VP Health & Fitness

I just received an email from John Berardi and it has to do with Green Tea, which is by far one of my FAVORITE drinks - cold or hot!  I thought I would share it with my readers because it has some very useful and insightful tips that i’m sure you all can use! 

Enjoy!!!

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From the desk of Dr. Berardi:

Nowadays, pretty much everyone has accepted that tea (especially the green kind) offers some tremendous health benefits including:

• Anti-cancer properties
• Improved cardiovascular health
• Metabolism boosting properties
• And more…

However, not everyone knows the other important stuff - such as:

1. Green vs. Black vs. White
   What’s the difference between black, white, green, and herbal.  And how these differences can impact your body.
2. EGCG and Antioxidants
   How tea does its magic in your body, including how this EGCG stuff you hear so much about really works.
3. Milk and Tea
   How adding milk to tea might actually ruin its health benefits!
4. Loose vs. bags
   How to choose between loose leaf tea and tea bags. Green tea is not green tea.
5. Tea vs. Supplements
   Which is better and what to be careful with.
6. Tea and Taste
   How to use tea as a recipe ingredient vs. just drinking it hot.

In the end, unless you’re already a tea connoisseur, I guarantee you’ll learn something new in this week’s update.

So…. go check it out!!!!

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=612727&t=11407

Enjoy!

~ Vilma

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One of the most important things you need to learn when trying to change your eating habits to a healthier lifestyle is how to grocery shop.

Here are a couple of tips to help you get started:

Tip #1: Clean out your refrigerator and pantry.
Tip#2 Create a budget, make a list and stick to it!
Tip #3 Organic vs. Conventional Products
Tip #4 Read Labels
Tip #5 Remember the 3 S’s

CLICK HERE to read the entire article

And here are a couple of my own money saving ideas that you can use while still eating healthy:

Grocery Shopping Strategies & Money saving tips:

• Eggs, eggs, eggs!  They are cheap & have good quality protein in them. Whole eggs are way cheaper than egg beaters– just throw out the yolk.
• Make it yourself!!  Instead of buying protein bars, make your own!  It’s a lot cheaper and better for you.  You have more control over the ingredients and you can choose what type of ingredients you want.  This also applies to everything - pre-packaged food costs more and has a lot of unnecessary stuff, such as sodium.   
• Dried beans instead of canned beans.  Again, you get much better value without all the preservatives - you just gotta cook them!
• Only buy canned goods when they are on sale & buy the store brand ones instead of the name brand ones.
• Oatmeal is super cheap.  The Walmart brand oatmeal is JUST AS GOOD as the Quaker kind

• Fresh veggies getting a little too soft? MAKE SOUP. Use a bouillon cube instead of canned broth - much cheaper.

• Potatoes in bulk - they are very versatile & are a great source of carbohydrates. 

• Work with what the season has to offer & only buy fruits & veggies that are in season.

• Frozen veggies are cheap.  I buy them by the bulk. Green beans, broccoli, stir fry veggies.

• Plan your meals ahead of time so you will know EXACTLY what you need when you go grocery shopping.

• If you do go out to eat at restaurants you can use the following strategies to eat a healthy & non-expensive meal:

  • Sign up for online for newsletters for the restaurant - they often send you coupons in the email that you can print out and take to the restaurant.
  • Invest in a good coupon book such as the Entertainment Book or other discount cards.
  • And finally, see if you can find the restaurant at Healthy Dining Finder  which is a FREE useful resource for restaurants that offer healthy entree choices.

 ** Remember: The cleaner you eat, the less it cost. Seriously. You are not paying for all the packaging, advertising, etc, that are on all the processed foods.

Here are other ideas that you can use:

Maggie Wang’s list of healthy & frugal food & grocery shopping ideas

Finding healthy foods at the grocery store

Healthy Grocery Shopping List

Bodybuilding.com - a healthy Grocery shopping List

~ Vilma

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My #1 motivation for losing weight is to get my body prepared for pregnancy before I turn 30.  That gives me a good 7 months to lose this fat and about 6 months to enjoy the weightloss and my new body.    So, being the research fanatic that I am, I’ve been reading alot on pregnancy information & happened to come across an interesting article that talks about the release of an addition to the current Food Guide Pyramid at My Pyramid for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding. This Web site is an easy way for moms who are pregnant or breastfeeding to create a personalized eating plan.  There is a lot of extensive information! 

There is now new research which concludes that a mother’s diet during pregnancy may affect her child’s lifetime eating habits.   What a responsibility!  That is why I want to have my healthy habits in check before I get pregnant so I won’t have to struggle so much during and after the pregnancy.  The article goes on to say that when pregnant, your energy needs don’t even begin to increase until the second trimester.  So… you really have no excuse to gain weight your 1st trimester. No consuming extra calories because you are “eating for two”.

Another GREAT website is BabyFit, a sister company of SparkPeople.com.  At baby fit you can get: daily meal plans & shopping lists, a pregnancy fitness program, a pregnancy nutrient tracker, healthy recipes, weight tracker and much, much more!

I think these are really GREAT resources to check out if you are pregnant, condidering it, or know of someone that is already pregnant.  It’s never too late to start!

To your health,

~ Vilma

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One of my favorite Christmas Traditions is to bake lots and lots of my famous chocolate chip cookies.  I think I’ve baked about 150 little ones so far & I have about 500 more to go!

My ultimate goal would be to make a healthier version of them with more protein & less sugar without compromising the taste or texture of it.  So far I have it down to 143 cals per cookie witch is not THAT bad compared to the evil Albertson cookies that I indulged on a couple of months ago!

So… until I get my cookie’s “healthy stamp of approval  ” by my tastebuds, you should checkout Sparkpeople’s Food Feature for this month on healthy holiday cookies. 

There are 12 recipes in all that you can enjoy without the guilt. 

Spark People 12 Days of Holiday Cookies

~ Vilma

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Last week the Today Show aired a special segment titled “5 Things You’ve Never Heard of . . . Foods That Could Change Your Life” with special guest Travel Channel host Andrew Zimmern who did extensive research and sought out the five powerful foods that could change your life on your path to health.

Here’s the link to the clip:

Five life-changing foods

The ones that he mentioned were:

• Alligator

• Laver Bread

• Açaí Berries

• Yerba Maté

• Cupuaçu

Now, the reason I found this interesting is because I know of a fairly new functional health beverage called FRUTA VIDA that combines three of these five superfoods that were mentioned! And let me tell you that it’s delicious!!!!!!!!

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#1 - Açai (ah-sigh-EE) “The Wine of the Amazon”

This berry is harvested naturally from the depths of the rain forests of Brazil, by the people who have been using it for thousands of years. Açai is the only super food on the market that has everything you need naturally from only the berry itself. It is packed with Vitamin B1, B2, B3, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Phosphorus, Calcium, Potassium, Fiber, Proteins, good fatty acids such as Omega 6 and Omega 9. Research on Açai has shown that these anti-oxidants are known to fight and regulate cholesterol levels in the body.

As an added benefit, Açai gives you the highest level of anti-oxidants on the market, with studies showing up to 33 times the anti-oxidant level as in red wine grapes. Besides being considered one of the “richest foods in Iron” the Açai fruit is also rich in fiber which makes it strongly recommended for the elderly and/or for people with digestive problems. For its microbiological characteristics, Açai is considered one of the most nutritive foods in the Amazon, and perhaps in the world.

The Açai fruit has a great berry flavor with the aroma of chocolate. In Brazil, they make a popular slurpie-like drink from it, and now it’s the new favorite energy drink in trendy cafes and spas in New York and California!

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#2 - Cupuaçu (coo pwAH soo) “The Taste of the Amazon”

When foreigners visit the rainforest, native Amazonians will often offer them Cupuaçu – the “taste of the Amazon”. But this delicious fruit happens to be a potent health resource, as well. Cupuaçu is a member of the chocolate family. The indigenous Indians have used the fruit as a primary food source for years. It contains unique antioxidant phytonutrients called polyphenols. You may be familiar with polyphenols from other common medicinal plants, notably green tea and grape seeds. Cupuaçu also contains at least nine other known antioxidants including Vitamin C and Vitamin A, making it a well-rounded antioxidant “cocktail”.

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#3 - Yerba Mate’ (yerba mah TAY) “The Green Tea of South America”

Unlike Açai and Cupuaçu, which are fruits, Yerba Mate’ is in the evergreen family and the leaves and stems of the tree are used to produce a tea.

In fact, this tea has been called “the green tea of South America” since it is the national drink of Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Consumed in moderation, maté is recognized as one of the most healthful natural beverages on earth!

Often called “nature’s most perfect beverage” and “the beverage of the gods“, South American Indians have been consuming mate’ for centuries and today millions of South Americans drink Yerba Mate’ as a healthful alternative to coffee. Users report that although it gives the energizing property of caffeine in coffee, it does not result in sleeplessness and nervousness of coffee drinkers!

Safe, effective energy is not the only benefit of Yerba Mate’. Packed also with powerful antioxidants such as polyphenols, the drink has earned it’s name “The Green Tea of South America”. And, it has been shown to aid in weight loss!

** Source: Dr. Jeffrey Klein, Ph.D., “Nature’s Medicine Chest -The Anti-Aging Secrets of the Amazon Rainforest”, NGX Media, 2004. Get your copy of “Nature’s Medicine Chest” here. ( www.RainforestTools.com )

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So…. check out the video, then check out Fruta Vida to get the goods and a mountain of health benefits info.

To your health!

~ Vilma

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Happy December everyone!  There are 20 more days left in 2007.  What are you going to do these last days which will help you avoid the holiday binging and weight gain?? 

Well, SparkPeople has posted their December calendar which can help you focus on one healthy habit each month. .  There are 31 daily tips that will each help you eat right, exercise more, and combat stress during the holiday season.

Click here to download and print your December calendar. (You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download this PDF.)

Happy Holidays & Merry CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

~ Vilma

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