Day 28 - Bikini Body Boot Camp

3 Vegetables That Fight Abdominal Fat

A unique way that a few specific vegetables can actually stimulate the burning of abdominal fat...

There is a class of vegetables that contain very specific phytonutrients that actually help to fight against stubborn belly fat.

Let me explain what these unique vegetables are and why they help to burn stomach fat...

Chemicals that force your body to hold onto belly fat

Something you may have never heard about is that certain chemicals in our food supply and our environment, such as pesticides, herbicides, and certain petrochemicals from air and water pollution, household cleaners, cosmetics, etc can react with your body and make your body store excess abdominal fat. These chemicals are known as xenoestrogens.

Xenoestrogens are chemicals that you are exposed to (and are hard to avoid in the modern world) that have an estrogenic effect in your body.  Excess exposure to these can cause hormone balance disruptions for both men and women. So these can wreak havoc in the body for both men and women.

These estrogenic chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis can stimulate your body to store belly fat, along with many other problems (including cancer risks in the long term).

So here's where this specific class of vegetables comes in handy...

Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, cabbage, etc. contain very specific and unique phytonutrients such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) that help to fight against these estrogenic compounds...And by fighting against these belly fat stimulating estrogenic chemicals, this is just 1 more step in helping you to win the battle against abdominal fat!

So there you go... just another excuse to do what mom always told you and eat more broccoli!

 

07/25/10 – It's been a while since I've checked in with you – 8 days, actually but I'm going to keep you updated till I finish up my boot camp now! Wow, only 3 days now left till I leave for Hawaii! I'm so excited! I've been doing pretty well with my personal Bikini Body Boot Camp even though there have been some challenges, mainly with eating. July is a Birthday month in my family, there are three birthdays including mine, my son's and my sisters and we've had lots of celebrating, with lots of delicious food! I really love to eat and I feel that food is one of life's greatest pleasures and that you should enjoy it – and I have! As I said in one of my earlier posts, I follow the 85/15 rule. Meaning 85% of the time I eat really well and the other 15% of the time I eat whatever I want and other than a few exceptions I've managed to do that even with all the many temptations. For these last three days before I leave I am basically going to do just veggies, lean protein and a little fruit. This strategy will finish me strong and will allow all the lean muscle that I've been building to stand out.

6:30 am – coffee, water, banana while I read, meditate and do EFT

10:00 am – pea protein shake w/coconut milk, ground flax and blueberries

11:00 am – Fit Fast exertion and recovery cycles: 4 cycles on flat, 2 hill sprints; Fit to the Core w/extra body resistance moves

1:00 pm – large salad of mixed baby greens, tomatoes, cucs, avocados, steak, cashews w/olive oil and wine vinegar

4:30 pm – celery with almond butter

8:00 pm – slices of roast beef, hummus, carrot, red pepper, tomatoes, blue corn chips

9:30 pm – ½ cup vanilla ice cream w/fresh blueberries

10:30 pm – bed

Day 19 - Bikini Body Boot Camp

Choosing the Right Foods Can Override Your Genes

By Dr. Al Sears - Have you resigned yourself to gaining weight because it "runs in the family"? Bad genetics doesn't have to catch up with you. You can change your genes simply by making a few adjustments to your diet.

When you eat certain foods, nutrients release hormones that switch your genes on and off. And the nutrients in low-glycemic foods turn off genes that lead to weight gain and diseases that may follow. We found this out when we studied the response to the glycemic index (GI) in people who have metabolic syndrome.

The glycemic index measures how fast your food breaks down to sugar in your bloodstream. Metabolic syndrome is a medical term for overweight people whose cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar levels are high. It puts them at risk for diabetes, heart attack, and stroke.

In the study, one group ate foods with a low GI rating of 40-60. The other group ate foods with a high GI rating of about 80-100.

In just 12 weeks, the high GI diet increased the activity of 62 genes that lead to disease. These genes activate your stress response. It puts your body in a constant "fight or flight" mode. This lowers your immunity and causes damage to your cells.

But the low GI diet decreased the activity of 71 disease-causing genes, including hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL).₂

High HSL is what causes fat to settle around your middle.₃ But when scientists studied animals bred to have little HSL, they found the animals became resistant to obesity, whether it was hereditary or from diet.₄

I suggest you eat a wide variety of low GI foods. Follow the example handed down by our primal ancestors. Choose foods you could have gotten either by hunting or gathering:

Eat fresh, low-glycemic foods. Look for grass-fed beef. Fish. Beans. Plenty of above-ground and green, leafy vegetables. Onions and garlic. Berries, nuts, and seeds. Fresh fruits.

Avoid high-glycemic foods. These include white potatoes, most grains such as rice, corn, and wheat, cereals, cereal bars, and low-fiber or sweetened foods.

Shun pre-packaged items and fast food. These products contain high-glycemic ingredients and artificial chemicals. Avoid sweetened foods. Diet foods. Foods like these turn on the genes responsible for weight gain and disease.

07/16/10

6:30 am – coffee, water, banana while I read, meditate, write and do EFT tapping

8:00 am – "Jumpstart Juice" (fresh veggie juice); pea protein shake w/coconut milk, flax and blueberries

9:00 am – teach "Total Body Fit Circuits" class (1 hour)

11:00 am – whey protein w/water and ½ banana

11:30 am – roast beef slices rolled around carrot strips

1:30 pm – small helping chicken cacciatore

3:30 pm – large salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, chicken w/balsamic and olive oil; corn chips w/goat cheese and onions

8:00 pm – steak, asparagus and corn on the cob

9:45 pm – watermelon

10:15 pm - Bed

Day 18 – Bikini Body Boot Camp

The Key Hormone You Need to Create a Lean, Healthy and Youthful Body

10/15/10 - By the time we are in our 30's almost all of us are deficient in HGH or Human Growth Hormone. If you are like me, you've probably noticed that you needed to workout a lot harder and longer than you use to and you still don't get the results you did when you were younger! Adequate levels of HGH are key to producing a lean, fit vibrant, healthy body. One of the reasons that most people see an increase in body fat and decrease in muscle as they age even if they workout regularly, is because of the decline of this hormone. I have found that you can circumvent this problem and stimulate your body's production of HGH by exercising using the principles of exertion and recovery, what I've coined as "Fit Fast" cycles and what Doctor Mercola calls "Peak Fitness." To learn more about HGH and how you can naturally increase your production by exercising properly, read this article below by Dr. Joseph Mercola, MD.

6:30 am – coffee, banana while I read and meditate
9:00 am – breakfast out – veggie omelet w/mushrooms, pepper, asparagus, onion; fresh fruit
11:30 am – "Fit Fast" exertion/recovery cycles at track – 8 sprint/walk cycles (25 min)
12:30 pm – whey protein w/water, ½ banana
2:30 pm – large salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, cucumbers w/olive oil and lemon; chicken
7:30 pm - lamb cacciatore w/mushroom, mixed peppers over smashed cauliflower, green beans
10:00 pm – bed

Are You in Somatopause (Age Related Growth Hormone Deficiency?)

As you reach your 30s and beyond, you enter what's called "somatopause," when your levels of HGH begin to drop off quite dramatically. This is part of what drives your aging process.

It has been my experience that nearly everyone over 30 has dramatically abnormal levels of this important hormone because they begin leading increasingly more sedentary life styles.

Children and most animals in the wild do not run marathons or lift weights, they move at high speeds for very short periods of time and then rest. This is natural and what optimizes the production of growth hormone.

The higher your levels of growth hormone, the healthier and stronger you're going to be. And the longer you can keep your body producing higher levels of HGH, the longer you will experience robust health and strength.

Dr. Harvey Cushing discovered HGH in the form of somatotropin almost a hundred years ago. Many individuals choose to inject it, though it is a banned substance in many professional sports. As I said earlier, I don't recommend doing this as I believe the health risks and cost are in no way justifiable.

Ideally, you really want your body to produce it naturally, as injecting HGH does have side effects. And the way you produce it is by exercising your super-fast muscle fibers.
 

Exercise to Increase Your Levels of the "Fitness Hormone"

One of the major reasons I am so enthusiastic about peak fitness is that it can actually increase your growth hormone level. Yes, I realize that many athletes are injecting this illegally to achieve fitness, but it is expensive and fraught with side effects. Peak fitness exercises, on the other hand, can actually cause your growth hormone to increase naturally, without any of the expense or side effects.

In order to better grasp the benefits of peak fitness exercises, you first need to understand that you have three different types of muscle fibers: slow, fast, and super-fast. And only ONE of these muscles will impact your production of a vital hormone called HGH, or human growth hormone, which is KEY for strength, health and longevity.

Currently, the vast majority of people, including many athletes such as marathon runners, only train using their slow muscle fibers, which has the unfortunate effect of actually causing the super fast fibers to decrease or atrophy.

In fact, neither traditionally performed aerobic cardio nor strength training will work anything but your slow muscles. These are the red muscles, which are filled with capillaries and mitochondria, and hence a lot of oxygen.

Next you have the fast type of fiber which is also red muscle, and oxygenates quickly, but is five times faster than the slow fibers. Power training, or plyometrics burst types of exercises will engage these fast muscles.

The super-fast ones are the white muscle fibers. They contain far less blood and less densely packed mitochondria. These muscle fibers are what you use when you do anaerobic short burst exercises.

High intensity burst cardio is the form of exercise that will engage these super fast fibers. They're ten times faster than slow fibers, and this is the key to producing growth hormone! 

Benefits of Peak Fitness Exercises

Once you regularly participate in these 20 minute excises about twice a week, most everyone notices the following benefits: 

• 
  
  Lowers your body fat
• 
  
  Dramatically improves muscle tone
• 
  
  Firms your skin and reduces wrinkles
• 
  
  Boosts your energy and sexual desire
• 
  
  Improves athletic speed and performance
• 
  
  Allows you to achieve your fitness goals much faster

How to Properly Perform Peak Fitness Exercises to Increase Your Growth Hormone Levels

First of all, please remember that you can perform this with any type of exercise. While having access to a gym or exercise equipment will provide you with a larger variety of options, you don't require either. You can easily perform this by walking or running on flat ground.

You will certainly want to work your way up to this point, but ultimately you want to exercise vigorously enough so you reach your anaerobic threshold as this is where the "magic" happens that will trigger your growth hormone release. Whatever activity you choose, by the end of your 30 second period you will want to reach these markers: 

• 
  
  It will be relatively hard to breathe and talk because you are in oxygen debt
• 
  
  You will start to sweat profusely. Typically this is occurs in the second or third repetition unless you have a thyroid issue and don't sweat much normally.
• 
  
  Your body temperature will rise
• 
  
  Lactic acid increases and you will feel a muscle "burn"

If you are using cardio equipment like an elliptical or bike, you don't need to reach any "magical" speed. It's highly individual, based on your current level of fitness. But you know you're doing it right when you're exerting yourself to the point of typically gasping for breath, after a short burst of activity.

An added boon is that you'll save a tremendous amount of time because peak fitness will cut your hour-long cardio workout down to a total of 20 minutes or so, including your recovery time, warm-up and cool down. The actual sprinting totals only 4 minutes!

 Here's what a typical peak fitness routine might look like using a recumbent bike: 

1. 
   
   Warm up for three minutes
2. 
   
   Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should feel like you couldn't possibly go on another few seconds
3. 
   
   Recover for 90 seconds
4. 
   
   Repeat the high intensity exercise and recovery 7 more times

Be mindful of your current fitness level and don't overdo it when you first start out. If you are not in great shape and just starting this you may want to start with just two or three repetitions, and work your way up to eight, which is where the magic really starts to happen. You may need to start with just walking and when you do your 30 second bursts your legs would be moving as fast as possible without running - and your arms would be pumping hard and fast.

If you can do a peak fitness workout twice a week, and follow the dietary recommendations I'll go over next, you will increase your production of growth hormone.

Dietary Recommendations to Maximize Growth Hormone Release

To maximize your growth hormone release you need to: 

• 
  
  Get a good night's sleep
• 
  
  Avoid a high fat meal prior to exercising
• 
  
  Drink plenty of water
• 
  
  Eat healthy carbs (think vegetables) and high quality protein
• 
  
  Optimize your vitamin D levels
• 
  
  Avoid sugar, especially fructose

The last part is absolutely crucial. If you consume sugar or fructose, especially within two hours post-exercise, you will increase somatostatin which will in turn obliterate the production of growth hormone! This is yet another example of why gulping down sports drinks that are chockfull of high fructose corn syrup can do your body more harm than good, and will just shut down your body's production of HGH and negate many of the benefits from your exercise.

Creating a Comprehensive Exercise Plan

You really do need a comprehensive approach to exercise, which is a major part of our peak fitness exercise approach. Ideally you want to have a variety of exercises and avoid doing the same ones all the time, as this will lead to a relative tolerance and you will not provide your body with the variety of stresses it needs to continuously adapt, improve, and grow stronger.

There are four additional types that will turn your peak fitness regimen into a truly comprehensive exercise plan: 

1. 
   
   Aerobic: No, I didn't say you had to quit straight aerobics altogether, (even though I did, and am reaping greater results than before). Jogging, using an elliptical machine, and walking fast are all examples of aerobic exercise, which will increase the amount of oxygen in your blood and increase endorphins, which act as natural painkillers. Aerobic exercise also activates your immune system, helps your heart pump blood more efficiently, and increases your stamina over time.
2. 
   
   Strength Training: Rounding out your exercise program with a 1-set strength training routine will ensure that you're really optimizing the possible health benefits of a regular exercise program. You need enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.
3. 
   
   Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability. Pilates and yoga are great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer. Even if a personal trainer is not in the cards for you right now, please watch these sample videos for examples of healthy exercise routines you can do with very little equipment and in virtually any location. http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/videos.aspx Focusing on your breath and mindfulness along with increasing your flexibility is an important element of total fitness.
4. 
   
   Stretching: My favorite types of stretches are active isolated stretching (AIS) http://www.stretchingusa.com/ developed by Aaron Mattes. It's an amazing way to get flexibility back into your system, and it's completely different from the traditional type of stretching.

Day 17 – Bikini Body Boot Camp

Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

I am a big believer in feeling good and since I don't feel good if I don't get enough sleep, I make sleep a really big priority in my life each day. Everybody's sleep needs are a bit different but I have found that I need a good solid 8 hours of sleep each night to function at full capacity. Over the years I have found that the price that I pay for staying up late, just isn't worth it, so 90% of the time I am in bed by 10:30 pm to get up for 6:30 am. I have also created a soothing bed time routine that I stick to each night. I head upstairs about ½ hour before going to bed and wash my face and brush my teeth, then I climb into bed and write at least 5 things in my journal that I am grateful for, then I read from a spiritual type book before I turn out the lights at 10:30am. As I am laying in bed right before I go to sleep I do a round of EFT tapping for a good night's sleep.

 

7/14/10 – 6:30 am – coffee, water, banana while I read, do EFT, write and meditate

8:00 am – pea protein shake w/coconut milk, flax, blueberries

9:00 am – teach BBB camp class (1 hour)

11:00 am – slices of roast beef w/oriental coleslaw

1:30 pm – large salad of mixed greens, avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, chicken w/olive oil and lemon

7:30 pm – small mixed green salad w/tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic, grated Romano cheese; chicken cacciatore w/mushroom, mixed peppers over smashed cauliflower, green beans w/almonds and lemon

10:30 pm – bed

This article was written by Dr. Joseph Mercola http://www.mercola.com

What Happens When You're Sleep-Deprived?

Americans get about 25 percent less sleep than they did a century ago -- and this isn't just a matter of having less energy.

Too little sleep impacts your levels of thyroid and stress hormones, which in turn can affect your memory and immune system, your heart and metabolism, and much more. Over time, lack of sleep can lead to:

• Weight gain
  
• Depression
  
• High blood sugar levels and an increased risk of diabetes
  
• Brain damage
  

The consequences of sleep deprivation are so intense because your circadian rhythm has evolved over hundreds of generations to align your physiology with your environment, and your body clock assumes that, like your ancestors, you sleep at night and stay awake during daylight hours.

If you confuse the situation by depriving yourself of enough hours of sleep, you send conflicting signals to your body. For instance, in addition to the above, too little sleep can:

1. Increase your risk of cancer
   by altering the balance of hormones in your body
   
2. Accelerate aging
   
3. Increase your risk of heart disease and stroke
   
4. Raise your blood pressure
   
5. Speed up tumor growth. Tumors grow two to three times faster in laboratory animals with severe sleep dysfunctions
   

Sleep researchers from across the United States have also discovered that:

• A single night of sleeping only four to six hours can impact your ability to think clearly the next day.
  
• Sleep deprivation can cause changes in your brain activity similar to those experienced by people with psychiatric disorders.
  

Additionally, your body does most of its repairs during sleep, so not getting enough of it can impair your immune system, leaving you less able to fight off diseases of ALL kinds.

Why You Should Turn Off the TV Well Before Bedtime

There are numerous reasons why the United States is a nation of insomniacs, and stress is certainly near the top of that list, but another often overlooked cause has to do with your bedtime ritual.

The most common activity done every night (or almost every night) before bed for Americans of all ethnic groups is watching TV. According to NSF's poll, 75% of African-Americans, 72% of Hispanics, 64% of Whites, and 52% of Asians watch TV within one hour of going to bed.

This is a mistake, as research suggests that television can cause irregular sleep patterns and sleep difficulties. Aside from the obvious impact of purposely staying up late to catch your favorite late, late show, violent images on TV stimulate your body's "fight or flight" response to stress. But since you know that the threat is not real, you suppress it.

This engages your brain in a constant mode of impulse and suppression, and when you turn off the TV, all of this built up impulse must be released, which may make it difficult to fall asleep.

It really doesn't matter what type of TV show you're watching, however. Television is stimulating to your brain and it will take you longer to fall asleep if you watch right before bed.

Further, if there is even the tiniest bit of light in your bedroom -- including the glow from your television -- it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland's production of melatonin and serotonin.

Melatonin is secreted primarily in your brain and at night it triggers a host of biochemical activities, including a nocturnal reduction in your body's estrogen levels. It's thought that chronically decreasing your melatonin production at night -- as occurs when you're exposed to nighttime light -- increases your risk of developing cancer.

The more your sleep is disrupted by light pollution, the lower your melatonin levels and the greater your risk of developing cancer becomes. So PLEASE make sure you sleep in a pitch-dark room every night -- and this means not only installing blackout drapes if necessary, but also turning off the TV!

How to Get More Shut-Eye

If you're staying up late watching TV, surfing the Web, or working, it's time to set some limits. Determine a set bedtime for yourself, just as you do for your children, and try not to let any other activities interfere with this time.

What time should you go to sleep? A good rule of thumb to follow is that if you feel tired when you wake up, you probably aren't getting enough sleep. Most of us have set times that we need to wake up in the morning, so getting more sleep, for most of us, means going to bed earlier.

I actually recommend getting to bed as early as possible. Your body, particularly your adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., so you should definitely try to be asleep during those hours.

At least an hour before your bedtime (but preferably two or more) start to wind down from your day. You may want to spend time journaling, meditating, sipping herbal tea, washing your face, using Meridian Tapping/Emotional Freedom Techniques (MTT/EFT) or reading a calming or spiritual book.

During this time, turn off your phone and your e-mail, and put away all work. This will give your mind a chance to unwind so you can go to sleep feeling calm, not hyped up or anxious about tomorrow's deadlines.

Once in the bedroom, some people find the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing for sleep. You'll also want to adjust the temperature in your bedroom to a cool setting (most people find they sleep best at temperatures no higher than 70 degrees F and perhaps even a bit lower than that).

Day 15 – Bikini Body Boot Camp

You can't eat the fettuccini if you want to wear the bikini!

7/12/10 - Unfortunately, I've learned the hard way that at almost 49 years old, I cannot eat huge bowls of fettuccini if I want to wear a bikini. My body seems to take starchy carbs and turn them right into fat. I've also learned that I personally don't feel well when I eat grains. The heaviest and the worse I've ever felt in my life was in my 30's while I was trying to eat "healthy" and following the new low fat, whole grains, no red meat diet. I put on weight like crazy during this period and I had so little energy that I could barely drag myself out of bed in the morning, let alone make it through the day feeling good. I went through each day counting down the hours until I could crawl back into bed at night.

Eventually, I was so frustrated with the way my body was beginning to look and feel, I started walking and after a few weeks I started feeling a bit better. Then I joined a yoga class and I felt even better. Then I started taking a martial arts class with my 6 year old son. After a couple years of taking martial arts and getting my black belt I felt like a new women (martial arts is very empowering)! I was down around 10 pounds and my energy was better but I still had trouble getting through the afternoon without feeling the need for a nap.

Around this time my martial arts instructor asked me if I would be interested in teaching a kickboxing class at the studio. This was in 2001 and Billy Blanks and Ti Bo where all the rage. I said yes, I went and got trained and certified and started my journey as a fitness professional. After about a year and half of teaching kickboxing I realized that I wanted to know more about fitness and I wanted to be able to help women on a more personal level so I went and got my Personal Training Certification.

I have been voraciously taking in information in all manners and forms, ever since I became a PT, looking for ways to help people and myself, get the results we want and deserve. Because of my quest for more knowledge I eventually stumbled on Dr. Mercola, MD and his natural health website. From Dr. Mercola I learned about the three different things that have become the cornerstones of how I teach and live wellness. Nutritional Typing – eating according to your body's own special bio-chemistry; Exertion/Recovery Cycles – exercising in short burst of exertion followed by recovery to boost metabolism, fat burning and health; and EFT Emotional Freedom Technique – a gentle acupressure tapping technique for relieving emotional traumas, stress, pain and helping to change beliefs. I have found by incorporating these three things together it is possible to easily create the slim, vibrant, healthy body that all of us desire and deserve to have!

7:30 am – I woke-up so late this morning – I can't believe it! It's left me feeling so disoriented! Coffee, water, while I speed write, read and do EFT tapping

8:15 am – Pea protein shake w/coconut milk, flax, stevia and blueberries

9:00 am – Teach BBB Camp class (1 hour)

11:30 am - sliced tomatoes, tomato and cucumber salad, ham and cheese roll-ups, romaine, lettuce, handful of almond, handful of cherries

2:00 pm – salad of baby greens, lamb, onions, feta cheese, mushrooms

7:00 pm – dinner out – chicken marsala w/mushrooms, spinach, cheese, asparagus, small tossed salad w/balsamic dressing (came with a huge order of fettuccini which I brought home to my teenage son – he has no problems with eating it!)