Quinoa Ostrich Chili

By Dr. John M. Berardi, PhD and Dr. John K. Williams, PhD, authors of the bestselling optimal nutrition ebook, Gourmet Nutrition.

For those among you who are bean averse, here is a chili recipe that replaces gassy legumes with quinoa. Why quinoa? Because it tastes great, and it is one of the most nutritious whole grains on the planet. Ostrich complements the robust flavors of quinoa, tomatoes, and spices. Ostrich is a red meat closer in taste and texture to beef than to chicken. If you can’t find it, ground turkey will do in a pinch. When you toss in a heap of veggies, you’re left with a stand-alone hearty, delicious, and highly nutritious meal that will satiate the appetite of two ravenous individuals. This recipe was also designed with busy individuals in mind, and can be completed in 30 minutes from start to finish.

Ingredients

1 lb. ground ostrich, or ground turkey
½ cup dry quinoa
3 cups water
1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste
½ medium onion
½ cup frozen corn kernels
½ package mixed frozen pepper strips
½ tsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
½ tsp salt
Tabasco sauce, to taste

Instructions

1. Bring the quinoa to a boil in 3 cups water and a pinch of salt. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Set a timer for 30 minutes.
2. Brown the ground ostrich and onions in a nonstick skillet. Add the corn and peppers and toss over high heat until vegetables are thoroughly thawed and start to brown.
3. By now, about 10-15 minutes should have elapsed since you started boiling the quinoa. Remove the lid from the quinoa and stir-in the tomato paste until mixed. Add the browned ostrich and vegetables, stir, and then add the spices. Mix completely, cover, and simmer on low heat for the remainder of the time, or until you have the desired consistency (should be fairly thick).

Makes 2 servings.

Nutritional information

	Per Serving
Total Calories	700	k/cal
Protein	59	g
Total Carbohydrates	66	g
Fiber	11	g
Sugars	0	g
Total Fat	17	g
Saturated	5.5	g
Monounsaturated	6.9	g
Polyunsaturated	4.2	g
Omega-3	0.2	g
Omega-6	3.0	g

Tip: Toasting your quinoa

For a smokier flavor, toast the quinoa before you boil it. This can be done in a dry nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Pour the dry quinoa into the skillet (no oil), and stir continuously until the grains start to pop and you can smell a nice, toasty fragrance. This should not take longer than 3-5 minutes.

Food Fact: Quinoa, the Mother Grain

The ancient Incas called quinoa the “mother grain,” because they relied so heavily on its nutritive properties. Quinoa is gluten-free, and contains none of the allergens common to grains from the grass family such as wheat, rye, barley, oats, and corn. Furthermore, quinoa contains lysine, an amino acid deficient in many grains, making it a complete protein. Quinoa is also an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, and B vitamins.

Want to change your body -- while still eating meals that taste this good?

If you want to build the body you never thought you could have, start eating the meals you never thought you could eat! Get over 120 recipes and a no-nonsense nutrition plan that will show you how to make it all work. Get Gourmet Nutrition today

Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

The MANformation Show

Listen in to Skip Lacours' MANformation radio show as I was asked to be a guest and contribute to his blog radio show.

The MANformation show host Skip Lacour discusses strategies that help transform you into the man you want to be.

Skip La Cour has established himself as a leader in the bodybuilding world with his outstanding physique and by unselfishly communicating his training philosophies to others.

Peak Performance and Success Coach Skip La Cour is considered to be a master for teaching strategies for personal and professional success. In his powerful speaking engagements around the world, he empowers, inspires, and motivates individuals to realize their personal potential. http://www.skiplacour.com



I will also be taking part in his bodybuilding radio show at http://www.skiplacourradio.com starting Sunday, February 24 at 11:00am eastern.

Tune it and check it out!


Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

Get a Grip!

I am going to keep this simple. When bench pressing, please wrap your hands all the way around the bar! I still continue to see people in the gym bench pressing with a thumb-less grip. Most people don't even know why they are doing it that way, they just picked up the habit from a fellow gym rat...and no it doesn't make the exercise more effective. It just makes it harder on your wrists and is an accident waiting to happen. Check out this video if you still intend on benching this way ;-)



If you want to increase your bench press and get big and stronger here is the program you need to get your hands on. http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com/

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Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

Guest Blog: How To Build Muscle Fast

By Jason Ferruggia

If you want to build muscle fast there are a few very important factors you need to be aware of. First of all, if you have less than Herculean genetics you need to be sure to avoid overtraining. There are several different ways to do this which are listed below.

Don’t do more than 12-15 sets per workout.
Don’t train for longer than an hour.
Don’t train more than four days per week; three days is even better.
Don’t train for more than 8-12 weeks without taking a week off.
Don’t train with 90% or above your one rep max for more than three weeks in a row.

Those are a few of the easiest ways to avoid overtraining. Heeding that advice will definitely help you build muscle fast.

Productive mass building workouts are centered on one concept and one concept only; progressive overload. You have to consistently get stronger and lift more weight and do more reps if you ever want to get bigger. Doing the same thing repeatedly will get you absolutely nowhere and is a complete waste of your time.

Also, you need to be sure that you are using big, compound exercises like squats, deadlifts and chin ups with heavy weights. Don’t waste your time with isolation exercises and pumping techniques that do nothing to help you build muscle fast.

Next, you need to be sure your diet is in order. This means that you are eating copious amounts of food every 2-3 hours. Going longer than this without a meal will impede your progress and you will never get huge. You should be focusing on organic whole foods such as grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds for the majority of your calories. The rest of your intake should be made up of clean sources of protein like eggs and fish.

Another thing that will help you build muscle fast is paying the utmost attention to your recovery. You should be getting as much rest as possible which includes sleeping a minimum of eight hours per night and hopefully even taking a short nap during the day. Another thing that can boost your recovery ability is regular massage. This can be a real massage from a masseuse or just a simple self massage with a foam roller or tennis ball. Either way you do it will help tremendously, just be sure to do it.

Although most people overlook its importance, stretching is another crucially important component of a good muscle building program. Stretching can help tight muscles grow more efficiently and can even help prevent injuries in certain instances. If you don’t do any stretching now, I highly recommend that you start. You will be pleasantly surprised by the results, I’m sure.

If you follow the tips above you will build muscle fast; perhaps faster than you ever imagined. I have provided the information, now it’s up to you to use it.

Good luck.

To kick off the get-in-shape-for-summer training season Jason is holding a very special three day sale that starts now and goes until Thursday, February 21st at midnight, EST. During this time you will get SEVEN brand new bonuses which will only be available for the next three days. Each one of these bonuses has been hand picked by him and kicks @$$! Plus you get a lifetime membership to his new private, members-only site.

All of the info can be found here:

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Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more How to Build Muscle Fast tips, check out http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com/

------

Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

Tip of the Week

Revving Up Metabolism
by Dr. John Berardi

I recommend more calories than most do. That's because there's no such thing as a stagnant metabolic set-point. Instead, metabolism chases intake. So, if you want a bigger metabolism, you need a bigger food intake. And if you're worried about fat gain with this approach, just use outcome-based decision making and adjust energy (calorie) intake every two weeks based on your results. Not much 'damage' can take place in only two weeks. So if you end up boosting your metabolism, you'll be thanking me eternally. And if it turns out you're consuming too much, you can just adjust down.

SEE ALSO:
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Order Precision Nutrition now and get $50 off!

Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

Cardio Is A Joke

Here is a very controversial article that Craig Ballantyne shared with me. This should open up alot of peoples eyes about training for fat loss.

Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

Cardio Is A Joke

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com


Strong statement, I know, cardio is a joke, but I really believe that cardio for fat loss is a joke. Although, not a very funny one...

One woman wrote, "I started out doing 5 hours of cardio per week. No results. So I upped it to 7 hours per week. Still nothing. Do you suggest I do more? I'm worried if I use your program, I won't get any results because you don't even have an hour of interval cardio per week. Please help!"

And from a gentleman on the Men's Health forum, "I took up running and didn't take up stretching until it was almost to late and almost destroyed a knee. What happened was that my IT bands got really tight and my inner quads didn't gain any strength so my knee cap got pulled out of place. I had an MRI done on my knee and have found that my knee cap has bruised my femur. "

Cardio horror stories are a dime-a-dozen. So here's the bottom line on cardio...

Long slow aerobic training remains the biggest practical joke in fitness. Marathon running for the average overweight person? Why don't you just tell someone to go play in traffic...oh wait, that's exactly what they are doing - all while crushing their joints with excess weight and repetitive pounding.

If you do long, slow cardio, its only a matter of time before you end up in a physiotherapist's office with all the others that do too much of the same thing...whether its running or spin classes, overuse injuries are far too common in the cardio world.

After all, what's easier to overdo, total body strength training done 3 times per week for 20 minutes, or the same cardio activity done for 6-9 hours per week?

Heck, I once knew a physiotherapist who was so addicted to spin classes that she had overuse injuries that prevented her from walking normally! Physio,
heal thyself!

Cardio is a joke...

But cardio fits our "more is better" mentality, doesn't it? We go right from a 3000 calorie meal at the Outback Steakhouse to our 60 minute cardio confessional sessions on the elliptical. More, more, more, more. And yet get
less results?

There is a better way.

Take a peek at the weight room when you are in a gym. Then compare the bodies there to the bodies on the elliptical. You'll find the sculpted, toned physiques lifting dumbells and doing pushups, and the plump, "never changing physiques" spinning their tires over on the cardio equipment.

No matter what the city, no matter where the gym, its the same old story.

Burn fat, get lean, and boost your metabolism with resistance training. Finish with short interval training or even bodyweight circuits (described in my DB-BW Fusion TT Workout Bonus from www.turbulencetraining.com) and you are off to the fat burning races.

Or get left behind on the cardio equipment that is getting you nowhere, CB

PS - Turbulence Training is Guaranteed.

If you aren't thrilled with the decreased workout time and increased fat loss and energy from the Turbulence Training system in 8 weeks, let us know and we'll refund your order. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. Turbulence Training has already been trusted by the biggest fitness magazines in the world (Men's Health & Shape), and I guarantee it will work for you too!



About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Happy Valentines Day!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day!

Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

P.S. Oh yeah, my friend Vince DelMonte, author of the number one muscle building program on the Internet, has a little Valentine gift for you...

He's giving away his entire muscle building package away,including the DVD he sold 1000 copies of in 72 hours, for a $20 discount...
-->Click here for No Nonsense Muscle Building

When you try and leave his site, you'll be prompted to
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Too lazy to workout?

Whenever you feel like skipping your workout, watch this video! No excuses...



Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

Super Lean

Today I'm posting an excerpt from one of two recent teleseminars featuring fat loss excerpt Tom Venuto. Tom had them transcribed and turned into ebooks and MP3 audios that he's actually giving away for free as part of a 3 day special promotion ending February 14th. Go to www.Burnthefat.com for more information on that.

I wanted to share this excerpt from the seminar with you in particular (I got permission from Tom to reprint this). I think you’ll find it fascinating because it explains the real reasons why people hit fat loss plateaus. It happens especially when you get down to that “last 10 lbs” or when you drop a lot of weight, and you hit the “good” body fat category, but you’re an “overachiever” and you still want to get even leaner… all the way to “ripped”, or at least lean enough to see your abs.

Breaking through plateaus is a challenge, but there IS something you can do about them... read on and see what Tom says about it.

EXCERPT FROM THE "SUPER LEAN" SEMINAR

QUESTION: "Our first question says, “Tom, I know you often say that to get to the point to be able to see your abs, you need to get to single-digit body fat. What if I hit a plateau at about 12% body fat? What do I need to do to break the plateau and get my fat% down to single digits? Should I do more cardio, more weight-training, manipulate my diet somehow?”

ANSWER: "You could do any of the above. You could manipulate your calories, change type of cardio, add cardio duration or frequency. You could increase cardio intensity. You could change your weight-training. You shouldn’t limit yourself.

One of the problems I see with quite a few programs is that they’re too dogmatic. If you hit a plateau, the person with the most flexibility in their approach is the person who’s going to be most likely to get through that plateau.

The first thing though is to understand what a plateau really is. This is important, because if you were losing weight, but now you’re not, there’s only one thing that that could mean; you were in a calorie deficit but you’re no longer in a calorie deficit.

You may be wondering why that happens.

There are four primary reasons you hit a plateau:

The first reason you hit a plateau is because your metabolism decreases. While this does not completely stop fat loss, it does slow down fat loss. If you’ve been cutting calories, especially if you cut them severely, your body adapts by decreasing the metabolic rate. That’s sometimes known as the “starvation response” or “Adaptive thermogenesis.”

The second reason is that you need fewer calories after you lose weight. Calorie needs are directly tied into your body weight. One problem is that after people lose a lot of weight, they tend to keep eating the same way they were eating when they were heavier.

So they’re feeding a smaller person the way they were when they were a bigger person, but when you’re a smaller person, you don’t need as many calories, even at rest (your basal metabolic rate is lower).

A third reason is that when you move that smaller body, you’re not burning as many calories. If you strap on a weighted vest or heavy backpack and go out and hike up a hill, you can tell, obviously, that if you’re lugging around extra weight, you’re burning more calories. So now can you see why, after you lose weight, you burn fewer calories?

The fourth reason is that most people either cheat on their diets or they forget to record part of their food intake. This one requires a little bit of honesty with yourself. Even if you don’t do it intentionally and you don’t “cheat” per se, unconsciously, we’re all terrible at estimating how much food we eat.

Some studies have even showed underreporting calorie intake as much as 50%. In other words, you say, “I’m only eating 1,200 calories a day, but i’m stuck at a plateau!” but you’re really eating 1,800 calories a day which doesn’t give you much of a deficit.

All of these reasons for plateaus get amplified in the later stages of a diet, because biologically speaking, your body is doing everything it possibly can to get you to go off your diet and to get weight to stabilize.

After a long period of dieting and after a large weight loss, your body cranks up the appetite, stimulates cravings and tries to trick you into eating more.

The leaner you get, the longer youve been dieting and the more aggressively you cut calories, the more your body tends to defend its weight, and hold on to remaining body fat.

So it’s really common to hit that plateau when you’re dieted down and leaner. Usually it’s nowhere near as difficult for the overweight person to start losing weight as it is for the lean person to get even more lean. The last 10 lbs is usually a lot harder than the first 10.

If you think about it, it’s pretty unnatural from a biological perspective to walk around with really low single-digit body fat. It’s not beneficial from a survival-of-the-species point of view to have low body fat. So this metabolic adaptation becomes more pronounced the leaner you get.

you’re also at a higher risk of losing muscle, because extra muscle is not econmical when there’s a calorie shortage. Having extra muscle is like having an engine that’s bigger than you need - It’s like a gas guzzler.

The ultimate answer to why you plateau, why that last 10 pounds is so hard to lose and why it’s hard to break into those single digits is that you were in a calorie deficit but for all of the reasons mentioned above, you’re no longer in deficit.

The way to break the plateau then is to:

(1) re-stimulate metabolism and re-set fat-burning and starvation hormones, and

(2) re-establish the deficit.

(3) KEEP AFTER IT!

The question was, “How do I do that? More cardio, more weight training, manipulate my diet?”

You could do all of the above. Eating less or exercising more can both increase a deficit. But one thing you might want to do first, is give yourself a little break. Take your calories up to maintenance level, maybe for a week.

The idea there is not to try to accelerate fat loss, because what you’re actually doing is removing your calorie deficit for a short period of time. What you’re trying to do is facilitate the fat loss when you jump back into it.

It gives your body a physiological break from the stress of dieting; it resets some of those starvation hormones and stimulates your metabolism so when you go back to the calorie deficit, your body responds again.

You also get mental break from the diet as well, which makes it easier to stick with the program when you go back to it.

You could also use a calorie cycling approach, to help prevent yourself from hitting another plateau, and we already covered calorie and carb cycling in the last call.

I also recommend, because so many people underestimate how much they eat, don’t take any chances. Count your calories, or at least become really aware of the portion sizes and maybe even consider keeping a journal.

You’ve probably been told many times by a lot of different “experts” that you don’t have to count calories. But when you’re in a plateau, I’d recommend that you stop guessing and really get serious about what you’re taking in.

Then what you need to do is reestablish that calorie deficit using every tool at your disposal.

Use nutrition by pulling back your portion sizes. Or use cardio. And by increased cardio, I mean increasing energy expenditure. You could increase your frequency. You could increase your duration.

But increasing energy expenditure is not necessarily doing longer workouts, just burning more calories. You could also take the same amount of time that you’re spending right now and increase your intensity.

The whole idea is just burn more calories and stimulate metabolism, which gives you your deficit back again or you can pull back your food intake and give yourself a deficit again from the food side.

There’s more than one way to do it and I don’t think that you should lock yourself in. Use all of the variables and remember that there are TWO sides to the energy balance equation, not one."

# # #

I Hope you enjoyed this excerpt, and mostly, I hope you put the information to good use!

This was just one short excerpt from almost two hours of audio in Tom's new "Super Lean" seminar. Tom is giving away the entire seminar for free with the purchase of his ebook Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, but only until February 13th."

You can get more information on Tom's Burn The Fat program AND his new "Super Lean" seminar at: www.BurnTheFat.com

Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

Great Omega 3 Video

Here's an awesome little video showing the value of omega 3 fat intake in the diet. For the best nutrition system on the market today check out Precision Nutrition. I use it, pro athletes use it, so it will definitely work for you.




Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

The Perfect Burger

One thing I like to do when people say they can't eat healthy food that actually tastes good, is well...prove them wrong.

I then start by asking them what they normally eat during the day. Then I show them how to make the same unhealthy foods healthy. Or if I am really in the mood I will cook it for them, which really wins them over.

So here is a simple recipe to avoid the artery clogging fast food burger and make your own Perfect Burger thats tastes great without the burger belly!

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds extra-lean ground beef

Vegetable oil, for grates

4 whole wheat hamburger buns, split and lightly grilled or toasted

Lettuce, tomato, onion,or other toppings, as desired

Evenly divide meat into 4 portions. With a light touch, gently form each one into a ball, then shape into a 3/4-inch-thick patty. With thumb, make a 1/4-inch-deep indentation in the center of each (this prevents burgers from getting rounded tops during grilling). Transfer to a plate; cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to cook, up to 1 day.

Heat grill to high (it should be difficult to hold your hand above the grates). Moisten a folded paper towel with vegetable oil; grasp with tongs, and quickly wipe over the grates.

Generously season patties on both sides with salt and pepper. Place patties on grill; cover, and cook to desired doneness, 2 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Serve burgers on buns with desired toppings.

Serves 4 | Prep Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes

Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

Guest Blog: Foods That Burn Fat

Foods That Burn Fat: The Top 10 Lists

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com

Anytime the topic of discussion in my blogs, articles or newsletters has turned to my own personal grocery shopping list, there has always been a spike in interest. It seems that many people are not only curious about what foods a natural bodybuilder eats to maintain single digit body fat, but they also want to be taken by the hand and told exactly what foods to eat themselves while on fat-burning or muscle building programs. That’s why I decided to put together four separate “top 10” lists of healthy foods that burn fat and build muscle.

Exact quantities and menus are not listed, just the individual foods, and of course my food intake does vary. I aim to get as many different varieties of fruits and vegetables as possible over the course of every week and there are a lot of substitutions made, so you are not seeing the full list of everything I eat, only what foods I eat most of the time.

I also want to point out that while I don’t believe that extreme low carbs are necessary or most effective when you look at the long term, research has shown that there are some definite advantages to a low to moderate carb and higher protein diet for fat loss purposes. These include reduced appetite, higher thermic effect of food and “automatic” calorie control.

Personally, I reduce my carb intake moderately and temporarily prior to bodybuilding competitions. Specifically, it’s the foods that are on the starchy carbs and grains list that go down during the brief pre-competition period when I’m working on that really “ripped” look. I keep the green and fibrous veggie intake very high however, along with large amounts of lean protein, small amounts of fruit, and adequate amounts of essential fats.

This list reflects my personal preferences, so this is not a prescription to all readers to eat as I do. It’s very important for compliance to choose foods you enjoy and to have the option for a wide variety of choices. In the past several years, nutrition and obesity research - in studying ALL types of diets - has continued to conclude that almost any hypocaloric diet that is not completely “moronic” can work, at least in the short term.

It’s not so much about the high carb - low carb argument or any other debate as much as it is about calorie control and compliance. The trouble is, restricted diets and staying in a calorie deficit is difficult, so most people can’t stick with any program and they fall off the wagon, whichever wagon that may be.

I believe that a lot of our attention needs to shift away from pointless debates (for example, low carb vs. high carb is getting really old… so like… get over it everyone, its a calorie deficit that makes you lose weight, not the amount of carbs).

Instead, our focus should shift towards these questions:

* How can we build an eating program that we can enjoy while still getting us leaner and healthier?

* How can we build an eating program that helps us control calories?

* How can we build an eating program that improves compliance?

Here’s one good answer: Eat a wide variety of high nutrient density, low calorie density foods that you enjoy which still fit within healthy, fat-burning, muscle-building guidelines!

Here are the lists of foods I choose to achieve these three outcomes. This eating plan is not difficult to stick with at all, by the way. I enjoy eating like this and it feels almost weird not to eat like this after doing it for so long.

Remember, habits work in both directions, and as motivational speaker Jim Rohn has said, “Bad habits are easy to form and hard to live with and good habits are hard to form but easy to live with.”

These are listed in the order I frequently consume them. So for example, if oatmeal is on the top of the list, it means that is the food I am most likely to eat every single day.

My 10 top natural starchy carb and whole grains

1. Oatmeal (old fashioned)
2. Yams
3. Brown rice (a favorite is basmati, a long grain aromatic rice)
4. Sweet potatoes (almost same as yams)
5. Multi grain hot cereal (mix or barley, oats, rye. titricale and a few others)
6. White potatoes
7. 100% whole wheat bread
8. 100% whole wheat pasta
9. Beans (great for healthy chili recipes)
10. Cream of rice hot cereal

My Top 10 top vegetables

1. Broccoli
2. Asparagus
3. Spinach
4. Salad greens
5. Tomatoes
6. Peppers (green, red or yellow)
7. Onions
8. Mushrooms
9. Cucumbers
10. Zucchini

My top 10 lean proteins

1. Egg whites (whole eggs in limited quantities)
2. Whey or Casein protein (protein powder supplements)
3. Chicken Breast
4. Salmon (wild Alaskan)
5. Turkey Breast
6. Top round steak (grass fed beef)
7. Flank Steak (grass fed beef)
8. Lean Ground Turkey
9. Bison/Buffalo
10. Trout

My top 10 fruits

1. Grapefruit
2. Apples
3. Blueberries
4. Canteloupe
5. Oranges
6. Bananas
7. Peaches
8. Grapes
9. Strawberries
10. Pineapple

Note: I DO include healthy fats as well, such as walnuts, almonds, extra virgin olive oil, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil (supplement - not to cook with), avocado and a few others.

Also, I do eat dairy products and have nothing against them, nor am I lactose intolerant. I simply don’t eat as much dairy as the rest of the stuff on my lists. When I eat dairy, its usually skim milk, low or non fat cottage cheese, low or non fat yogurt and low or non fat cheese (great for omelettes).

Last but not least, I usually follow a compliance rate of about 95%, which means I take two or three meals per week of whatever I want (stuff that is NOT on these lists - like pizza, sushi, big fatty restaurant steaks, etc)

I hope you found this helpful and interesting. Keep in mind, this is MY food list, and although you probably couldn’t go wrong to emulate it, you need to choose natural foods you enjoy in order to develop habits you can stick with long term. In the fruits and vegetables categories alone, there are hundreds of other choices out there, so enjoy them all!

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using methods of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

------

Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com

Youth Fitness

According to the Wall Street Journal the youth fitness market has grown into a four billion dollar industry and is poised to become the highest grossing segment of the entire wellness industry over the next 5 - 10 years.



This video got me thinking about the future of fitness. With the soaring obesity rates in todays youth, I am still trying to be optimistic.

This kid surely never got to do what you will see on this video by lying around the house playing video games and eating potato chips. I am sure he put in many hours of consistent training with just his bodyweight to perform as he do while still only in high school!

Kids just need to be active and move, play sports, jump, run and play. All these things will improve strength, balance, coordination and contribute to life long health.

No matter what your age you can start an exercise program in your own home with just your bodyweight. The best bodyweight training program on the market today is the Turbulence Training Bodyweight Manual. The cool thing about this is its an e-book (electronic book) that you can download to your computer instantly and be able to start working out at home right away with no equipment!




Sean Barker, CPT,CPTN
www.Workouts101.com