1. Don’t arrive hungry - Don’t skip lunch in anticipation of the feast to come. You want to keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day. Aim for a lighter lunch like a salad with tuna or chicken.
2. Start with salad or water - At the beginning of the meal fill up with a salad or a full glass of water. This will make you feel full sooner and prevent you from eating way too much.
3. Watch portion size - Watch your portion size! A good measure is the size of your fist. Use it to determine the amount of each food group - starchy carbohydrates (stuffing and sweet potato), fibrous carbohydrates (green beans, broccoli), and protein (turkey).
4. Eat lots of vegetables - Vegetables should take up at least half of your plate. They provide nutrition and fiber! You can’t possibly overeat on fibrous vegetables like beans, carrots, broccoli, kale, etc.
5. Eat white meat - Whether you eat white or dark meat, make sure to remove the skin from your turkey. The white meat of the turkey contains the least fat and is your best choice. However, I love the dark meat too. To balance things out I choose half white meat and half dark meat.
6. Skip the bread - Growing up in Germany, bread was the meal. We never used it as an addition to a complete meal that already contains carbohydrates. The stuffing and sweet potatoes in your Thanksgiving meal provide plenty of starchy carbs, and there’s no need to add bread. Again remember, always go light on starchy carbohydrates and heavy on fibrous carbohydrates.
7. Use cranberry sauce instead of gravy - Now I know this is more of a personal preference, but what I’ve done for years now is skip the high fat gravy and use plenty of healthy cranberry sauce to moisten the meal. Cranberries contain antioxidants and other phytonutrients that may help protect against heart disease and cancer. They also keep your urinary tract in great shape. Watch the sugar content, though. Some cranberry sauces have too much added sugar.
8. Eat slowly - This is one of my favorites, as I am the unbeaten champion when it comes to eating slowly. Pay attention to what you are eating. Chew your food thoroughly as digestion begins in the mouth. Get a chance to feel when you are full. A few tricks to this are eating with your eyes closed (maybe not during Thanksgiving dinner, though), and putting your silverware down between bites.
9. Enjoy leftovers - I don’t know about you, but I love leftovers! No need to finish everything served for Thanksgiving as there is the entire long weekend during which to enjoy leftovers and with that quick and easy meal preparation. So, don’t stuff yourself, that’s the turkey’s job!
10. Go for a walk - A light walk feels good after any meal. Instead of chatting with the family at the table or in front of the TV, get everyone out for a walk outside breathing fresh air. Walking upright after a meal may even prevent heartburn.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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This class will start on January 5, 2009 and be held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7AM for 4 weeks (12 classes). Plus, there’s an additional class every Saturday at 8AM that is optional.

(If you don’t want to wait for the New Year, you may also purchase these certificates for the month of December! If you are ready now, there’s no reason to wait!)

Every class is one hour in length and consists of a combination of walking, calisthenics, resistance exercises, cardio intervals, balance and core exercises, and stretching. With that we are focusing on all aspects of health and you will achieve increases in energy, strength, flexibility, balance, and metabolism.

It will be easier for you to get out of bed in the morning, do everyday activities, and keep up with the demands of a stressful job. Exercise also fights depression and will give you a new outlook on life. If you are looking to lose weight, increase mobility, or just stay healthy, you are in the right place.

See what Beth, one of my current boot camp participants, has to say:

Working out in a group is especially motivating. We always have fun and support each other. You still get the attention of an experienced personal trainer at just a fraction of the cost of one-on-one training. I apply the same expertise that I use for my one-on-one clients to my boot camps.

So come on out and play!

The regular cost of a 4-week boot camp is $199, but if you purchase it as a gift for someone, the cost is now only $159. And listen, once you purchase 1 class as a gift, you may also purchase a class for yourself for the same low price of $159. Want to hear an even better offer? If you purchase 2 gift certificates for other people you can get into the class for FREE! That is a saving of $279!

But you must hurry, space is limited, plus this offer will increase by $10 every 10 days. $159 offer is valid through December 10, 2008, then the cost will increase to $169.

You may purchase your gift certificate right here:

Choose number of Certificates

1 Gift Certificate (save $50) $159.00 1 Gift, 1 Regular Certificate (save $100) $318.00 2 Gift, 1 FREE Certificate (save $299) $318.00

Who is the gift for?

For more information and any questions you might have about the boot camp, please follow this link. This is also where you can sign up for a class if you are not purchasing a gift certificate.

See you in January!

Technorati Tags: fitness boot camp,bootcamp,fitness class,outdoor class,weight loss,exercise,new year’s resolution,fitness for women,Berkeley,CA,Berkeley Marina,Cezar Chavez Park

PS: If you haven’t gotten your hands on my report yet, go here to sign up for my newsletter and receive it for free.

Technorati Tags: weight loss,report,review,diet,nutrition,exercise,health,fitness

Technorati Tags: health,fitness,nutrition,diet,exercise,answers

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One of the ways to increase metabolism via nutrition is to eat 5 - 6 small meals a day rather than 1 - 3 large meals. Each meal should contain a combination of carbohydrates, proteins and fats to facilitate slower digestion and release of nutrients into the blood stream, therefore avoiding spikes in insulin levels. This will not only increase metabolism, but also your energy level throughout the day. I believe the only way to eat this often is to plan in advance and always have healthy snacks on hand.

My favorite way of increasing metabolism is exercise. Your metabolism will not only increase during the exercise but also stay elevated for many hours after you complete your exercise routine. The best types of training for increasing your metabolism are weight bearing exercises and high intensity cardio interval training (HIIT). Both types have so many benefits that I would highly recommend including both into your workout routine. Do weight bearing exercises at least 3x / week for half an hour, and cardio for up to 5x / week for 20 minutes.

The way high intensity interval training works is that you will perform your cardio (walking, running, biking, or any cardio machine at the gym) at a moderate intensity level with bursts of high intensity intervals. For example, to start you could walk for 3 minutes, and then run for 1 minute, going all out. As your fitness level increases your high intensity bursts will become more intense, and you can increase the duration of them. So, as you improve, you might walk for 2 minutes, and then run for 2 minutes. Repeat for 4 - 6 times each. HIIT will burn more calories than long, moderate-intensity cardio workouts, while promoting fat loss, increased metabolism, and heart health.

Technorati Tags: metabolism,nutrition,exercise,HIIT,high intensity interval training,insulin,meals,digestion,cardio,weight training,resistance training

If you:

• Have gotten bored with your current training routine,
• Lack the motivation to work out regularly,
• Have not seen the results you wanted,
• Are unable to push yourself,
• Or wonder what exercises you should do to achieve maximum weight loss,

then you owe it to yourself to check out my boot camp. Let me help you get your sexy back. I guarantee you will feel energized and look and feel younger after just the first two weeks.

For all the details and to register click here.

Technorati Tags: boot camp,bootcamp,group class,outdoor fitness,outdoor class,group fitness,Berkeley,CA,fitness,weight loss,women,exercise,fitness training

As a thank you for being a loyal reader of my blog you can claim a 30 day trial membership to my new online personal training, nutrition, and support system - Fitness Promoter.

With Fitness Promoter you’ll receive:

1. Workouts, customized according to your fitness level and goals, as well as available workout equipment (from none to a whole gym), with picture, video, and written instructions - helping you remember the exercises and how to perform them properly - preventing injury and getting you the results you want.
2. Customized meal plans, recipes, and grocery shopping lists - making it easy for you to plan and track your nutrition and giving you ideas for healthy meals.
3. Goal tracking and motivational e-mails - setting goals and tracking them is a vital part of your success. Daily or weekly e-mails are motivating and give you the ability to take charge of your own health by educating you one e-mail at a time.
4. An online community, offering support, accountability, and motivation. Nobody can or should have to be alone in the fight to lose weight and stay fit and healthy. The motto of our online community is: "Together we CAN get fit!"
5. Plus, don’t forget, I am behind all this, ready to support you, answer your questions, and help you along the way.

The patented process they claim to use to bake their goods alone scares the hell out of me. Has this been tested on rats?
I hate to break it to you, but weight loss is not easy, and diet alone does not work in the long-term. All diets work short-term, none are a solution to the ever growing obesity problem.

"Oh darn, you mean I actually have to eat real food (the ones you are supposed to add to the MedWell123 diet) like fresh vegetables and lean meats and begin an exercise program of at least 30 minutes daily to improve my health, lose weight, and prevent rather than manage my diabetes?"

Yes, now you’ve got it! That is the truth and you can believe me, because I am not a doctor that has never ever studied health nor nutrition, and I am not making any money off of telling you this!

Pastas, bread, bagels, croutons and cookies. Yummy. Just what the doctor ordered. Literally! Only because this junk has a relationship of 1-2-3 of fat, protein, and carbohydrates doesn’t mean it contains the right fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.

And can you believe that right on their home page they have a typo that reads this diet will make you "metally clearer." Maybe that’s their secret ingredient - metal.

And get this, three paragraphs is all the information you will get about these products on their web site!!!

So, to sum it all up, they are selling you a bunch of unhealthy foods in boxes, won’t tell you what’s in them or what process they use to prepare the food, nor do they supply any advice on how to use the products and create a healthy nutrition plan with them.

Now I have only one question, how did this ever make the news?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. And in case I wasn’t clear, I am begging you, don’t spend any money on this latest fad!

Technorati Tags: MedWell123,diet,exercise,fad,nutrition,diet review

If you’ve been struggling to try and turn your life around, and manifest what you REALLY want into your life at lightning speed, I urge you to read on.

A few weeks ago a voice from the past caught me by surprise when my phone rang. It was my friend Jennifer, and it had been at least a year since we’d talked.

We chatted for a bit, catching up. But it wasn’t long before she began her list of all the terrible events of the past year. It was a seemingly endless avalanche of troubled times, money problems, and failed relationships.

Oh yeah, and she’d put on 20 pounds too. She went on and on until she wrapped up her story with, "I hate my life!" Do you know somebody like that? Or maybe it hits even closer to home than somebody you know.

Maybe this even sounds all too familiar.

Because sometimes it seems like all the disappointments and difficulties of life become so familiar, it’s actually what you expect your life to be. When you think about it, you’ll realize what you claim as your reality - what you EXPECT for your life - actually BECOMES your life.

A simple formula really… Garbage in (your thoughts), garbage out (your vibration) = MORE GARBAGE. It’s like some kind of diabolical software program you feed into your internal "computer" that spits out negative energy. And when you do that, you are programming yourself for failure time after time. But here’s the really cool thing. Now you can easily "reprogram" your entire life, and…

Start Manifesting What You Want Super Fast!

Attract health, weight loss, good nutrition as well as love, wealth, and friends into your life with the power of Mind Movies. Stop overeating and procrastination. Stop all your unhealthy habits and begin creating the life and body you’ve always wanted.

Let me introduce you to David Wolfe, the author of the best-selling books, Eating for Beauty, The Sunfood Diet Success System (7th Edition), Naked Chocolate, 21-Day Peak-Performance Weight Loss Program, and his newest release, Amazing Grace (Random House 2008). David Wolfe empowers and inspires people to take charge of their health even up against all the modern-day demands of bills, technology, environmental pollution, commuting, and inflation. By making simple, informed decisions, David shows us that we can all enjoy quality time for ourselves and with our family, because, after all, Health is Wealth!

What David has done is create a way to…

Manifest Optimum Health And Nutrition With The Power Of Mind Movies

The result is nothing short of phenomenal. You see, David approaches the topic of food and nutrition as an essential ingredient to EVERYTHING else in your life. It just makes sense to fuel your machine with the highest quality fuel, for maximum performance, right?

He explains it all beautifully in this video…
http://www.eCoachBiggi.com/mindmovies/health/

It’s kind of funny when you think about it but having a WOLFE at your door could be the best thing that ever happened to you AND your health. When you put his powerful message to work with a personalized Mind Movie? You’ve got…

The Perfect Recipe for Success!

Look, even if you don’t do anything else, at least do yourself a favor and WATCH this video! If you have even the tiniest thought that your life would be so much better in so many ways, if you just took better care of yourself - you really owe it to yourself to meet David right now…

http://www.eCoachBiggi.com/mindmovies/health/

More than food for thought, this is food for your SOUL!

Technorati Tags: Law of Attraction,The Secret,Mind Movies,visualization,weight loss,health,eating habits,nutrition,exercise,abundance,wealth