Why we should take more niacin

I recently watched the movie "Food Matters" (okay, I watched it several times!) and learned an enormous amount about our food, vitamins and how the drug companies are skewing the facts (go figure) on why their drugs are a better choice than living and eating healthy.


One of the biggest things that made a large impact was the impact niacin (B3) has on depression and anxiety. There is a story that really hit home about a woman with severe depression and how niacin therapy changed her life and what happened when she was forced off of it:




You can get more information here about how you can use niacin in your daily life to improve depression, anxiety and overall well-being.

One of my FAVORITE Vegan Meals: Black Bean Soup and Cornbread!

In case you, my dear readers, weren't aware, I become vegetarian at the beginning of 2010. I actually started out being 100% vegan, taking the "21 Day Vegan Kickstart". Since completing that, I decided to stay vegetarian, but do try to eat most of my meals vegan (not having any animal products). There have been times that I've eaten eggs (organic, free range), once in awhile some dairy (as a condiment; my body doesn't do well with dairy), and a few times have indulged in some seafood. I've also chosen to eat a considerable amount of my meals raw, but that is something for a different post. :)

One of my most favorite VEGAN meals is

Black Bean Soup and Cornbread.

Check these out for a yummy, fall meal!

Black Bean Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 pinch black pepper

4 cups vegetable broth

8 cups dry black beans 

Sea salt to taste

Cayenne pepper sauce (optional)

1. Soak beans per package instructions.
2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion, celery and garlic for 5 minutes. Season with chili powder, cumin, salt and black pepper; cook for 1 minute. Stir in vegetable broth and the beans. Bring to a boil.
3. After soup has come to a boil, reduce heat. Remove 1/2 of the beans and veggies and blend with a submersible blender. Add back to the pot.
4. Bring to a boil once more, reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Vegan Cornbread

2 tablespoon. ground flax seed
6 tablespoons. water
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup organic cornmeal
1/4 cup organic sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup almond milk
1/4 cup canola oil

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray cake or pie pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the ground flax seed, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the ground flax seed in the water for 3 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt until well-combined.
4. Add the ground flax seed mixture, almond milk, and canola oil to the flour mixture. Beat just until smooth (do not overbeat.)
5. Turn into prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Top it off with some Earth Balance spread for that buttery taste!

Kristen lost 8 lbs doing the Shakeology Cleanse!!!

Have to give a quick shout out to my girl and personal training client, Kristen H. She decided to take the plunge and give Shakeology a try, starting with the 3 Day Shakeology Cleanse. She was feeling "stuck" and hasn't been able to lose any of the weight she's been working hard at trying to lose. I recommended trying Shakeology, gave her some infomation about it and was so impressed with the information, she decided to give it a try. She started the 3 Day Shakeology Cleanse this past Monday, finishing on Wednesday, and just reported to me that she lost 8 lbs! I've heard lots of success stories, but her's, as of right now, is the best story of anyone I personally know. She's now working on getting her husband to have a Shakeology shake a day and is going to continue having one a day herself for lunch.

Way to go Kristen! I'm so proud of you!

If you are interested in the 3 Day Shakeology Cleanse, click here.

For more information Shakeology, click here.

Tailgating: 8 Tips to Survive the Football Season

By Stephanie S. Saunders

Are you ready for some football? Sure ya are! As the new season kicks off, we're all rooting for our favorite team to make it to the Super Bowl, or the Rose Bowl, or the Whatever Bowl. But in truth, my fellow Americans, the celebration isn't all about the sport. It's about the pigskin, but it's also about the potato skins. It's about the Heisman, but it's also about the Heineken^®. In other words, it's about tailgating. Is there anything more glorious than perching on the bumper of your Explorer, hot dog in one hand, cold beer in the other, telling everyone in earshot about the trail of destruction your team is about to make across the Pac 10? Well, that's great and all, but where your fitness goals are concerned, tailgating leaves a little to be desired. So how do we capture all the fun of tailgating without destroying all the progress we've made during our hours of sweat? Let's do some preparation for the game ahead.

1. Work out first. A brand-new study by a team of Brazilian researchers (Public Library of Science, August 2010) concluded that exercise actually modulates feelings of fullness in the brain, causing us to reduce our intake of food. In other words, when you work out, you actually eat less. Which is good, because you don't want to spend an hour and a half working out in the morning and then destroy it all with cravings for fried food and alcohol. Now that you're doing P90X^® 6 days a week, you're a more efficient machine, and you'll have fewer cravings. So before you hang out in that jersey that hides your six-pack, make sure your six-pack is intact and get a good workout in before the party. Working out will help reduce your cravings and decrease your appetite. (Besides, it's pretty unlikely you'll feel like working out after the game.)
2. Don't go hungry. Popular wisdom says you should never go grocery shopping while hungry. The same rings true for attending any kind of party. The worst thing you can do to your nutrition plan is wait until you're starving, then descend upon an endless supply of low-quality carbs and not-so-lean meats. It'll be 45 minutes before you realize you're no longer hungry, and you've just consumed your weight in cheese curls. Eat a clean, high-quality meal before you arrive at the gathering. You'll eat less garbage and you'll probably be a lot more pleasant to be around as well.
3. Veggie it up. I know, I know, you don't want to be that guy, but if you're going to bring anything to the party, your first choice should be a veggie platter. Not only can you save yourself from tomorrow's food hangover, you might actually do your body some good. Bite-sized pieces of broccoli, carrots, celery, bell peppers, cauliflower, and snap peas are all inexpensive, low in calories, and full of vitamins. Create a low-fat dip to accompany them, and you might just trump the team's QB as MVP. Just use any onion or ranch dip recipe, with nonfat yogurt, nonfat sour cream, or nonfat cream cheese as the base. Also, try the 5-to-1 veggie trick: for every five bites of veggies you consume, you're allowed one full-fat snack bite. You'll end up having to chew so much for that one morsel of evil, it won't really be worth it.
4. Feeling fruity. Another great thing to bring tailgating is a fruit platter or fruit salad. Yes, I realize fruit has a lot more sugar in it than veggies do. But fruit is a lot lower in calories than potato salad, it's loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and most people like it a lot. What's more, it's high in fiber, so you'll stay fuller longer. Fruit skewers are a big crowd-pleaser, and counting the empty sticks will show you how much you're actually eating. Aim for watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, strawberries, apples, oranges, peaches, and nectarines.
5. Pass (on) the suds. This is the section everyone's going to want to skip, but reading on will only work to your advantage. Most of us enjoy an adult beverage now and again. There's nothing more refreshing than a cold beer when you're sitting in the hot sun. But, people, they call it a "beer gut" for a reason. The empty calories in beer have accounted for more spare tires than the Michelin^® Man. But since many people can't or won't abstain, try switching to light beer. Sure, some taste like flavored water, but there are a few low-calorie versions out there that are actually pretty good, especially if you squeeze a little (or a lot) of lime into them. Or try a cocktail made with a low-calorie mixer, or one that mixes a splash of fruit juice with soda water and either an ounce of your favorite liquor or a few ounces of white wine. One cup of light limeade, 1 ounce of tequila, and 1 ounce of orange liqueur blended with ice is roughly 100 calories—and really tasty. Crystal Light^® and vodka make for some pretty yummy low-cal drinks, and will still be under a hundred calories. And remember that both white wine and champagne come in at about 100 calories a glass. Remember, a couple of drinks in an afternoon is fine, but if you're putting so much away that the dude in the body paint starts to look, well . . . sexy, it's time to cut yourself off.
6. Get your hand out of the bag. When you're running late on game day, the path of least resistance is to run into a 7-Eleven^® and grab a few bags of chips and maybe some dip. Everyone loves 'em, right? Well, your waistline doesn't. You can easily consume a couple of meals' worth of calories by shoving your hand into a bag a few times. So plan ahead a tiny bit and replace those greasy potato chips, corn chips, and cheese curls with baked tortilla chips and salsa, seasoned air-popped popcorn, multigrain pretzels, and mini rice cakes. You'll still get a ton of crunch and flavor, without consuming 13 grams of fat per handful. If you want to add a dip, try this low-fat/high-protein guacamole recipe: Take a 16-ounce container of plain nonfat Greek yogurt; 1 peeled, pitted, and coarsely chopped large avocado; 4 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro; 2 teaspoons of minced jalapeño; and 1 small minced clove of garlic. Throw them into a food processor and blend until smooth. Chill before serving.
7. Main course, to stay on course. Most experienced tailgaters include a barbecue in the festivities. You can smell charcoal and propane for miles around any stadium on any given Sunday. And with the right food choices, a barbecue is a healthy way to prepare good sources of lean protein. Unfortunately, it's a lot easier to throw hot dogs on the grill. Look, if you wanted easy, you would have called for liposuction and never started INSANITY^® in the first place. So forget the path of least resistance (and all those hot dog nitrates) and try a main course that'll keep you on course. Replace a beef or pork hot dog with a turkey or tofu dog, a 20-percent-fat beef burger with a 99-percent lean beef one (or a chicken, turkey, or veggie burger), or a fatty pork sausage with the low-fat chicken variety. Place any of these on a multigrain roll, or stuff them in a pita pocket. Try a low-fat grilled chicken breast instead of those messy, fatty ribs. Skewer up some veggies for a tasty low-calorie main dish. Little pizzas made with prebaked crusts, tomato sauce, low-fat cheese, and veggies grill up brilliantly on a barbecue. You can make ground-turkey-and-three-bean chili in advance in a Crock-Pot^® and warm it up on the grill. Just a little forethought and some lean meat choices can make a huge difference.
8. Just desserts. Most of the time, dessert at a tailgate party comes in the form of beer, with an occasional Oreo^® thrown in. No one puts a lot of thought into making desserts for one of these events, and they put even less thought into how many cookies or brownies they're shoving in their mouth. Instead of satisfying your sweet tooth with enough calories to fuel a defensive lineman, try replacing those high-calorie desserts with one of these ideas. Grill pineapple slices or spears for 1 minute on each side, baste with dark rum, grill for 1 more minute, and serve warm with mint sprigs. Make low-fat banana bread by replacing the butter or oil in the traditional recipe with applesauce. Buy a premade angel food cake, slice, and serve with fresh strawberries and either light Cool Whip^® or one-third whipped cream with two-thirds drained plain nonfat yogurt folded in. In advance, bake apples stuffed with dried fruit and honey in a pan of apple juice, then heat up later on the barbecue. Make a low-fat batch of oatmeal cookies with whole wheat flour and vegetable oil. There are lots of sweet options out there that can also be sweet to the size of your gut.

Football season is long, especially if you're a Buffalo Bills fan. In those 17 weeks, you could do a considerable amount of damage . . . or you could have the body of your dreams. Since the NFL rules the airwaves for roughly 5 weeks longer than it takes to do P90X, it's well worth it to put a little effort into your tailgating choices. And although your friends might give you a hard time, consider how their faces will look at the end of week 15, when you have a rock-hard six-pack, and they have more of a keg. Yeah, it's worth it.

Body Power Fitness is now offering "Fit Wedding Boot Camp and Personal Training"!

We know that every bride and groom want to look their absolute BEST on their wedding day.
Now there's a sure fire way to make that happen!
We are offering a "Fit Wedding" Boot Camp for you and your wedding party or personal training packages if it is just for you and your fiance.

You can get all the details HERE BUT we have a very extra special offer for the VERY FIRST wedding party that books a boot camp with us.....

We will give you 25% off whatever package you choose!

This will definitely not last long, so take advantage as quickly as possible!

Turbo Charge Smoothie Recipe

In keeping with our mission for the week "More Raw Food!", I decided to try out this smoothie recipe I found on the Food Matters website. Here is the recipe:

• 1/4 cucumber
• 1 stick celery
• 1/2 small pineapple
• handful of spinach leaves
• 1/4 lime, peeled
• 4 Golden delicious apples
• 1/2 ripe avocado
• 1 heaped teaspoon of Spirulina powder
• Small handful of ice

Instructions: Juice the cucumber, celery, pineapple, spinach, lime and apples. Place juice and Spirulina in a blender with avocado and ice and blend for 45 seconds. Pour into a glass and enjoy! As per usual everything should be as fresh and organic as possible.
It is really, really yummy and I do feel like I have more energy than I typically would at this time of day!!! I do have a little more to drink, so hope the energy gets even better.


Here is a video that shows the making of this smoothie:


Watch this video of Jason Vale serving Jordan a Turbo Charge

Mission For The Week: More Raw Food!

Okay, ready for your healthy mission of the week? Then here it is:
Your challenge is to eat more than 50% of your food raw. Yep, it can be done!
Now, you may ask why in the world someone would want to do this. There are many reasons.

1. When you eat less than 50% of your food raw, your body considers the food as toxins and starts to attack, creating many unhealthy consequences.
2. Cooked food is void of life enhancing enzymes; raw food is full of them.
3. Protein is not nearly as absorbable cooked as it is raw.
4. Cooked food loses vitamins and minerals as opposed to eating raw.

These are just a few of the reasons. So, for this week, eat over 50% of your food in raw form. That can be adding more fruits and veggies to your meals, like in salads. It can be having more fresh juices (not the stuff from the bottle). You can find many resources online, but four of my most favorites are:

• http://www.roadinthefork.com/ 
• www.foodmatters.tv
• www.welikeitraw.com
• http://karmachow.blogspot.com/

Let me know what questions you have and how it is going. I'd love to hear feedback!

Don't forget, last weeks was to drink at least 1L. of water upon waking up; keep that up or start it now if you didn't last week!