design for myself is handled like a small masterpiece. As Wooden would say, "Make each day your masterpiece", well we can apply this to our workouts too. Each workout has a beginning, middle, and end and most of all each movement has a purpose and benefit. In other words, time is valuable; it would be pointless to waste it when yielding no results.

When embarking on a workout routine it's important to develop consistency. Instead of shoving a 4-hour workout into one day of the week, the best results can be attained by spreading them out over 3-5 days for 1 hour sessions. The rule of thumb is work out 3-6 days per week, never seven and to leave no more than 48 hours of rest between sessions. This ensures you do not over train, but train frequently enough to enable adaptations - a.k.a. results.

Once those days and times are determined, it is important that upon arriving at the gym it is all business for the 1-hour block. 1-hour sessions are fantastic because you will be moving the entire time from one exercise to the next. Now, when attempting to complete a quick and intense workout, a great idea is to use "super-sets". This is a style of "ordering" your workout that entails alternating, with no rest between, two different exercises that each recruit a different muscle. This type of workout will ensure high-intensity and a quick pace. An example of a super-set is combining row and push-ups. The lats recover while performing the push-ups which focus on the triceps.

Next, lets start with the outline of a one-hour session. To start a workout, a warm-up is necessary. Contrary to what most people believe, a warm-up does not include a long-winded stretch. "Warm-up" means to break a sweat. I like to jump on a treadmill and build from a walk to a run for about 5 minutes. Then I will perform 5 minutes of active stretching (what is this?) and light plyometrics (high knees, lunge walks, butt-kickers, side shuffles, etc). 10-15 minutes into my workout... I am ready to go.

The middle part of the workout contains the meat of the activity. Depending on your goals, this can include cardiovascular and/or resistance training. For the next 30 minutes, choose 4-5 exercises to perform, which can be cardiovascular, body weight, freeweight, barbell, etc. The idea is to decide what body parts are going to be the focus for the workout. Then choose those exercise that fits. An example of this may be for a leg/core day, do back-squats/sit-ups and back extensions/sit-ups with rotation. Remember, if you have different goals, then the ratio of cardiovascular to resistance training will be modified. If you are able to come to the gym more frequently, resistance and cardio workouts can be split into two separate days.

Workout like the ones above care called metabolic conditioning because they keep the heart rate elevated for the duration of the workout, making them very intense and a great way to yield results. Remember, workouts like these are not meant to waste your time; choose exercises that translate to the most function in your everyday life, such as squats, deadlifts, and pull and push exercises. A friend of mine, Cheryl Licon says, "Fitness doesn't need to be a chore. What's most important is that you are challenging yourself on a daily basis and doing functional movements. I like to think of working out as playtime; it's an activity that you should have fun with and allows self-improvement mentally and physically. It keeps you from plateauing and sheer boredom. Just have fun, get sweaty, and grunt with some heavy loads."

Lastly, the end of my hour will wrap up with a cool-down stretch. I really attempt to focus on stretching the muscles I worked or that I struggle with during my workout because, again, I do not need to waste time or do anything unnecessary. For example, with the "super-set" we performed, above, I would stretch the chest, triceps, wrists and core.

Then, your home free! Developing this type of mentality towards your workouts will make them reasonable to incorporate into your busy schedule. A really helpful tip is to learn exercises that workout the major muscle groups so that you can pick and choose appropriate exercises to combine to design a whole body effective workout.

Recipe Box"Paleo- Fruit Fondu"Ingredients:
12 oz dark chocolate chips
0.5 T. butter
0.5 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup dried, unsweetened coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (your choice)
2 pints strawberries or other fruit (apples, peaches, pears, oranges, raspberries)
Skewers
Directions:1. Place the chocolate chips and butter in a bowl and microwave until melted or melt over flame in a fondu pot.
2. After the chips have melted, add vanilla extract
3. Place nuts and coconut in different bowls.
4. Dip strawberries in chocolate and then dip in the coconut or in the nuts and enjoy!

Super-saving Market Finds

Poultry Seasoning
So I moved into my new apartment and I decided to get some spices for making some delicious food. Well, the problem with this venture was I needed to purchase 6 different spices costing 35 dollars just for chicken! So I dug through the spice-shelf some more and found something PERFECT. I came across this delicious spice mix that incorporates thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper, and nutmeg called Poultry Seasoning by Mccormick. It makes it a cheap (~4 bucks/.65 oz) way to buy 6 spices in one small package. Even better, it does not contain added salt or sugar. It is very delicious on chicken, pork, and fish! SAVINGS $30!

Evolve: Juicy June/July

Fitness Fact: So you want to do a Burpee?
A burpee is a full body movement that works your chest, arms, core and legs. It combines a squat, push-up, and jump into one move. Basically, it the skill is many of functional movements all jammed into one move. Because this move encompasses so many muscle groups, it taxes the muscular system and cardiovascular system when performed. This combination yields an intense and efficient workout, when performing consecutive burpees. Burpees are awesome to improve coordination, power, endurance, and strength in the entire body.

There are 3 types of burpees: 4-count, 6-count, and 8-count

• 4 Count (Beginners): Stand, squat, shoot-out, stand or jump
• 6 Count (Intermediate): Stand, squat, shoot-out, push-up, squat, jump
• 8 Count (Advance): Stand, squat, shoot-out, push-up, squat, jump, lunge right, lunge left

How to incorporate these:
You can add burpees to pretty much any workout routine that you desire to keep the heart rate elevated. Some examples are:

1. Perform 5-10 reps between sets of a different exercise
2. Perform 5 before running a 100 meter dash
3. Perform them by themselves. I like the WOD (workout of the day) that includes 150 burpees as fast as possible... a REAL challenge

Here are two of the positions:

Squat: Bend all the way down to the grass



Shoot Out: When doing the burpee it is important the your body remain in neutral spine during this sequence, especially if incorporating the push up. Your core must be engaged in order to prevent a sway-back. Think of your body as a "board".



--> Food For Use
Bump Up Your Protein and Fat to Gain Nutrition and Satiation

1. Nuts: All kinds offer a good source of omega-6 and omega-3 oils. Almonds, walnuts, pecans, and pine nuts are great choices.
2. Hardboiled eggs: Bump up the texture and protein content by slicing up a couple eggs in your salad. This addition offers a good source of fats and protein.
3. Avocado: Create a wonderful texture with this ingredient, while providing. Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. They also act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha and beta-carotene and lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit. Also, avocados offer 3 grams, pre-serving, of monounsaturated fats, which are very healthy.

Recipe Box: Lemony Garlicky Pan-Roasted Chicken-$2/per person
No matter what your budget is, this affordable and restaurant quality chicken dish is sure to make your taste buds run wild!

Ingredients:
1/2 Whole Rotisserie Chicken
1 slice bacon cooked, rendered (we need the fat only)
1 whole lemon, juiced
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 clove garlic clove
1 tsp. chicken gravy mix
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
1/4 chicken broth or 1/2 cup if not using wine
1 T. butter
Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper

Directions:
1. Season the chicken with a rub of olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. All sides.
2. Heat a skillet covered in olive oil, until really hot. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
3. When skillet is hot, add chicken skin-side down, cook about 5 minutes. Flip and cook for 3 more minutes. Transfer skillet to oven. Cook for about 25 min. or until chicken is done.
4. Pull chicken out of the oven and transfer to a cutting board and let stand while you prepare the sauce. Remove all but one tablespoon oil from skillet. Add 1 tablespoon of rendered bacon fat. Under a medium flame, heat the oils and add wine (will steam) scrape pan with a wooden spoon. Cook about 1 minute. Add garlic. Cook for about 1 minute. Add chicken broth. Cook 1 minute. Turn heat off. Add butter, stir until melted. Add lemon juice.
5. Cut chicken into 4 pieces (wing, breast, thigh, leg). Serve the chicken with a spoonful of sauce on top. This dish goes fantastically with cauliflower "mash-potatoes". Refer to post for recipe:December 26, 2009.

The Learning Corner
What does "Paleo" mean?

The phrases "Paleo-diet" and "Paleo-lifestyle" get thrown around frequently and some of you might be wondering what these terms really mean. "Paleo" makes reference to our Paleolithic ancestors who roamed the planet about 50,000 years ago. No, these people were not ape-like or Neanderthals... they looked like you and me and they were made up of the same genes that we all share today. The biggest difference between our Paleolithic ancestors and us is the environment. Paleolithic peoples hunted and gathered, meaning their diets contained all natural plant foods and animal proteins. Basically, any food they ate either originated from the ground or had a mother to produce it. There was no such thing as vegetable oil, soy beans, flour, or OREOS. The closest method of "processing" may have been cooking over a fire, dehydrating in the sun, or mashing foods with a rock.

Because we are our ancestors genetics, we must still maintain those types of dietary standards in order to live and function to our fullest. Unfortunatly, we can already see the negative impacts agriculture* and industrialization (over the past 200 years) have had on our society and our current diet is a huge reason for this decline in our health (obesity, heart disease, cancer, low energy, depression, etc.).

We cannot be in denial any longer about the way we are suppose to eat. It is time that to shop like a modern-day hunter and gather in our supermarkets and cook like one too. That means whole fresh ingredients, cooked once, and enjoyed. Recipes that I post will typically always be "paleo-friendly". Lastly, great advice when shopping in the supermarket is to buy a bulk of foods from the perimeter... this is where fresh foods pre-dominantly lie.

*Even though agriculture began in the middle east about 10,000 years ago, it did not become widespread until about 2-3 thousand years ago.

Goals to Reach

Mid-Year Goal: CHECKPOINT

So it is that time of the year.. our half way goal-check up. It is really important to always keep track of your goals during the year. Remember there are long term and short term goals. Our long-term goals tend to be ones that take 6+ months to complete. However, when we set goals its great to be ambitious, but goals can be modified and re-evaluated frequently. It important that you strive towards your goals, but also to be realistic. For example, if a goal is to lose 50 pounds in a year and, at your half-way point, you have lost 10lbs maybe it is time to look at your methods and see what you need improve or make a more realistic goal that you can attain in the time frame. This is not failure because you have made strives and attempted to make progress towards that goal. As John Wooden would say, "Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

Here is what you must do at this point:

1. Look over goals. If there are some that you have not even made progress towards, devise a plan to work on them.
2. Re-evaluate goals that you have been progressing towards. If they seem a little out of reach in the time period you have allotted for them, either change the goal or modify the end-time.
3. Check off completed goals and set new ones.

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Evolve: Cool Sites

My friend posted these two websites on my Facebook page. I thought I should share the wealth of knowledge!

Robb Wolf: A Paleo lifestyle Guru


Paleo Brand: A site dedicated to the Paleo lifestyle

Happy Surfing!

Evolve: A Healthy May

Gym Outlook: Creating the Chaos of Life in the Gym

This past weekend I read the book Functional Training: Breaking Bonds of Traditionalism by Juan Carlos Santana, Med, CSCS, and really enjoyed his evolutionary perspective of the fitness industry and how it has paralleled our human habits. He indicates that our human anatomy has evolved to move in a world that is chaotic. Our ancestors had to navigate tough terrain, lift awkward objects, reach to high places, and perform hours of manual work, such as hunting or gathering. Today, our tasks are a bit different, yet, we still must move in unpredictable ways such as running after a child or picking up grocery bags in a store. Sadly, most Americans today are overweight, weak, and inflexible, thus, the movements described above are tough to do and typically done improperly, which results in pain and injury.

In addition, it has also been unfortunate that since the 1960’s notable companies such as Life Fitness, Nautilus, and Cybex have come out with a gamete of machines glorified with pictures to give the average person a convenient and easy to use workout circuit. However, even though effective at building muscle mass, these machines place your body in a unnaturally stable, and ridged position, which ironically mimics the day-to-day sitting position that most Americans are in for endless hours at work. Again, as mentioned in the last post, this type of working out cannot translate into better functional movement outside the gym or the desk chair.

So, if the real world is chaotic, why not create this instability and chaos in our workouts? Sounds funny right? However, Santana coins the term “controlled chaos” to describe this type of workout regime that should be implemented into the gym. This type of "chaos" he mentions can be created by performing movements without rigid machines and implementing elements or modifications to exercises such as using unstable surfaces, cables, pulleys, your own body-weight(uses gravity), free-weights, barbells, or performing exercises on one leg, etc.

When a person implements “controlled chaos” into their workouts they activate the Central Nervous System (CNS) and enhance a person’s balance or proprioception. Movements that can do this enlist the use of many small and large muscles, in order to keep the body in position, which creates a harder and more efficient workout.

Top Five Exercises “Made Over” to implement the chaos factor to make them more functional.

Stable Exercise	Implementing the Chaos Factor
Seated Chest Press	Push-up with body weight (using gravity)/add stability ball to hands or feet See it!
Leg Press	Body squat(uses gravity), add a Bosu Ball under your feet and perform a body squat, jump squat, perform a single leg squat See it!
Lat Pull Down	Perform the exercise on a Cable Cross Dual Pully with the arms of the machine in the vertical position/ most advanced: a body weight pull up See it!

Food For Use: Strictly Paleo Dorm and Kitchen Delights

I live in the UCLA dorms and over the past three years I have created some of my own recipes using the foods I have around me in order to curb the salt content and increase the taste and nutrition components of my meals.

The "KFC Double Down" of Hedrick Dining Hall
So I enjoyed this sandwich, as seen in the picture, at my friendly neighborhood KFC and thought, heck, I could make this in the dining hall! So I did.

Ingredients:
(2) 3-oz chicken breasts
(2) slices of cheese
(2) pieces of bacon
(1-2) T. Thousand Island salad dressing
Directions: Slap all the ingredients together, using the chicken breasts as your "bun".
Tweaks: Try different salad dressings, cheeses, tomatoes, onions or pickles to make it even more satisfying.
New Salad Dressings I have to admit the salad dressings in the dining halls can be a bit drab. Either they have a funky herb that just permeates your whole mouth and makes you say, "Yuck", or your just sick of your three go-to options. Try these:

Creamy Asian: Mix Toasted Sesame dressing with Caesar- fantastic B-Cafe option. I order the chicken Caesar salad and ask for a side of the Asian dressing and mix them! A life saver after a 100 regular chicken Caesar salads.
BBQ Ranch: BBQ sauce mixed with Ranch dressing
Southwest Caesar: Salsa mixed with Caesar dressing

Zesty Tuna Salad in De Neve: The tuna salad in De Neve, at lunch, tastes like its been sitting around all day. I realized they serve plain tuna at the salad bar so I designed my on rendition.

Ingredients: (1) cup tuna
(2) celery sticks, cut into peices
(1) T. almonds, slivered
(1) tsp. mayonnaise
(2-3) tsp. mustard
(1/2) tsp. favorite hot sauce
(1) hard boiled egg, optional
(1/2) tsp. relish, optional Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Enjoy.

Grilled Portebello Pizzas: Protein packed with a nutrient dense "crust".
Ingredients: Makes 6 mushroom caps
(1) red bell pepper, diced
(1) yellow bell pepper, diced
(1/2) onion, diced
(3) chicken breasts, diced
(1) lb. sausage, casings removed
(2) tsp. garlic, minced
(4) cups spinach
(1) tsp. red pepper flakes
(2) cup shredded cheese, mozzarella
(6) portebello mushrooms*, stems and gills (black) removed
(2) cup tomato sauce Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Salt andpepper mushroom caps and spray with olive oil. Heat 1 T olive oil in a skillet and cook chicken and sausage until cooked almost through, remove from heat. Place another 1 T. Olive oil into skillet and brown the red and yellow peppers and the onion. Add spinach, tomatoes, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat. Once spinach is wilted, mix in chicken, sausage, 1 cup cheese. Spoon 1/8 cup tomato sauce into each mushroom. Scoop mixture into mushroom caps. Top each with a little more sauce and cheese. Place into oven for about 5-6 minutes, until cheese is browned and the mushroom is soft. Enjoy.

Notes about the greatness of Portobello mushroom: Low glycemic, good source of Folate, Choline (B-complex), and magnesium.

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Evolve: The Beauty of the Push, the Pull, & the Squat: #1

When I design a workout plan for the week, I desire to attack every large muscle group. Part of my thought process in designing a balanced exercise routine is to break all groups of exercises into three blocks with some overlap*: 1) Push 2) Pull 3) Squat. My reason to do this is because these three movements are used everyday you move. The gym should be a place of practice (learning proper technique and form) and strength building- all that will enhance and make your life outside the gym easier. I also realize that gym time is limited for most so focusing on these types of exercises minimizes and wasteful movements that cannot translate into real life movements. For example, push movements occur when you push a door open or move something away from you. Secondly, pull movements occur when you pull open doors or pick up things from the group. Lastly, the squat occurs merely when you sit or stand from a chair. Catering your workouts to these three types of movements will make everyday movements that much easier. Imagine how easy picking up a grocery bag from the ground would be if you could squat twice your body weight in the gym!

My Top 3 Push/Pull/Squat Movements:

1. Body Squat
2. Pull up or lat pull down
3. Push ups or bench Press (flat or incline with dumbells or barbell)

*One last note: Push, Pull, and Squat movements tend to be compound/multi-joint exercises meaning each exercise enlists more than one muscle group. This allows you to work more things at once, which gives you a harder workout and saves you time in the gym!




We have been squatting since we could stand: Keeping this movement as flexible and strong as possible will make all tasks easier and mechanically-sound for your back. As the saying goes "Lift with your legs, not with your back!"


Stay Tuned! Part 2 Coming Soon