KISS Method for Eating Clean

Soft Boiled Eggs in Avocados

Healthy Eating

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to lose weight with greater ease than others? Or why some “Diets” fail shortly after you attempt them? Some diets are so complicated that extensive research and meal prep and Pinterest perusing is a must before diving into it. I’m not trying to say that meal prep is a bad thing, because it can be very beneficial, especially for those who lead very busy lives. What I am trying to get at is a lifestyle of eating that requires no brainstorming or overthinking.

Concept #1

Keep your foods SIMPLE! try to eat foods in their original forms. For Exaple, instead of eating pre-packaged pre-sliced banana bread, eat a whole banana. If you are eating whole foods, there will not be an ingredient list to have to worry about.

Concept #2

Eat at HOME! Eating out means you risk sabotaging your clean eating lifestyle. When you prepare your own meals, you are capable of controlling how much salt, sugar, etc you consume. A good rule of thumb is to incorporate a leafy green vegetable (ex: arugula salad), lean protein (ex: ground turkey/chicken) whole grains (ex: brown rice), a healthy fat (ex: avocado, olive oil)

Concept #3

Take your TIME! Eating is not a race, rather a time of fellowship with those whose company you enjoy (it really helps when you have a toddler you are feeding at the same time!) Try putting your utensil down between bites and actually carrying a conversation with someone, it really helps!

Concept #4

Listen to your BODY! Eat only when you are hungry and do not wait too long in between meals. Stop eating when you feel satisfied, rather that over stuffed. Waiting until you are ravenous means you are more likely to eat something processed and full of ingredients you do not want and will leave you feeling immediate regret.

Concept #5

Do not Live to Eat, rather Eat to Live. This is key! Do not eat out of boredom or stress; nourish your body with foods that it needs to thrive, and with foods that are easily digestible.

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The Only 3 Exercises You’ll Ever Need to Sculpt Your Abs!

Are you sick of wasting hours of your valuable time, energy, and even money each week trying to chisel your abs and not seeing any results? Most people do dozens of ab exercises, videos, and extreme diets in some hope that they start to see their abs or some sort of definition around their waist or mid-section. Little do they know, dieting does not create abdominal muscles or do anything more than eliminate fat. Want to know the secret most trainers and video won’t tell you? It’s really easy. Do these 3 exercises until failure in order resting for a minute between each set for 3-5 sets and start seeing and feeling the results today:

Decline Crunch

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This exercise uses gravity to force you to use your upper abdominal muscles more and hip flexors less. In order keep your abs under tension, and not just your hips and back, start with your back, shoulders, and head all the way down on the bench. Next, bringing just your shoulders and head off the bench until your fill a pinch in your upper abs and stop and hold it for a second or two then slowly drop your shoulders back down to the bench.

Tip: Do not bring your back all the way up off the bench. Once you have completely rounded your back bringing your head and shoulders off the bench and your abs and back are flexed, you have reached maximum benefit for this exercise. Any additional movement past this point adds more tension to your spine and hips, while taking tension of your abdominal muscles you are aiming to target.

Modification: To make this exercise easier just start by lying on a floor or flat bench. In make this exercise harder, keep your arms pointed straight up over your shoulders and pulse straight up keeping your arms directly above your shoulders at all times. Still too easy? Start adding weight in your arms.

Hanging Knee Raises

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This is one of the most effective exercises to target your lower abdominal muscles. You can do this exercise several ways depending on our fitness level and equipment you have for use. One variation, you can find any pull-up bar outside or in the gym and grab hold of the bar. While hanging from the bar, you can bring your knees up towards your chest and hold for a second or two then slowly release them down without letting your feet touch the ground. Other variations, you can use straps or a fixed arm rest to keep your arms suspended in, if you arms or grip strength is not strong enough to grip the bar long enough to fatigue your arms.

Tip: Breathe out as your bring your knees or legs up and breathe in slowly as your lower your legs down.

Modification: To make this exercise more difficult, you can straight your knees and legs out to add more torch and tension to your abs. Only do this variation, if you can do the first variation in control without letting your legs fall down wildly otherwise you increase your risk of injuring your lower spine.

Standing Oblique Extensions

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One of the best exercises for sculpting your obliques. Start by standing with your feet together or hips width apart holding a light to moderate weight in one arm and opposite arm up with your hand behind your ear. Then, slowly, I repeat slowly leaning down to the side with the weight until you feel pulling on the opposite side of the body from the hip up to the rib cage then bring your body back up to neutral.

Tip: Keep your shoulder pulled back and abs tight and drawn in to keep your body in a straight line and to reduce unnecessary tension to the back. Breathe in on the way down and out as you bring your body back up to neutral. 

Modification: To make this exercise harder, just add more weight. To make this exercise easier, you can keep both shoulders back touching behind the ears with no weight in hand. Then. slowly bending laterally in one direction, then slowly bending back up to neutral. 

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4 Reasons To Eat More Protein


Complete Proteins

Are you consuming enough protein? For the majority of you the answer is no and I’ll explain the 4 reasons why you need more protein in your diet. There are so many different types of food, protein shakes, bars, powders these day. It’s hard to know which actually provide an adequate amount or quality of protein and which supplements are just sugar and fairy dust these days with the amount of health misinformation out numbering the actual health facts.

1. What Is Protein, and Why is It Important?

First, lets start with what protein is, and why it’s so important to get sufficient amounts of it in even if you are not a frequent visitor to the gym. The building blocks of muscle are protein and the building blocks of muscles are amino acids. They are used for many functions such as building/repairing body tissue/structures, synthesis of your hormones, and enzymes. There are two main classes of protein: essential and non-essential amino acids. Essential amino acids cannot be manufactured by the body or can but in insufficient amounts. Non-essential amino acids are called non, due to the fact the body is able to manufacture them from dietary nitrogen as well as from fragments of carbohydrates and fats.

2. Not All Protein is Created Equal!

While most of you eat protein in almost every meal, not all protein is equal. What does that mean? There are two types of proteins: complete proteins and incomplete proteins. A complete protein is any food or dietary supplement that supplies all of the essential amino acids in the appropriate ratios. An incomplete protein on the other hand lacks in one or more of the essential amino acids the body requires. If one or more essential acids are missing or there is an inadequate amount at the time of digestion your body’s protein will be reduced.

Types of complete protein sources are: Whole egg, meat and poultry, fish, milk and milk products, quinoa, and whey protein. If you are a vegetarian or vegan there are a list food combinations you can eat together to ensure you are consuming all of the essential amino acids. These combinations are rice and beans, peanut butter on whole wheat bread, yogurt and granola, oatmeal with milk.

3. Why does cutting your caloric and carbohydrate intake actual hurt you more then help?

I’ve come to learn that most of us hurt our metabolism and weight loss programs more than help it when drastically reducing our carbohydrate and caloric intake in addition to increasing our activity levels. The reason for this is due to your body’s constant need for energy for our brain and nervous system. When cutting your calorie or carbohydrate intake too low, the body has no choice but to utilize your protein intake for immediate energy needs then using it for building muscle and other essential functions.

4. How much protein should you consume?

This is a component of peoples diet that most struggle with. The Recommended Dietary Allowance for sedentary adults is 0.4 grams per pound. According the Center for Disease Control, it’s recommended that 10–35% of your daily calories come from protein. These percentages vary depending on what your goals are. For instance, a strength athlete requires more muscle and in turn more protein to gain muscle mass while endurance athletes don’t require as much lean body mass, so the required amount of protein needed is less. No matter what the percentage amounts to at the end of the day, your protein numbers should fall within the recommended ranges below depending on the sources/types of protein, weight, and goals according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).

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