Sea Salt, Kelp and Sesame Kale Chips

Have you jumped on the latest trend and tried Kale Chips yet? If not I suggest you give them a try. They are deliciously addictive and really, really good for you!

1 bunch Kale

2 tablespoons Sesame Seeds

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon Kelp powder

Ground Himalayan Sea Salt to taste

Rip Kale off tough center membrane and into bite size pieces. Put in basket of salad spinner and spray with vegetable wash. Rinse thoroughly. Spin in salad spinner until dry. Place in large bowl.

Drizzle with olive oil and toss until covered. Add Sesame seeds, Kelp and Sea Salt toss until evenly distributed. Lay out on cookie sheets and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until edges curl and Kale is crispy. Enjoy!

Nine Reasons to Eat Kale Often

Diet and Digestion
One cup of kale has only 36 calories and zero grams of fat, which makes it a great diet aid. Furthermore, one cup contains nearly 20% of the RDA of dietary fiber, which promotes regular digestion, prevents constipation, lowers blood sugar and curbs overeating. Finally, kale contains the glucosinolate isothiocyanate (ITC) that fights the formation of H. pylori (Helicobacter pylori), a bacterial growth in the stomach lining that can lead to gastric cancer.

Antioxidants
Kale is a superstar in the arena of carotenoids and flavonoids, two powerful antioxidants that protect our cells from free radicals that cause oxidative stress. The key flavonoids kaempferol and quercitin (not to dismiss the 45 other distinctive flavonoids in kale) have also been shown to specifically fight against the formation of cancerous cells. With the addition of high doses of well-known antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin A, and manganese, kale is certainly a smart choice in the battle against cellular oxidation.

Anti-Inflammatory
One cup of kale provides about 10% of the RDA of omega-3 fatty acids that helps regulate the body’s inflammatory process. A megadose of vitamin K further aids to fight against excessive inflammatory-related problems, such as arthritis, autoimmune disorders, and asthma.

Cancer
Not only do kale's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities work together to prevent and even combat cancer, a healthy diet of kale also provides glucosinolates, which have been shown to prevent colon, breast, bladder, prostate, ovarian cancers, as well as gastric cancer.

Cardiovascular Support
The high fiber content of kale lowers our cholesterol by binding with bile acids that the liver produces from cholesterol for digesting fat. Because many of these bile acids are coupled with fiber, the liver is charged with producing more bile acid to digest fat, and therefore requires more cholesterol to so, ultimately lowering the amount of cholesterol within our bodies.

Detox
The isothiocyanates (ITC) from glucosinolates found in kale aid in the body’s detoxification process. The high sulfur content of kale has further been shown essential for detoxification.

Vitamin K
Kale provides a whopping dose of vitamin K (providing 1327% of the RDA in one cup), which is necessary for the synthesis of osteocalcin, a protein that strengthens the composition of our bones. Vitamin K also prevents calcium build-up in our tissue that can lead to atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Finally, vitamin K is essential for synthesizing sphingolipid, the fat needed to maintain the myelin sheath around our nerves, and therefore our nervous system as a whole.

Vitamin A
With over 192% of the RDA of vitamin A, one cup of kale is an effective antioxidant, boosts immunity, maintains healthy bones and teeth, prevents urinary stones, and is essential to our reproductive organs.

Vitamin C
One cup of kale provides (over 88% of our RDA), is not only a powerful antioxidant, but also lowers blood pressure, ensures a healthy immune system, and fights against age-related ocular diseases, such as cataracts and macular degeneration

Is Weighing Yourself Helpful for Weight Loss?

I know that a lot of experts will tell you if you're trying to lose weight, you should "weigh in" every week. But in my 15 years of working with women as a weight loss, fitness and wellness coach, I tend to disagree.

Let me tell you why. With most of the clients I work with, the weekly weigh in is something that they absolutely dread and obsess about all week long. This is not helpful in any way, shape or form!

I highly suggest that if you are trying to lose weight that you don’t weigh yourself more than once every 30 days!

For most people it takes about thirty days of doing something consistently to see measurable results. When you are constantly checking your weight and you don’t see it going down or you see it going down slowly, it tends to put you in a place of feeling bad about yourself and that gets in the way of your releasing the extra pounds. If you are feeling bad about yourself and you hate the way you look and you keep noticing that you are not losing weight as quickly as you want, it makes it almost impossible for you to follow through and do what you need to do to be successful!

Focus on where you are going, not where you currently are. Instead of constantly jumping on the scale to check your progress, spend some time every day think about what it will feel like when you reach your desired goal.

The best thing you can do for yourself if you're trying to lose weight, is to find any way you can to feel good about yourself and your efforts! 

If your goal is to trim pounds, choose a diet and exercise program that feel good to you and follow through to the best of your ability every day. Pat yourself on the back for the positive changes you are making and the things that you are doing right! Let go of any slip ups and get right back on track!

Instead of getting on the scale, you want to ask yourself if you are feeling better, stronger and have more energy. Revealing your slim, fit and vibrant body is a journey and if you keep moving forward you will eventually get there!

Delicious Turkey Chili

This recipe is a staple in my house, we make it almost every week. It's high protein, low carbohydrate and loaded with nutritious and satisfying ingredients. There's nothing better on a chilly winter evening than a bowl of this chili and side salad of mixed greens, avocados and tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil and fresh lemon. Try it. I think you'll like it!





Delicious Turkey Chili
16 oz Lean Ground Turkey Meat
1 Red Pepper - chopped
1 Large Onion - chopped
2 cloves of garlic - pressed
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
28 oz. can Crushed Tomatoes
15 oz. can Corn - rinsed
1 1/4 cup Fresh Cilantro Chopped

In a large sauce pan saute the red pepper and onion in olive oil until tender crisp. Add ground turkey meat, crushed garlic, chili powder, ground cumin and red pepper flakes, cook until turkey is no longer pink. Add crushed tomatoes and corn, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in chopped Cilantro. Serve with grated cheddar cheese if desired.

Is Your Workout Helping You to Store Fat?

There is a kind of fat that you don't see and it's toxic and it's deadly!

Visceral fat is internal fat. It wraps around organs like your heart, liver, and kidneys. It fills up all the space in your abdominal cavity, so there's no room left for your organs, nerves, and vessels to function properly.

It's far more dangerous to your health than subcutaneous fat, which lies right beneath your skin. Subcutaneous fat is what you poke at and pinch. Like the "spare tire" you get around your middle.

Visceral fat is a storehouse for toxins that pump directly into your body. When you have too much visceral fat, you can almost guarantee you'll develop heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Too much of it produces excess secretion of a substance called adipokine. This causes body-wide inflammation that leads to these diseases.

You don't have to be overweight to have it. Over 30 million normal-weight Americans have high levels of visceral fat. You can be perfectly thin on the outside and fat on the inside.

You see, your body gets to choose the type of fuel it burns during exercise. And any time you exercise at a medium pace for a long time, your body chooses fat as its fuel.

While that may sound like a good thing, it's really the worst thing you can do. You don't want to use fat during exercise, because it's telling your body that you need fat for fuel. Your body hears, "Make more fat!" and it delivers. So, once you're done exercising, your body continues to make fat and tuck it around your organs. Now you have even more fat to use as an energy source the next time you jump on the treadmill.

A much better way to get rid of deadly visceral fat is short-bursts of intense exercise. I use this principle in all of my exercise programs for my clients and I've been using it on myself for the last 4 years.
Here's the point you need to know …

Real fat burning doesn't take place during exercise. It takes place after you exercise, as you recover. We call this "the afterburn," and it's one of the key components to staying lean and youthful. Short bursts of close to maximum exertion, stimulate HGH (Human Growth Hormone) who's production slows down significantly as you move into your 20's and keeps going down from there. The good news is, is that you can increase it's production by exercising and eating correctly.

Short-burst intense exercise is simply short periods of exertion followed by rest. You start at the intensity and speed that's right for you and gradually increase it until you're breathing heavily. Then you stop and recover.

Short-burst exercise tells your body that you don't have to make more fat and squirrel it away for the next time. You're not going to exercise long enough to use it for fuel, so why make more fat? And it stimulates HGH production.

Instead, when you keep your sessions brief, you use carbs for fuel during exercise and then use fat long afterward. Ten to 20 minutes is all you need to rev up your metabolism. Then, during times of rest, your metabolism burns up your visceral fat.

Visceral fat disappears very quickly when you exercise this way. When you follow this plan instead of doing hours of cardio, you burn up to 9 times the fat for every calorie burned.

You can choose any form of exercise you like. It can be treadmill, bike, running outside, calisthenics or as simple as walking. The key is to start where you're comfortable and build from there. Here's a routine you can try at home:

• Begin walking for a few minutes at a comfortable pace to warm up.
• Increase the pace for 60 sec. and recover for approx. 60 sec. or as long as it takes.
• Repeat the 60 sec. of exertion going a little harder and then recover.
• Repeat the 60 sec. of exertion and recovery - by the 3rd cycle you want to feel like you can't go any more by the time you get to the end of the 60 seconds of exertion. You should gasp a little as you come into recovery and if you are wearing a heart rate monitor it will bump up a couple of notches as you start your recovery.
• Repeat the exertion and recovery cycles 5 to 8 times depending on your level of fitness and how you feel.
• Recover by walking for at least 3 minutes.

When you are done you should by sweating profusely and feel like you got in a really intense workout but you should feel energized not beat-up.

You need to pay attention to your body and work at your own personal fitness level. If you are just starting out you might just walk as fast as you can during exertion. If you are very fit you should be sprinting as fast as you can from the 4th through 8th exertion cycle.

Combine your short-burst exercise program with a high-protein, low-glycemic diet that includes lots of fresh vegetables. You'll get the best results this way.

I have been exercising this way for the last four years and I just love how it makes me feel and look! The added bonus is it takes so little time to get a really great work-out! - Bonnie

Why Reduce Grains and Sugar?

Should You Reduce Grains and Sugar?

This article was originally published by Dr. Joseph Mercola http://mercola.com

For several million years, humans existed on a diet of animals and vegetation. It was only with the advent of agriculture a mere 10,000 years ago - a fraction of a second in evolutionary time - that humans began ingesting large amounts of sugar and starch in the form of grains (and potatoes) into their diets. Indeed, 99.99% of our genes were formed before the advent of agriculture; in biological terms, our bodies are still those of hunter-gatherers.

While the human shift to agriculture produced indisputable gains for man - modern civilization is based on this epoch - societies where the transition from a primarily meat/vegetation diet to one high in cereals show a reduced lifespan and stature, increases in infant mortality and infectious disease, and higher nutritional deficiencies.

Contemporary humans have not suddenly evolved mechanisms to incorporate the high carbohydrates from starch- and sugar-rich foods into their diet. In short, we are consuming far too much bread, cereal, pasta, corn (a grain, not a vegetable), rice, potatoes and Little Debbie snack cakes, with very grave consequences to our health. Making matters worse, most of these carbohydrates we consume come in the form of processed food.

That 65% of Americans are overweight, and 27% clinically obese, in a nation addicted to sesame seed buns for that hamburger, with a side of French fries and a Coke, is no coincidence. It is not the fat in the foods we eat but, far more, the excess carbohydrates from our starch- and sugar-loaded diet that is making people fat and unhealthy, and leading to epidemic levels of a host of diseases such as diabetes.

If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, chances are very good that the excess carbohydrates in your body are, in part or whole, to blame:

• Excess weight
• Fatigue and frequent sleepiness
• Depression
• Brain fogginess
• Bloating
• Allergies
• Low blood sugar
• Persistent Headaches
• High blood pressure
• High triglycerides

We all need a certain amount of carbohydrates, of course, but, through our addiction to grains, potatoes, sweets and other starchy and sugary foods, we are consuming far too many. The body's storage capacity for carbohydrates is quite limited, though, so here's what happens to all the excess: they are converted, via insulin, into fat and stored in the adipose, or fatty, tissue.

Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates generates a rapid rise in blood glucose. To adjust for this rise, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into the bloodstream, which lowers the glucose. Insulin is, though, essentially a storage hormone, evolved over those millions of years of humans prior to the agricultural age, to store the excess calories from carbohydrates in the form of fat in case of famine.

Insulin, stimulated by the excess carbohydrates in our overabundant consumption of grains, starches and sweets, is responsible for all those bulging stomachs and fat rolls in thighs and chins.

Even worse, high insulin levels suppress two other important hormones - glucagons and growth hormones - that are responsible for burning fat and sugar and promoting muscle development, respectively. So insulin from excess carbohydrates promotes fat, and then wards off the body's ability to lose that fat.

Excess weight and obesity lead to heart disease and a wide variety of other diseases. But the ill effect of grains and sugars does not end there. They suppress the immune system, contributing to allergies, and they are responsible for a host of digestive disorders. They contribute to depression, and their excess consumption is, in fact, associated with many of the chronic diseases in our nation, such as cancer and diabetes.

For a great way to get started eating a diet that includes less grains, download my free copy of “The 30 Day Detox Diet” - Bonnie