Positive Fitness

Photo by: mikebaird.

Life Learning Today has a really neat article on:

Maximum Energy in 10 Simple Steps

I enjoyed reading this article on how to maintain and regain your energy in 10 easy steps. Agentsully over at Life Learning Today put it really nicely when he said:

“Everyone wants more energy. We chase it down with drugs and we rob ourselves of it with not enough rest. The answers to experiencing our ultimate energy levels come down to simple habits. Some of these may not sound new, but print this out and let it serve as a a lifestyle to aspire to. Oftentimes it is helpful to be reminded of the things we know so that we will actually take action on doing them.”

This is a great article to use to help yourself maintain and get the most energy possible. Without the use of caffeine and sugar. Great article guys!

Photo by: f10n4.

Who would have thought dark chocolate could be tasty and healthy? I personally have always loved dark chocolate, it isn’t as sweet as it’s white and milk chocolate brothers, but I prefer it most of the time.

I have done a bit of research online and found that dark chocolate is actually really good for you. I found a really great article on WebMD, “Dark Chocolate is Healthy Chocolate.” There are numerous potential health benefits to eating dark chocolate, including lowering high blood pressure and acting as an antioxidant

One of the benefits of eating dark chocolate is that it can help as an antioxidant. But don’t add milk!

“Our findings indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate … and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate.

It was also found that eating dark chocolate can reduce blood pressure.

 

… “Every day for two weeks, they ate a 100-gram candy bar and were asked to balance its 480 calories by not eating other foods similar in nutrients and calories. Half the patients got dark chocolate and half got white chocolate.
Those who ate dark chocolate had a significant drop in blood pressure (by an average of 5 points for systolic and an average of 2 points for diastolic blood pressure). Those who ate white chocolate did not.”

Cocoa phenols is the part of the dark chocolate that is supposed to help lower blood pressure. What is that? I don’t know but Wikipedia does.

Now don’t go out and eat a bunch of dark chocolate because it is “healthy,” the fact is that it is still a sweet and should be eaten along with a healthy diet and active lifestyle.

Photo by: karviainen.

I am sure some of you have heard people talk about eating several smaller meals per day instead of 3 large ones. Well there are some truths to that, MayoClinic has a great article on “Snacks: How they fit into a healthy diet.”

• “Binge control. If eating several low-fat whole-grain crackers, a few pretzels, a piece of fruit or some raw vegetables keeps you from taking second or third helpings at your next meal, you may actually consume fewer total calories for the day.
• Extra energy and nutrients. Traditional, made-at-home meals often lose out to busy schedules. A grab-and-go snack can be the difference between some nourishment and none at all.
• Satisfaction for small appetites. Young children’s tiny stomachs can hold only small portions of food at one time. Older adults who are less active and who burn fewer calories also may feel more comfortable eating smaller meals more frequently.” - MayoClinic

They have some great information (calories, snack ideas, and general information) also on that article on MayoClinic that I recommend checking out.

Snacks are a great way to regain energy during the work day, while traveling, or just when you need a boost. There are many healthy snacks that can provide you with what you need to keep going (without coffee or soda pop).

Try taking a snack to work next week with you, I recommend an apple for the morning break and maybe a couple handfuls of trail mix. Afternoon snack maybe some baby carrots or another favorite healthy fruit or vegetable.

See Also my posts on Healthy Snack Suggestions Part 1 and Healthy Snack Ideas Part 2 for great healthy and delicious snack ideas.

Photo by: Pkeleher.

I just Stumbled Upon this great blog post on “What Happens if You Drink a Can of Coke Right Now” and I must say I was quite shocked. Now I know that Coke is not good for you by any stretch of the imagination, but I had no idea what it really contained. Luckily I do not drink pop, except on rare occasions.

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

That is just crazy. I can not believe how much sugar is in Coca-Cola. Read the full article to be slightly amazed, and hopefully never drink another coke again.

Read Part One of Healthy Snack Ideas. There are many snack ideas out there, some of them are not so healthy. Here are four quick and easy snacks that are healthy and good for you. This is the second part of a (yet to be determined length) healthy snack series.

Baby Carrots and Dip

I love this snack personally, it is very healthy and has great flavors. Choose your own favorite (preferably low fat) dip and enjoy. I love ranch with my baby carrots.

Juicy Juice

100% juice, it simply can not be beat for a healthy drink to go along with lunch, snack, or on it’s own.

Fresh Fruit and Granola

Take your favorite fresh fruits, peaches, raspberries, blueberries, and put them together and top with a bit of granola for some flavor. It is a great source of fruit and it tastes good!

Dried Fruit

Great for on the run and an easy snack, dried apples and raisins are my two favorites, but other fruit such as pineapple can be great dried as well.

I hope you found these next four healthy snacks just as good as the first ones.

There are many workouts and exercises you can do for abs but in order to make drastic improvements on your stomach and abs you will need to make a lifestyle change. Healthy eating (a lower fat diet) will help reduce the fat in your body (along with physical activity). Doing crunches is not simple enough to achieve a six pack abs or washboard abs, it will take commitment and dedication but results can be had with hard work and a good diet.

First off I would recommend checking out AskMen.com’s Ab Guide. They have some great information there as well.

Diet

I have already introduced the idea of eating healthy in order to achieve your ab goals. I would work on cutting out the sweets from your diet. This will help drastically on the fat intakes you have. One tip I would like to pass along is to take out all your junk food from your cupboards and give it away, then go to the store and replace that junk food with healthy fruits, vegetables, and alternate snacks. Check out Wikipedia’s Healthy Diet entry for more information.

Cardio

Cardio is important if you need to burn fat, actually it is great for your body either way and will help a lot with achieving your ab goals. A few things you could are running (10-20 minutes, whatever you can do, push yourself), swimming, and biking. The first two would probably be your best bet since biking does not rely as much on your abs as the others do. If you need to burn fat this is where you are going to do it, ab workouts only workout the muscle underneath the fat.

Ab Workouts

Check out these sites for many great ab exercises until our list goes up:

• Ab and Core Exercise Progression
• Real Women’s Fitness Ab Section (men can use them too)
• AskMen.com’s Ab Guide
• How to Structure Your Ab Workout for Better Abs

 There are many other resources online for great ab workouts, I will write a post in the coming weeks with my personal favorite exercises for abs. Comment below if there is anything you would like to add!

There are many snack ideas out there, some of them are not so healthy. Here are four quick and easy snacks that are healthy and good for you. This is the first part of a (yet to be determined length) healthy snack series.

Peanut Butter and Apples

Cut a few apples up into slices and slap a little peanut butter on them for a healthy and sweet snack. (Via AssociatedContent.com’s “Five Easy and Healthy Snacks“).

Trail Mix

Another one of my favorites, I eat trail mix almost daily.  The combination nuts, chocolate, and maybe even fruit will give you great energy and a healthy alternative.

Celery and Peanut Butter

One of my favorite snacks is celery and peanut butter. It is a healthy high fiber and high protein snack. I usually prefer this snack as a pick me up to gain some energy before physical activity.  Watch out though, eating to much celery can be known to give you gas.

Fat-Free Yogurt

Fat-free yogurt with fruit and a sprinkle of nuts Get another serving of dairy without saturated fat as well as antioxidants from fruit and unsaturated fat from the nuts.

This snack comes from IVillage.com’s “11 Heart Healthy Snacks.”  Another great guide with more awesome snack ideas.

This is just a small list of potential great healthy snacks for you, your roommates, kids, or whoever. They are all very tasty and will not scare someone away from healthy foods.  Enjoy!

Here is a list of homemade granola bars from a few different websites (all chosen with healthy ingredients):

• Granola-Peanut Butter Bars
• Date and Raisin Granola Bars
• Oatmeal Cookie Granola Recipe
• Honey Almond Granola Bar Recipe

Remember you can add your own ingredients to these as well, I am sure you could think of some creative combinations while still maintaining a healthy snack (semi sweet chocolates, different nuts, fruit, etc). Have fun with it, and make a snack that the whole family will love!