Protein Lean Power

Power-up your workouts by adding lean protein to your breakfast

Warm Gluten Free Cereals: 

Buckwheat, Gluten Free Oatmeal and Organic Brown Rice Cereals

Cook as directed on the label and just before the cereal is completely cooked add pre-mixed protein powder to the cereal. Continue to cook on low heat for a few more minutes, or until the protein liquid is mostly absorbed. This will give you a creamy breakfast cereal with complex carbohydrates and protein.

To mix the protein powder: Add two scoops of protein powder to about 7-10 ounces of water (or non-dairy “milk”). Shake or blend until dissolved. Do not put the powder directly into the cereal without mixing, it will probably curdle and get lumpy without blending into the cereal.

Gluten Free Cold Cereals:

Blend protein powder in 8-10 ounces of almond, rice, oat or hemp milk. Shake or blend well. Add to your cereal bowl. You can combine this with fruit in season. 


Best Bet:

I recommend Protein Lean from Burn & Build Body to add to your warm or cold cereals and protein smoothies. It will add 17 grams of brown rice and green pea protein to your breakfast and won't cause bloating the way whey and casein protein powders can.

Protein plus Fruit Smoothies:

Mix fresh or frozen fruit with protein powder and about 8 ounces of water or almond milk. If you are allergic to nuts – use rice, oat or hemp milk.  

Eggs:

Look for organic, free range (as opposed to cage free), antibiotic free eggs. Buy them from farmers markets, or if you’re lucky enough to live in the country, go right to the farmer.

Best hard or soft boiled. Tasty scrambled eggs oxidize the cholesterol in the yolk. 

Combine your eggs with a slice of gluten free toast and steamed vegetables.

Meats:

Stay with leaner meats (turkey, chicken). Avoid sausage and fatty meats like bacon. Turkey bacon is processed, it just promotes itself as healthy, don’t be fooled.

6 to 8 ounces of is good for a serving. If you’re on a lean down and build fitness quest, meat at breakfast might be a short-term option. However, our morning metabolism isn’t usually ready for this kind of heavy protein. Stay with organic meats, or at least certified meats, free of growth hormones and antibiotics.

Combine your meat with a slice of gluten free toast, brown rice or quinoa and steamed vegetables.

McFriedBreakfasts:

This isn’t part of a healthy lifestyle or diet. No fast food breakfasts.

Know your egg, know your meat, don’t even think about dunkin a donut.

While you're at it, put these foods on your unhealthy list and  eliminate them from your diet:

Dairy including milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese

Gluten containing grains, pastas and baked goods

Refined sugar and chemical sugar substitutes

Peanuts and peanut butters

Shell fish and shrimp

Deli meats and processed meats

Hydrogenated oils and oils heated to frying 

Soy products

Train your Mind,Train your Body,Tame your Tongue

Information on this site is not a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional or nutritionist. Never begin an exercise or nutritional regime without consulting your health care provider.

Burn & Build Body with your Detox

More than Squeezing Lemons

I remember my first “detox experiment” when I was in my 30’s. Some friends were doing a fasting cleanse with water, lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. What did I know? It sounded good to me, and since we were all engaged in similar spiritual pursuits and taking breath work classes together, I figured someone knew what they were doing. As it turned out, all we were really good at was squeezing the lemons and getting the cayenne pepper mix just right. In the end, we all went back to our old eating habits.

That wasn’t my last adventure into detoxification and I’m glad that I’ve had various experiences which have included a guided juice and vegetable liquid fast and Panchakarma, the Ayurvedic cleansing program. The goal of all of the various programs is always physical cleansing and rejuvenation.

Since then I’ve learned a lot, and since I’m working with my training clients on anti-aging and lifestyle changes in addition to pumping iron, I thought I’d share some of the information here. 

Metabolic Slow Down

Most people think that a detoxification is necessary only after you’ve binged excessively on drugs, alcohol or prescription medications. They also think that a detoxification has to be in a “fasting” form.  But that isn’t the case. Our bodies accumulate toxins through the ingestion of pesticides, breathing polluted air, drinking chlorinated water laced with fluoride and from the toxic by-products of digesting food, or only partially digesting food and from working out– as well as from drugs and alcohol. These toxic substances slow our metabolism - we get fat, decrease our energy and chip away at the vital life forces that keep us young, strong and confident.

Toxic Congestion

When toxins build up, our body looses the ability to function at its peak, opening the door for chronic, degenerative and non-specific diseases.  Our natural state of health and wellness is lost. Like Superman around kryptonite, we’re weaker everywhere… that includes mental functions and emotions that should be calm and happy – in addition to the physical dangers.

Starting a Detox

We can scrub our skin, but what about our internal organs? To look and feel our best, we have to make a conscious decision and take action to clear toxic substances from our system. Because a healthy, well functioning body is critical to gains made while strength training, I have about 70% of my new clients start with a cleanse. If you’re looking for a program, you’ll want to make sure you have guidance and support, someone to modify your program depending on your level of detoxification. Burn & Build Body was created to support my clients and Dr. Margolin's patients. Dr. Margolin and I co-founded Burn & Build Body and have been testing the Detox Kit for the last 5 years, it's user friendly, uncomplicated and has proven results.

Detox on the Run

On the run? Well, not really. But unless you can drop out of life for a week or two, you’ll be managing a detoxification program while you’re working, and dealing with everyday life. Since a program that detoxes the liver, kidneys, lymph system and supports intestinal function along with providing digestive enzymes is important to start with, I use the 14-Day Anti-Aging Detox Kit that has a specific diet, doesn’t’ crash your body and leaves everyone feeling more energetic and usually lighter.

My favorite thing is that the Burn & Build Body 14- Day Anti-Aging Detox program has a defined beginning and end, a specific and manageable diet, re-focuses eating patterns and while eliminating toxins, brings calm and change to both body and mind.

14-Day Detox vs "Fasting"

A fasting vs. food based detox. Both types of detoxification programs have benefits. When I "fast", it’ll be a fruit and vegetable juice fast, I’ll drop out of life for the duration and be in a place that prepares the juices and supports me spiritually as well as physically. The benefits of the Burn & Build Body cleanse – a cleanse that with a modified food diet include: being able to  choose to stay in your daily activities and having food to absorb and carry released toxins out of your system. 

Detox to Retox

I’m not sure if I made that word up, but it does happen. We slip into some of our old eating habits after a while. Confront your daily stresses and toxins start to build up again. So one detox gets us started, and repeated ones keep us healthy and vibrant. The New York Times (T-Magazine) recommends getting a detox Kit in December to detox after the holidays. (T-Magazine - see December 18)

Subversion Assault

It’s not just alcohol, sugar, dairy, gluten, heavy metals, pesticides and pollutants that are out to bring us down. (Translate that as “accelerate our aging process”), it’s people we know, even “friends” who want us on the same binge as them. Detoxification can also mean cleaning up our relationships and choosing healthy ones instead.

Burn to Build

Once I’ve completed this 14-Day Detox program, I find my results at the gym to multiply quicker than they have in the months before. Everything is building on a clean strong base, and nutrients are being absorbed and used as they were meant to. Because my liver is performing well, my hormone levels are better.

If you’re a guy reading this, know that a poorly functioning liver also affects your prostate health adversely. My post-detox leaner body affects my spirit as well, and I have more creativity when I’m writing or painting.

Adam Razak, an elite fitness trainer and martial artist uses and recommends these products to his clients to stay fit and get cut. On the Burn & Build Body cleanse, you'll burn body fat but not lean muscle.

This is what Rich Fitter, editor of Men's Exercise had to say about his experience:

"I plan on repeating this program every six months to ensure I stay healthy and fight father time. Given my experience with the (Burn & Build Body) 14-Day Anti-Aging Detox Kit, I highly recommend it to our (Men's Exercise) readers."

See the Anti-Aging Detox article from Men's Exercise.

Choose Anti-Aging

We get to choose what we put in our body. Choose foods that heal, nourish it and promote anti-aging. Tune-up your engine twice a year. You’ll be another chronological year older in 12 months, but your body won’t have biologically aged more than a few days.  See Burn & Build Lifestyle for food, shopping, cooking and recipe suggestions.

Train your Body. Train your Mind. Tame your Tongue.

Information on this site is not a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional or nutritionist. You should never begin an exercise or nutritional regime without consulting your health care provider.

Cooking Healthy

Six Simple Tips

This is part 4 of “Living a Detox Lifestyle”.

1. Clean Your Food

Thoroughly rinse all vegetables, lettuce, and greens before using. The use of vegetable and fruit “soap” is recommended to help removing pesticide residues. Grains should also be thoroughly rinsed before being cooked.

2. Cooking Vegetables

The best way to cook vegetables is to steam them. Boiling destroys their nutrient content. Be careful not to over cook them – you’ll destroy valuable enzymes as well as nutrients, vegetables should be a little crunchy, not soggy.

3. Cooking Meat

Ground meat, should be lean and always cooked to well done. Other meat cuts can be cooked to your preference, although medium or medium-rare better preserve nutrients.

4. Cooking Poultry

Remove the skin of all fowl before cooking. Use a thermometer when roasting to determine when poultry is done. Grill, roast or steam, never fry.

5. Cooking Fish

Fish may smell a bit like the sea, but never bad. Do not eat it if it does. Make sure fish is cooked all the way through.

6. Steaming Fish and Poultry

You can easily steam your fish and poultry in a stacking bamboo steamer. If you want to steam vegetables at the same time, put your fish or poultry on the bottom steamer and your vegetables on the top one. Vegetables usually cook faster, simply remove the top steamer and continue cooking the fish or chicken until done. You’ll be surprised at how tender and moist your food will be.

Avoid Cooking This Way

1. Frying

Broil, steam, bake grill, roast or saute instead.

Do not fry anything.

2. With Salt

Do not salt foods, at least until after they have been cooked. Use unbleached, crystal or sea salt.

3. With Microwave Ovens

Microwaving changes the chemical structure of your food. It’s not a form that is beneficial to your body.

4. With Aluminum

Aluminum is a highly toxic metal. Aluminum molecules enter food that is cooked, covered or stored in aluminum pots, cans or foil. Teflon coatings do not prevent aluminum for leaching into food.

5. Scrambling Eggs

Cooking scrambled eggs causes oxidation of the cholesterol contained in the yolks, making it a harmful substance. Poaching eggs is best, followed by boiling.

4. Raw

Unless you have a healthy digestive system, raw vegetables can be difficult to digest. Steaming is the best choice for the first month or two of a health therapy program. If you digest raw vegetables well, disregard this last suggestion.

For more information visit the NPR website. You'll find a vinegar wash formula for cleaning vegetables and fruit as well as other tips. Click Here.

Train your Body. Train your Mind. Tame your Tongue.

Information on this site is not a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional or nutritionist. You should never begin an exercise or nutritional regime without consulting your health care provider

More Healthy Shopping

Shop Smart

This is part 3 of "Living a Detox Lifestyle". These tips will continue to help you navigate through grocery store items in order to choose the highest quality food.

Produce

Although it is usually more expensive, organic produce is much healthier and has more nutrients than non-organic produce. Ideally, produce should be fresh, ripe, in-season and locally grown. Look for a local farmer’s market or consider mail-ordering organic food if there is none in your area. Color counts too–bring home an entire rainbow of colorful fruits and vegetables if your eating guidelines allow for them.

Meat

Buy only organic and/or free-range, hormone and antibiotic-free meats whenever possible. Lean meat is always healthiest. If it is not available then trim off all excess fat before cooking.

Poultry and Eggs

Poultry and eggs should be organic and/or free-range, hormone and antibiotic-free. Eggs labeled as “High Omega 3” are especially healthy. If the label says "cage free", it doesn't necessarily mean "free range".

Seafood

Buy only smaller varieties of cold water, non-farm-raised fish. Fish should smell a bit like the sea, but fresh. It should not smell bad. Avoid shellfish and scavenger type seafood. Most fish are contaminated with toxic metals and chemicals, farm raised is the least healthy and most contaminated.

Buy Whole Fresh Foods

Read labels carefully and look for foods that contain only one ingredient. Look for the word “whole” before the first ingredient on the label or ingredient list. Fresh food is healthier than packaged, frozen or canned foods. Always buy fresh first. If you do by packaged foods, always check the expiration dates on the labels.

Watch out for These

Non-Domestic Produce

Non-domestic produce is usually out of season for the climate we live in, picked unripe, heavily sprayed and lacking nutrients you’ll get with local, organic produce. If it was picked ripe and unsprayed, do you think it could handle the shipping?

Ground Meat

A patty of ground meat can contain body parts from up to 80 cattle whose health is unknown. That package of ground meat started collecting bacteria on all of its surfaces as soon as it was ground. If you insist, have your butcher grind it fresh for you, or do it yourself. Better– stick with whole meat cuts.

Frozen Poultry

Most frozen poultry is packaged by poultry processors. Most use hormones to maximize bird size and growth rate and must use antibiotics to prevent disease because of the extreme cage-crowding found in a typical poultry farm. The hormones and antibiotics remain in the bird and are passed into your body when you eat them. 

Deceptive Labeling

The word “natural” does not mean healthy or safe. Insect parts and rodent droppings are also “natural”. If the ingredients say "hydrogenated oil" (of any kind) or "partially hydrogenated oil" then the food contains trans-fats – even if the "Food Facts" say zero trans-fats. Our watchdog government allows up to .5 grams of trans-fats to be in foods without declaring it. A few servings of deceptively labeled processed foods and you are taking your trans-fat consumption into the danger zone.   Click for more trans-fat information.

10 Things to Avoid

1.  Non-domestic produce

2.  Ground Meat

3.  Frozen Poultry

4.  Farm Raised Fish

5.  Food with Additives

6.  Processed Foods

7.  Deceptive Labeling

8.  Hydrogenated Fats

9.  Artificial Sweeteners

10 High-Fructose Corn Syrup

Train your Body. Train your Mind. Tame your Tongue.

Information on this site is not a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional or nutritionist. You should never begin an exercise or nutritional regime without consulting your health care provider

Healthy Shopping

Shop Well – Eat Well
This is the second part of a series about living a "detoxification lifestyle". For an  overview of detoxification read this blog – click here. My  detox program starts with a metabolic detox and targets the liver, kidneys and helps restore function to the lymph system and intestines. It also includes probiotics and digestive enzymes. The 10-day diet does not include grains of any kind, red meat, alcohol, coffee, dairy or sugar. You'll find versions of some of those items on the healthy food shopping list even though they are eliminated in the detox program. We can’t eat well without having healthy foods around and having a shopping list keeps me from wandering down the bright isles lined with Twinkies and Doritos.

Shop Green

Buy everything organic if you can. But if you have to budget, or if organic simply isn't available, here's a list of foods containing the most toxins which you’ll definitely want to buy organic – and those foods that are safer and can come from from conventional sources. The Environmental Working Group lists the most chemically treated foods, and also provides information on those foods that are safer to eat non-organic.

Buy Organic

White Potatoes

Grapes 

Leafy Greens

Spinach

Kale

Carrots

Pears

Tomatoes

Bell Peppers

Celery

Peaches

Apples

Strawberies

Blueberries 

Cherries

Nectarines

OK Non-Organic

Onions

Avocados

Sweet Corn

Pineapple

Mango

Bananas

Asparagus

Sweet Peas

Kiwi

Cabbage

Eggplant

Papaya

Watermelon

Honeydew

Broccoli

Sweet Potato

Grapefruit

Count the Numbers

Blueberries are rated by as the most polluted berries on the market, containing up to 52 different pesticides. Conventional spinach has up to 48 different pesticides, cherries 42, carrots 26 and pears 28. The extra buzz you get in your non-organic coffee can come from pesticides. Look for coffee beans that say USDA Organic and Fair Trade Certified, or Rainforest Alliance (or bird friendly). No washing can clean the pesticide residue from grapes, which can harbor as many as 34 different pesticides – and remember, wine is made from grapes.

Beefy Toxins

Meats contain most of their toxins in the fat, beef muscle is fairly clean but beef fat contains up to 10 different pesticides and both meat and fat can contain growth hormones. Look for grass fed organic.

Grainy Poisons

Animals fed on non-organic grains absorb the toxins of the grains. Conventionally farmed produce and grains are frequently grown with fertilizers that contain cadmium. Cadmium is a known human carcinogen, it damages DNA and also disrupts a DNA repair system that helps to prevent cancer. Cadmium accumulates in and can also damage the kidneys. Two other common toxins that are found in non-organic grains and foods are arsenic and lead.

PCB Salmon

Polychlorinated biphenyls also known as PCBs interfere with our thyroid – the gland most important to our energy and metabolism. While PCBs are no longer used in the USA, they are still in the environment, and found particularly in "farmed" salmon – another reason to choose wild salmon. Enough exposure to these and you end up with a poorly functioning thyroid, or hypothyroid, causing weight gain, depression and low energy.

Whey This

This is a good place to mention that the whey protein you drink to support your gym workouts can contain cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury and bovine growth hormones. Look for Non-BGH (bovine growth hormone) and organic, or from grass fed cows on the labels. You really don't want rat poison in your protein shake do you?

Ads Make Us Fat 

According to “The Daily Green”, the food industry spends $25 Billion a year marketing their products. With processed foods, for example, that kind of advertising power can create enough brand identities to make a whole nation confused and fat. In fact, it has. In 1978, 45% of the population was overweight. Today that number is 67% with increasing consumption of processed foods and obesity comes cancer, liver disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disorders and more.

When you’re shopping, you want to look for locally grown, in season produce and vegetables. In order for a food item to be shipped, it has to be picked before it’s ripe and full of the complete set of nutrients a ripe fruit has. Don’t cheat yourself.

Shopping Suggestions

Here’s a starter list of foods to help you stay healthy, energetic and lean:

Greens and Fresh Vegetables:

Romaine, Arugula, Watercress, Endive, Mustard Greens, Bok Choy, Spinach, Kohlrabi, Swiss Chard, Kale, Parsley, Cilantro, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Asparagus, Peppers, Green Beans, Celery, Carrots, Cucumber, Zucchini and Sea Vegetables.

Fruits and Vegetables

Lemons, Limes, Apples, Pears, Bananas, Melons, Strawberries, Raspberries and all fruits and berries in season.

Beans, Legumes, Grains, Seeds and Nuts

Lentils, all varieties of Beans, Quinoa, Wild and Brown Rice, Amaranth, Buckwheat, Gluten Free Oatmeal, Millet, Almonds and other Nuts (except peanuts), Sunflower and other seeds. Include hummus and almond butters. Avoid gluten containing grains.

Meat, Poultry and Tofu

Lean cuts of Chicken and Turkey, wild Salmon (not farmed) and white fish, organic, free range eggs and grass fed beef. Make sure you only consume organic and non-gmo Tofu.

Beverages

Almond and Rice Milk (avoiding soy milk), distilled and spring water, diluted organic fresh juices, herbal teas, green and white teas. Milk is not your friend.

Sweeteners

Vermont Maple Syrup, Raw Honey, Turbanado Sugar, Sucinat, Stevia and Agave. Please read the three part series on sugars from January 2010 starting with Sugar Baby - Part 1.

Seasonings and Condiments

Cayenne Pepper, Garlic, Basil, Celery Seed, Chives, Dill, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Tarragon, Thyme, Anise, Bay Leaves, Cinnamon, Corrander, Cumin, Curry, Turmeric, Fennel, Ginger, Natural Ketsup, Celtic Sea Salt (the unbleached, grey salt), Miso (in moderation), Braggs Liquid Aminos and Wheat free, low sodium Tamari.

Dan Alexander, a celebrated health writer wrote about processed foods  in his 1960 book  Good Health and Common Sense:

“Many “modern-day” diseases were unknown centuries ago. The types of illness that afflicted 

mankind 5,000 years ago were far different from the ailments of today.

Early men, and primitive people today were dependent on natural foods. They did not eat any 

processed foodstuffs, which lack certain needed elements and contain other needed elements – but in strange combinations that are unfamiliar to the body and possibly unworkable. Examples are whipped butter, hydrogenated peanut butter, processed cheeses. When we began to consume vast quantities of highly refined foods, we became victims of a flood of “new” diseases.”

Good Health and Common Sense was written half a century ago, but it didn't make us wake up. The changes since then have been an exponential increase in chemically treated and processed foods and a corresponding increase in diseases. But we can make a difference in our own lives; start with a personal shopping list, detoxify your body and diet, enjoy eating and live greener.

Train your Body. Train your Mind. Tame your Tongue.

Information on this site is not a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional or nutritionist. You should never begin an exercise or nutritional regime without consulting your health care provider

Master your Body

Every week I receive questions about quick-fixes. They're usually body image related questions. About things like fat burners, bio-identical growth hormone replacement and liposuction. These quick-fixes are countered with questions about self- esteem, resetting our mind to make healthy choices and being in charge of our destiny – the "do it yourself" program. When we look at our body as a whole, instead of looking just at the part we're not so pleased with, we can achieve what we want and become healthier at the same time.

You can’t get the whole body "do it yourself" program at Home Depot, and rarely do you find a doctor who understands body wholeness. It’s a personal commitment that will get you what you want. You have to find out what works for you. I hope I can convey the intensity of the power that we all have – to create what we want. The outcome of what you want may be different from what I want, but the process has a similar path and ending – with more confidence, energy, happiness and a feeling of abundance. You just can’t help that. When you connect with your body, you connect with the flow of the universe.

It’s taken me years to be able to write that, I figured if I shared it, maybe you’d get it faster than I did. These 10 tips can help get you there.

Ten Tips for Spring

Jump Start 

Do this if you’re in an office all day long or haven’t been exercising. Take two breaks during the day and speed walk for 10 minutes. Finish with as many push-ups as you can. At the end of the day, do the same thing. That’s 30 minutes of stress-free cardio. When the days get longer and you’re feeling stronger, turn your 10-minute end of the day cardio into a 30-minute program.

Get Clean

A 14-day gentle “metabolic detox” and clean diet shift will get your metabolism fired up and send your extra weight away. If you’re starting a workout program, do this for a good foundation. The detox will help you reset your eating habits for spring. There are several good detox supplements and diets available. I developed one with my partner Dr. Steven Margolin called the Burn &  Build Body 14-Day Anti-Aging Detox.

Be a Loser

Hop on the scale -- go ahead. Weigh yourself. Now put the scale in the closet and don’t use it for a week. Pretend like you’re on the “Biggest Loser”. Weigh yourself once a week, and pay attention to how your clothes fit. That’s what’s going to tell you how much your body is really changing!

Plan to Succeed

Set your goals for your body. Project 3 months and one year ahead. Now break your goals down into small monthly steps you can master. Always keep your goals in sight, and everyone will think you made achieving them look easy. Remember, you gotta work hard to make it look easy!

High and Low

Get a hormone test. Do a saliva test – it’s the most accurate. Find a doctor who understands this stuff, and work with your doctor to understand your hormone balance. If you’re a guy, you want your testosterone to be dominant. Free testosterone is important to measure as well. Exercise and diet are the primary keys to balancing all hormones.

Nail that Spike

Insulin spikes will take away all your hard work at the gym. Control your sugar and refined carbohydrate intake. Avoid fried and low quality fats. Your liver is one of the keys to healthy hormone balance and production of growth hormone. Love it and take care of it. Lay off excess alcohol, hydrogenated oils and sugars.

Know your Pancreas

This is the organ that secrets insulin. Insulin regulates food storage and metabolism. When you over indulge in sugar (sugar from alcohol and refined “white” carbohydrates count too) you strain your pancreas and gain weight. An unhappy pancreas can eventually stop producing insulin altogether, then you’ll be dealing with diabetes. Can you see your abs? If not, your pancreas is probably overworked.

Have a Drink

Go ahead, have quite a few drinks. Water, that is. Among other things, proper hydration is anti-aging, anti-cancer, anti-allergy and anti-asthma. It also pumps up your muscles. Isn’t that what you’re working out for?  Try these for super-hydration:

1  Add a cup of coconut water to your quart of water, it’s full of electrolytes.

2  Squeeze a lemon, add a pinch of cayenne pepper, a few grains of Celtic sea salt and a spoonful of agave to your water for an alkalinizing boost.

3  Drink pure water and avoid chlorine and fluoride. Coffee and soft drinks don’t count.

4  Ice water shuts down your digestive fires, and is tough on your organs. Stick with cool, warm or room temperature water.

5  Drink at least 50% of your weight in ounces of water. More if you are intensely exercising. For most of us that’s at least 3 quarts of water every day. 

Get Beach Ready

Just eating and walking won’t get you beach ready. Find a gym that’s convenient and one you’ll love going to. Now get yourself there, work hard and break a sweat. Remember those goals you set? Add some “gym goals”. Maybe it’s the number of push-ups and pull-ups you can do. If you want more energy, you’ve got to use it to get it! Give yourself a 60-day challenge, or better yet, do it with a buddy so you can support each other. Be your own “before and after” story.

Freaky Control

You’ll like this. Really. When you take control of your food you’re in charge. When you schedule in your workouts and stay committed, you’re in charge. When you are on the path to the healthy, fit body you want, you’re in charge. When this happens, your feeling of personal power and self-esteem will soar. Friends may want to sabotage your program when you’re out to dinner with them, just know that they’re secretly envious of you.

Train your Body. Train your Mind. Tame your Tongue.

Information on this site is not a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional or nutritionist. Never begin and exercise or nutritional regime without consulting your health care provider.

Acid-Alkaline Balance

Body Chemistry 101

Summers in the Napa Valley can be brutally hot, not that “wet” east coast hot, but a ‘bake you dry’ hot. It was one of those days; I’d started it out early, with a long morning run on the crusty earth of the vineyards. Life can seem flawless there with its blue-sky cool mornings and smell of ripe grapes.

Then I went to my design office in downtown St. Helena. This day was supposed to herald the completion of a 6-month design project. Instead I found myself dealing with my client’s new project manager who just seemed to want to fight. You know the type, all our communications were unexpectedly tough and acidic. It wasn't just the temperature outside that was heating up. 

By noon the calm from my morning run felt like it had never happened. I put the phone on “answer mode” and bolted out of the office to chill. This situation was unhealthy, and certainly not my idea of good interpersonal communication. I know you’ve experienced this – getting completely drained and unable to think clearly while your body feels like someone injected it with toxic chemicals.

Alien Green Drink

Having a beautiful design sidetracked is one thing, having my body (and mind) react to the acidity is quite another. I had to step outside of it and make some choices. Driving home I decided to trek over to my neighbors and use their pool. Water and sunlight has an amazing ability to pull negative energy away. Swimming laps started to recharge me up.

I realized that I didn’t want to continue the status quo, and that shifting my internal chemistry was paramount to making a change. I'd been studying living foods, so I made a “green drink” including a huge bunch of parsley. A drink like this wasn’t new for me but they always look like something out of the alien bar in Starwars. I could feel it working right away.

One green drink and fifteen minutes of meditation later, I was ready to head back to a phone call with the project manager. With no acidity in my body and a peaceful mind, every aspect of the phone call got handled in an open way from my end. I’d managed to let go of attachment to the outcome. In the end the design prevailed with just a few changes, the project manager was surprisingly happy – she actually hired me again – and I’d learned an unforgettable lesson about my body chemistry and relationships.

Exercise Chemistry

Exercise can create acidity, the same kind that my body created interacting with that project manager. Up until exhaustion, our bodies are in a fairly alkaline state. Once exhausted, we release stored acidity (lactic acid). This acidity creates sore muscles and stiffness making recovery time from our workouts slower. When combined with an acidic diet for extended periods of time, acidity depletes our body’s natural alkaline reserve (think of it as a bank account). When this reserve is depleted, or goes bankrupt, parasites, yeast infections, viruses and cancers thrive. This includes Herpes Simplex II, kidney and urinary tract infections and Candida. And, we might find ourselves chronically stiff and sore.

Any form of exercise can push the body into an acidic state. If you’re healthy, strong, and in relatively good condition – great – go for it. Get that intense workout in, then go and replenish and restore your alkaline reserves. If you’re just starting, or are feeling weak and already acidic, start with a mild exercise program and build up slowly, and stay on the alkaline path.

Our bodies start to crave exercise once we get into a consistent program. It pumps our organs and glands and keeps our hormonal and digestive functions operating at their best. Exercise and alkaline forming foods can help us maintain a healthy alkaline-acid balance in our bodies.

“Generalized fatigue, weakness and 

malaise are the results of an overly acidic body.

These waste acids accumulate over years of too 

many acid foods, stomach malabsorption,

lack of water, and constipation." 

– Dr. Theodore Baroody

I figure that if we’re going to be kicking our butts at the gym, walking stairs instead of taking the elevator and eating to stay lean, we’d better keep an alkaline balance in mind as well. After all, what will we accomplish with all that work if our body slips into disease?

You probably stay away from people with “acid personalities” and have an idea of some acid forming foods such as coffee, alcohol, carbonated drinks, white sugar, peanuts, most ketchups, mayonnaises and mustards, bleached table salt, and vinegar (Don’t forget tobacco and drugs – prescription or otherwise). But do you wonder why people on a self-healing path eliminate all meats and fish from their diets? Meats and fish are acidic. There just aren’t any alkaline forming meats or animal fats.

Alkaline forming foods = energy

Acid forming foods deplete energy

Foods that contain the acid-binding minerals of magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium iron and manganese are usually alkaline forming. 

We all want abundant energy to fire us up at the gym, at work and in our personal relationships. If you want to get ripped, you have to be healthy. This is a list of some of my favorite alkaline forming foods. Dr. Baroody recommends a ratio of 80% alkaline forming to 20% acidic forming foods. It's a ratio to strive for. I usually make a morning and evening fresh lemon juice drink to help with the balance.  Try this Alkalizing Tonic:

Lemon juice (fresh), distilled water, pinch of cayenne pepper and a little sucanat or honey if you want it sweet. Drink as a tea or room temperature.

Alkalizing Foods

VEGETABLES

     ·      Kelp

·      Asparagus

·      Beets

·      Broccoli

·      Brussels sprouts

·      Carrots

·      Swiss Chard

·      Dandelion greens

·      Endive

·      Parsley

·      Seaweed

·      Pumpkin

·      Watercress

FRUITS

·      Melons

·      Strawberries

·      Dried dates

·      Grapes

·      Grapefruit

·      Kiwis

·      Lemons

·      Limes

·      Mangos

·      Papaya

·      Peaches

·      Pears

·      Pineapple

SUGARS

·      Brown rice syrup

·      Sucanat

·      Raw honey

·      Bronner’s Barley Malt

NUTS and SEEDS

·      Almonds

·      Chestnuts

·      Coconuts

·      Pignolias

·      Alfalfa

·      Radish

·      Chia

BEVERAGES

·      Parsley juice

·      Wheat grass juice

·      Carrot, celery and beet juices

·      Distilled water

BEVERAGES

·      Most herbal teas

·      Ginger tea

·      Ginseng tea

·      Comfrey tea

·      Fresh fruit juices

GRAINS

·      Amaranth

·      Millet

·      Quinoa

BEANS

·      Fresh green

·      Fresh lima

·      Fresh peas

·      Fresh Snap

·      Fresh String

STARCHES

·      Arrowroot flour

·      Essene bread

·      White sweet potato with skin

OILS

These oils are neutral to alkaline forming. 

Buy the freshest, cold-pressed, untreated as possible.

Rancid oils are unhealthy.

·      Almond

·      Avocado

·      Canola

·      Coconut

·      Olive

·      Sesamie

·      Soy

·      Sunflower

Train your Body, Train your Mind, Tame your Tongue.

An excellent reference book is Alkalize or Die by Dr. Theodore A. Baroody.

Information on this site is not a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional or nutritionist. Never begin an exercise or nutritional regime without consulting your health care provider.