Fitness

2. Salmon: Make the swap from a saturated fat burger to a salmon fillet. While some saturated fat is fine, a little goes a long way. The average cheeseburger has more than half a day worth of the artery clogging fat, which will increase your risk for a heart attack. Conversely, salmon lowers that risk thanks to heart healthy fats. Omega-3s can prevent erratic heart rhythms, reduce likelihood of blood clots inside arteries, improve the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol, and prevent cholesterol from becoming damaged, at which point it clogs arteries.

3. Berries and Cherries: Props must be given to nature’s candy. These sweet treats are high in polyphenols, which prevent cell damage that creates unhealthy blood vessels and heart. During the winter, opt for frozen berries. Try thawing a bag of frozen strawberries in the refrigerator. Then, add unsweetened, steel-cut oatmeal with the berries their juice and your heart will say thanks with each beat.

4. Quinoa: Often mistaken as a grain, this tiny sprouted seed is an excellent source of magnesium, the mineral that relaxes blood vessels. Low dietary levels of magnesium lead to some scary health issues like increased rates of hypertension, ischemic heart disease and heart arrhythmias. Quinoa cooks quickly and makes great leftovers. Toss with grilled veggies and roasted chicken for a delicious one-pot dinner, or try this Red Curry Quinoa recipe.

5. Hot Cocoa: You read right! Hot cocoa is brimming with antioxidants – two-times more than red wine and three times more than green tea. The cool February temperatures are no match for a mug of hot cocoa. My tip: since hot chocolate mixes are full of sugar, use 100% cocoa and combine with a teaspoon of sugar. Plus you’ll sweeten with the natural sugars in the milk.

Learn more about SlimTrim today!  Eat slim, stay Trim!

Fitness

1. Shock your body

Most of the time your body needs a break between workouts (it’s during those rest periods that big changes actually happen). But a few times a year, it’s smart to put yourself through back-to-back boot-camp workouts. “Overloading your muscles will keep them guessing, helping you break through any plateau,” says Tom Holland, M.S., an exercise physiologist in Darien, Connecticut. During this push, work every muscle three or four days in a row, performing sets with little or no rest in between.

Try it Do our fast-paced circuit below. Complete 12 reps of each exercise (except for the plank—hold it for one 60-second set), going from one move to the next without rest. Repeat the entire circuit up to three times, resting for two minutes at the end of each circuit. (Find instructions by clicking on each of the exercises below.)

- Push-ups

- Walking lunges

- Dumbbell press
2. Slow down

Adjusting the tempo of an exercise stimulates the muscle differently, says Maren Piefer, a personal trainer and the owner of Fitnetic Fitness in Boca Raton, Florida. “The longer your muscles experience tension, the harder they work.” During an exercise, count to two as you raise the weight, and count to four as you lower it. You’ll spend more time in the lengthening phase of muscle contraction, which is more challenging and brings better results: a higher calorie burn during and after your workout.
Try it During a chest press, count to two as you push the dumbbells toward the ceiling, and count to four as you lower them. During squats, count to four while lowering toward the floor, and then to two as you stand.

3. Split the difference

Do a full rep of an exercise, then do just half of it at the hardest part of the move. “You sneak in extra reps and increase muscle tension in virtually the same amount of time,” Piefer says. “It also pumps lots of blood into the muscles, which is excellent for enhancing definition.”

Try it Grab a dumbbell in each hand, arms resting at your sides, palms facing forward. Without moving your upper arms, curl the weights toward your shoulders, then slowly lower them halfway down; stop and raise them back to your shoulders. Lower back to start. That’s 1 rep.

4. Get off the ground

Plyometrics—think leaping, jumping, or skipping—burns calories and builds lean muscle quickly. “Working against gravity increases the load, and jumping incorporates different muscle fibers, which makes your workout more intense,” says Jeremy Cheung, owner of Twisted Twilight Personal Training in San Francisco.

Try it Add plyo drills immediately after an exercise that works the same muscle group to power up your muscle fibers and help you squeeze out every last bit of juice you’ve got. (If you jump before exercising, your muscles will have less energy to perform the workout.) After a set of squats, do 10 squat jumps: Starting in the squat position, jump up and extend your arms overhead. Land softly with your knees bent and your arms swinging behind you.
5. Mix in cardio

Keep your heart pumping hard by combining your cardio and strength routines. “Doing cardio between sets of weighted exercises burns a higher percentage of calories from fat,” Holland says.

Try it Instead of resting after a strength exercise, do at least 30 seconds of intense cardio, such as jumping rope or high knee lifts. “If you do less intense cardio, like jogging in place, go for at least a minute,” Holland says.

Don’t forget to click here for more tips on losing weight and how to get SlimTrim today at a reduced price. $19.99 only online!

Please include SlimTrim as part of your daily planning.  Click here to learn more (now available for $19.99)

Healthy Diet Foods List

One of the biggest problems people seem to have about being on a weight loss diet is the selection of foods they are going to be allowed to eat. Not to mention, the selection of foods they are no longer going to be allowed to eat. With certain unbalanced diets (for example, low carb) this may be true.

With The Lose Weight Diet, it is false.

The big fear some people have is that they would get tired and/or bored of eating the same healthy diet foods over and over again. Some people may even go as far as to say it’s impossible to consistently eat the same few healthy foods every single day for a long period of time without either falling off the diet or just going insane. Well, first of all, that’s not quite true.

For the most part, I eat the same foods at the same times of the same days every single week/month/year and have been doing so for years now. I realize how crazy that may sound to some people, but to me there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s very convenient and simple. Plus, I really like the foods I eat. I am perfectly happy with these foods. After all, that’s why I made them a part of my diet in the first place.

I am certainly not telling anyone to eat like this, and you certainly don’t have to. I’m just saying some people just don’t need that much variety in their diet.

If you happen to be like this too, great.

However, if you are the type of person who DOES want variety in your weight loss diet because you WOULD get tired of eating the same foods over and over again, then this list is for you.

I have separated the foods into 3 categories:
- good sources of protein
- good sources of carbs
- good sources of fat

Keep in mind though, the key to The Lose Weight Diet (or any weight loss diet for that matter) is total calories consumed. As you learned earlier, weight loss happens when you are in a calorie deficit, meaning you are taking in less calories than your maintenance level and are therefore burning more calories than you consume.

So, while the foods on this list would all make great additions to your diet (for both weight loss and all around health), you need to make sure you stay within your calorie range. Also try to stay close to the guidelines suggested regarding how much protein, carbs and fat your diet should consist of.

With all of that being said, here’s a list of acceptable and healthy diet foods:

Good Sources Of Protein

Chicken (without skin)
Turkey (without skin)
Lean cuts of beef
Lean cuts of pork
Lean cuts of lamb
Lean cuts of veal
Eggs
Egg whites
Tuna fish
Salmon
Shrimp
Lobster
Flounder
Sardines
Snapper
Swordfish
Trout
Crab
Clams
Scallops
Milk (2% or skim)
Cottage cheese (low fat/non fat)
Yogurt (low fat/non fat)
Tofu
Black beans
Garbanzo beans (aka chick peas)
Kidney beans
Lentils
Lima beans
Navy beans
Pinto beans
Miso
Soybeans
Peanuts
Almonds
Cashews
Hazelnuts
Pecans
Pistachio nuts
Natural peanut butter
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Protein powder, protein shakes and protein bars

Good Sources Of Carbs

Brown Rice
100% whole wheat bread
100% whole wheat bagels
100% whole wheat pita bread
Whole wheat/whole grain pasta
Sweet potatoes
Yams
Oatmeal
Buckwheat
Bulgur
Bran cereals
Garbanzo beans (aka chick peas)
Kidney beans
Black beans
Lentils
Navy beans
Pinto beans
Lima Beans

Fruits And Vegetables

Good Sources Of Fat

Salmon
Mackerel
Herring
Anchovies
Sardines
Scallops
Halibut
Fish oil supplements
Peanuts
Almonds
Walnuts
Cashews
Natural peanut butter
Olive oil (extra-virgin)
Flax seeds
Flax seed oil
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds

In closing, again be sure to include SlimTrim as part of your daily food plan. Click here to learn more (now available for $19.99)