I just turned 40 and it seems that for my entire life I have been saying, “if only they would find a diet where my favorite foods would actually help me LOSE weight instead of gain it, I would be a happy girl.” Finally with all the attention surrounding monounsaturated fatty acids it appears that wish of mine, and countless other people I am sure, is coming true. Just by including one serving of these magic mufas in every meal we are attacking and preventing fat storage as well as cholesterol.
For a more complete listing of the MUFAs and their portion sizes click here . Some oils, dark chocolate, olives, some nuts, and avocados are basically what we have to choose from. That’s a pretty good variety which would cover almost any type of meal.
Olive oil in your stir fry.
Olives out of the jar.
Nuts on your salad.
Avocado slices on your sandwich or veggie burger.
Chunk of dark chocolate for dessert.
Easy right? But what if you are like me and you start your day out with a breakfast shake? Or maybe you have a bigger breakfast and lunch followed by a meal replacement shake at dinner? How do you work in your MUFA? Olive oil.
I got the idea of olive oil in my shakes from research I did for an article I wrote on body building. The weight lifters put olive oil in their pre/post workout shakes as well as their meal replacement shakes, in order to amp up the good fat. One day it hit me while I was making my breakfast shake and thinking how nothing on the MUFA list sounded appealing with my shakes. I tried the olive oil and was surprised to find that the flavor doesn’t really change at all and the shake is just a little smoother.
Easy enough to do, just put a tablespoon of olive oil in with your shake powder (I use Beachbody meal replacement shakes because they are a soy-whey combination with no preservatives) and water or milk and blend. Easy MUFA meal!
I am so mad that I have neglected this blog. I love its premise and I was so excited to get it started. I think the problem is that it is a reminder of how I neglect my own health. But you know what they say, “Two good neglects don’t make a flat belly”.
So I’ll address both issues right now and see if I can keep it going. I feel bad that I promised the details of the cabbage soup diet to go with the first part of the topic that I posted back in October, but I’m going to put that off for just a bit longer and talk about what I am doing right now.
If you have read many of my posts you know that I love Chalene Johnson and her Turbo Jam workouts. The name of the company that makes Turbo Jam is Beachbody. Beachbody also has other cool workouts as well as meal replacement shakes, vitamins, supplements and more.
So I’m doing the workouts and I find out that I can sell the workouts and the products too. How cool is that? Now I am doing Turbo Jam, Yoga Booty Ballet, and using Beachbody’s nutritional products.
Beachbody has some great tools and support which I will fill you in on later, between all the fad diet and workout trend stuff to come, but I wanted to show you my new favorite workout today. It’s called Yoga Booty Ballet and it is an experience unlike any other I have had exercising. The results will be super over time and the instant gratification of feeling confident and sexy is a great bonus! I cannot find any of my favorite parts online but this will give you an idea. Click play and tell me what you think!
The Cabbage Soup Diet has to be the Mac Daddy of all fad diets. Seriously, can you think of any other fad diet that has come and gone and come back… and perhaps never even left… the way the Cabbage Soup Diet has?
According to WIKI the cabbage soup diet became very popular in the 80s, about the time we started seeing all those faxes come across the machine with diet tips, vacation opportunities and such. That sounds about right because I think I remember my Mom and Aunts doing it when I was in high school! That’s a funny memory to stumble upon.
I heard of the cabbage soup again when my Dad and Step Mom were doing it and gave me the recipe. That was in about 1997. It is still being searched and practiced today!
I think the reason it has held on so long is because it cleans out your system a bit and gives a good jump start. It’s not expensive and it kind of good. Do you have the recipe? Here it is in case you don’t. You can eat as much as you want for a week. If you want the EXACT diet details check back tomorrow and I’ll post the Cabbage Soup Diet Program.
Cabbage Soup Recipe
6 large green onions, sliced
2 green peppers, cut into bite sized pieces
2 cans of whole or diced tomatoes
3 Carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
10 oz. Mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 celery bunch, cut into bite sized pieces.
half a head of cabbage
1 pkg Lipton soup mix
2 bouillon cubes
48oz V8 juice
salt, pepper, garlic powder & parsley to taste
cayenne pepper, curry powder, cumin are optional for a spicier version
Directions:
Put everything in the pot along with 8 cups of water and cook over low heat for about 2 hours.
I stumbled upon a fantastic book called “Eating for Energy” by a guy named Yuri Elkaim. This book is just what I needed at the time when I need it.
The issue of weight loss is rarely simply an issue of weight loss. Over eating is often emotional. Not exercising is as often distraction/lack of focus as often as it is lack of time. It’s hard to be happy when you’re unhealthy. It’s hard to get healthy when you’re unhappy.
“Eating for Energy” brought this all into focus for me. I know from the descriptions of the book that it is about the benefits of eating live plant based whole foods. But so far, the book hasn’t really talked about any kind of food. It talks a lot about attitude and happiness.
Early on in “Eating for Energy”, Yuri challenges us to go a week without saying anything negative. If you do say something negative you have to start back over at day one. I have been trying to accomplish this for almost three weeks!
I recently read the book “Skinny Bitch” which had a big impact on me when I read it. I took a 30 day challenge, and succeeded, to not eat any meat or meat products including eggs and cheese. It was easy with the images of the abused animals fresh in my mind.
With the torturous images faded, however, I have pretty much drifted back into my old eating habits. What I am coming to realize by reading “Eating For Energy” is that it is the negativity within me that is holding me back.
I have only been out of shape for 5 years. It should be easy for me to get healthy again and to take that next step into veganism that I know is the right thing to do. Yuri Elkaim has brought it to my attention that it is not only my flat stomach and highly defined back muscles that I have lost, but my positive outlook and a little bit of my spirit as well.
Which I lost first, I am not sure. But one definitely led to the other. The first few chapters of Yuri Elkaim’s “Eating for Energy” make it clear which one needs to happen first for the other one to fall in line. Without improving my attitude it’s going to be pretty tough to stick to any eating program or focus on a workout. Without improving my attitude it is going to be tough to find “happy” again.
Thanks Yuri Elkaim for the reminder. This week I will not say anything negative!
One of my first thoughts as I began contemplating adding a MUFA to every meal was, “Oh no! What about my shakes?”
I regularly drink fruit shakes with pomegranate juice and berries for breakfast, as well as protein shakes with bananas. I considered putting nuts in but I don’t always have nuts on hand. What MUFA do I always have on hand? Olive oil!
Although not a combination you would automatically think to put together, olive oil mixes nicely in both types of shakes almost without even being noticed. Maybe it’s my imagination but the shake seems just a little smoother with the olive oil.
So whatever your favorite recipe for meal replacement shake, remember you can satisfy your MUFA quota by adding one tablespoon of olive oil!
I love working out. In the nineties I was a stair climbing freak. I loved all workout equipment EXCEPT the treadmill. I found it incredibly intimidating and I was sure I was going to step wrong and fall. That was before the IPod was invented.
The mp3 player has brought magic to the treadmill for me. The right music doesn’t only motivate me to step onto the big scary rolling belt, but out of no place comes the desire to RUN and the ability do it for a long time.
My husband and I have very different music on our IPods but we agree on one song. Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around Comes Around” is the absolute best song to tread to. The beat of the song allows for almost any pace of walking or running. Be prepared to be embarrassed though, because you will end up punching your arms and singing. And the long ending switches it up and gives me the kick I need to keep going. If you haven’t tried “What Goes Around Comes Around” on the treadmill I suggest you do. But don’t do it in the beginning of your workout. Make it the last song just before you bring down your pace to cool down.
Also on my treadmill playlist is “Fergalicious”, “Hung Up”, “I Got itFrom my Mama”, “Booty Call” and “Sexy Back.” Whether you tread lightly or tread hard, I guarantee your workout will become more fun and productive if you find your perfect treadmill song.
I was a calorie counter as a ‘tween trying to shed my baby fat. Some time in high school I switched to counting fat grams instead. After I graduated high school and added weights to my workouts I was counting protein as well. And sugar, salt, and carbohydrates. And fiber. Then I had to log it and make sure it was all in proportion. Thank goodness the flat belly diet has inspired an easier idea for me. I’m not counting anything, but I am ADDING MUFAs.
Although my time spent calorie counting was a nuisance, it did make me familiar with foods and how they affect the body. So that now, even though I don’t have the time to log and count what I eat, I can make a good guesstimate at what I am putting in my body.
At some point between my fat and protein counting twenties and my eat the kids left overs thirties my body changed. I don’t just mean that I am not as trim and fit as I was back then, but that my body got older and starting reacting and functioning differently.
It seems that as we get older, the toxins build up in our bodies and prevent the liver from doing its job of breaking down and eliminating fat and waste. As a result fat collects around the abdomen, deep down, where crunches can’t reach it.
Monounsaturated Fatty Acids, or MUFAs are the answer to this belly fat problem. As the MUFAs pass through the system, their unique makeup has a softening affect on the liver which gives the liver the ability to more effectively eliminate the fat and toxins from the body. Instead of clinging on, the fat travels straight through the system. As an added bonus, those MUFAs attract the bad cholesterol and carry it right out of the body.
So the idea behind the MUFA and the fat belly diet is to include a MUFA with every meal. The MUFA will carry the stuff we need eliminated from the body straight through so that it doesn’t turn to junk inside us.
Don’t get carried away with those MUFAs though. They still are a “fat” and if overindulged, its benefit will be outweighed by the high fat and high calorie content. For a detailed and simple description of MUFAs and their portion sizes click here .
Jane Fonda was the reason I got asked to the senior prom when I was a junior. (in high school) I am counting on Turbo Jam to get me back into that great shape as a senior (citizen) (just kidding) (sort of) (turning 40 in December).
I was about 14 when I got the Jane Fonda Workout Challenge. I enjoyed it so much that I looked forward to exercising every day. As a teenager I was not about to stop eating chips, cookies, and french fries, but I did start eating a lot of salads and I stopped eating red meat. These two good habits not only helped me drop thta 20 lbs plaguing me, but the workout gave me definition, improved my posture and made me so strong.
Workouts came and went over the years and there were a few that were so good and so timeless that I still have in my rotation today. Turbo Jam, though, is the one that gets me out of bed in the morning to put on my Nikes and get to work.
Chalene Johnson is the creator and instructor of the Turbo Jam workouts. She is absolutely beautiful and charismatic, and makes you feel like she’s your best friend and workout buddy.
What’s so great about Turbo Jam? Chalene for one. She has fantastic energy. The music is amazing and motivating. And the moves are fun and challenging. There is a little kickboxing, punching, dancing, and yoga. The signature move is the turbo. During a turbo everything is kicked up a notch for a couple of minutes while you give the workout every ounce of energy you can find. If you resist the urge to quit you will feel so energetic when you’re done you will be buzzing with energy all day long.
In the video below is a sampling of Chalene’s latest creation. I don’t have it yet. If anyone tries it, let me know what you think.
