Oh My Back

For those that don't know - I sew.  Alot.  Its actually my JOB if you will.  Being that I do it in my own home one would think I could fit in the time everyday NO MATTER WHAT for exercise.  Not the case.  I am pretty sure I have a severe case of workaholic-ism. {is that a word? It doesn't have those fancy squiggle lines under it!  It must be!}  Any way back on topic.  My core is suffering from lack of exercise on a daily basis.  Oh My Back.  Sewing is a killer.  I am making a point ALL DAY today to sit with proper posture & keeping my abdominal muscles tightened.  Hopefully this will cure my backache.  Ack.

I really need to workout. 
 

A New Year

Who doesn't have a goal in place for the year?  Hmm.  Well I don't on paper but mentally I have lots of them floating around.  Perhaps one could be to keep this blog going?  Oye.  The busy-ness of my at home business, one kid at home, two kids in school, keeping active & cooking healthy has found me not writing on this blog. 

As soon as you think New Years - you think Resolution, & with that comes weight.  I am not sure why they seem to go hand in hand.  But they totally do.  The gyms are now packed.  Are you one of the many?  I hope so.   

Here's to a healthy, happy & blogilicious {your kidding me, thats not a word?} new year.
 

Chicken & Avocado-corn salsa

4 Chicken Breasts {Cut in half length wise}

1 lemon

2 tbsps grape seed oil

1 cup frozen corn

1 /2 cup rinsed @ drained black beans

1/2 purple onion chopped

1 lime

1 ripe avocado

4 ounces arugula

The How To:

1. Squeeze the juice of ONE lemon over chicken.  Cover & Marinate in fridge 1 to 3 hours.  {Who has the time?  I just put it in the fridge while I was prepping the rest of the recipe.}
2. In a skillet over medium heat corn & grape seed oil.   About 3-4 minutes.  Let cool.
3. Cook chicken over medium high heat for 5 minutes on each side.  Or you could choose to grill it.  Same time, same idea. 
4. Stir black beans, onion & corn together.  Squeeze half of the lime over it.  Gently toss in diced avocado.  
5. Toss arugula with lime & a dash of grape seed oil.  
6. Divide among plates top with chicken and avocado-corn salsa.                 Serve. Eat. Enjoy.

 

Exercise: Poor Man's Plastic Surgery.

Its been awhile - and I promise I have lots of meals with pictures already taken that should had been posted by now.  That said.  Life has happened.  We were on a little mini vacation, then Grandma was in town for TWO WEEKS.  Also I have a craft fair coming up "Designers Downtown" in Raleigh.  I have been crafting like crazy.  This has left not much time for "Blogging."  

I am so proud of "Daddy Deadlifts."  He is a work out FREAK!  Good Thing.  We cannot afford "Plastic Surgery!"  hehe. 

I know he has told me recently he has met some goal in his exercise world.  Though at this time I can't for the life of me think of what it was.  Hopefully he will be on to blog about his updates.

"Daddy Deadlifts" is about to finish up a "cycle" of a FREE trial of Max Stack, by Gaspari Nutrition.  I hope too that he can find time to elebarate in a post about it.  What I gather - his lifts are UP but so is his weight.  Hmm.

Until Next Time.  Eat Healthy.

Easy Pork Chops with Cranberries

I just made this for dinner.  It was so good.  Seriously.  I never know what to do with pork.  I don't even like pork.  The other day while shopping something came over me to buy it.  Hmm.  So I browsed around the net for some recipes and came across "Easy Pork Chop Saute with Cranberries" from EatingWell.com. 
Since I was starving - and just got home from Costco I had to make a few changes to the original recipe due to lack of ingredients.  Here is how I made it:

"Easy Pork Chop Saute with Cranberries"

Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time:  10 - 20 minutes

Ingredients

Salt & Pepper (A few dashes)
4 Boneless pork loin chops (trim the fat!)
2/3 cup orange juice
2 1/2 tablespoons clover honey
2 teaspoons grapeseed oil
1 cup frozen cranberries

Directions

1. Heat grapeseed oil in pan medium heat.  Cook chops 3 minutes on eachside (or until browned nicely.)  
2. While cooking the chops mix the oj & honey together & chop cranberries in the food processor.
3. Push the chops to the side and add half of the oj mixture and all of the cranberries to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes (or until chops are fully cooked.)  
4. Remove the chops and set on serving plate.  Add the rest of the oj mixture.  Increase heat to high and cook until it becomes a "syrupy sauce", about 2 minutes.
5. Spoon the sauce over the chops. Enjoy.

**Approximate Values: Calories 300, Total Fat 10 g, Saturated Fat 3 g, Cholesterol 81 mg, Sodium 207 mg, Carbohydrates 21g, Protein 30g, Potassium 421mg.

This Pork Chop served nicely with some green beans, cooked to perfection.  I like to steam them - not too long.  
I like crisp veggies.   Also served some carrots with it.

               Hope you enjoy.

Fast or Slow?

I'd like to take a few minutes to discuss Muscle Fibers. It's generally accepted that the Fibers that make up your muscles are broken down into two groups, Fast Twitch and Slow Twitch. Each uses your bodies fuel differently, and operates differently. Fast Twitch or Type 2, are used for quick bursts, high intensity movements, and uses its fuel stores the quickest. An example would be a 100 meter sprint. Slow Twitch, or Type 1, uses fuel more slowly and are the fibers used more prominently when doing prolonged excersizes. An example would be the 5k run. Both are important to overall fitness, and both need to be trained specifically. If you were to take a sprinter and a long distance runner, and put them next to each other, you would really see the difference in the muscle fibers and the athletes physical make up. I recently found a great workout called the 4 day Power Muscle Burn workout from Muscle and Strength, and Ive began incorporating it into my workouts. The way it works is you pick a body split, for todays post we will use Legs as the example. I did this workout this morning. You start with the Power Set, which will be high weight/ low rep (4 sets of 3-5 repetitions) and maximizes strain on the Fast Twitch Muscles. You then move on the some movements that consist of difficult, but not overwhelming weight, for 3 sets and 6-12 repetitions. This will deliver a fair amount of strain on Fast and Slow Twitch Muscles at the same time. And you finish off with Low weight/ high repetitions to really target the slow twitch fibers. Something like 2 sets of 20 repetitions. My workout looks like this..

Squats (4x3), Leg Press (3x9), Leg Extension (3x8) and Leg Press (2x20). This is all for the Quad muscle group. For Hamstrings, I do Stiff Legged Deadlifts (4x5), Leg Curls (3x8) and Leg Curls (1x30).

This workout has effectively hit every muscle fiber in my Quads and Hamstrings, and ultimately left me unable to walk without looking like I need a walker. Its also worth noting that Squats will also really hit the Glutes (your bum!), as will the deadlifts.

Its also worth noting that doing heavy compound movements such as Squats and Deadlifts also help the body to release much more natural human growth hormone, to help your body recover and grow.

Its important to remember that when doing this particular workout, you are effectively destroying half of your body, so you'll want to have a post workout protein shake, or meal high in protein immediately after the workout to allow your body to begin the recovery process.

"Meathead Taco Salad"

The first of many recipes I am going to share.   I am so excited to finally have a minute to type this up.
From one of our favorite books to browse and cook from... 

Men'sHealth: Total Fitness Guide 2008 Muscle Chow by Gregg Avedon

Meathead Taco Salad
"Quick and easy, nutritious and refreshing-make it once and you'll be addicted to this salad."

Ingredients:

1/2   pound extra-lean ground beef
2      teaspoons chili powder
3      drops of hot-pepper sauce
1        pinch of ground black pepper
2      cups shredded iceberg lettuce
1      tomato, finely chopped
2      tablespoons shredded low-fat cheddar cheese

How To Make It:

Step 1  Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray.  Wipe away any excess with a paper towel.  heat the skillet to medium.


Step 2  Add the ground beef and break it apart with a wooden spoon as it's heating up.  Add the chili powder, hot-pepper sauce, and black pepper.  Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, or until no longer pink.  Drain and set aside.


Step 3 In a large single-serving bowl, layer the lettuce, beef mixture, tomato and cheese.


(Makes 1 serving)

This is really tasty - but here is how I made it my own:

I replaced the ground beef with ground turkey.  I cut up avocado, some red and yellow peppers, completely omitted the cheese.  Also, I am not a fan of iceberg lettuce.  That said I switched that out for some darker green leafs and some purple too!  For the kids I let them crush up some blue tortilla chips for some added crunch.