The Liquid Calorie Ban

Here’s an easy way to live healthier: don’t drink calories. Liquid calories are sneaky. You don’t get that full feeling like with solid foods, but you’re still taking in tons of calories. Avoid drinks like: regular sodas, smoothies, juices, sweet coffee drinks, hot chocolate, milk shakes, and alcoholic beverages. Drink plenty of water instead-you’ll lose weight and feel great.

Kristy Lee Wilson

Your Most Neglected Body Part

I can’t figure out why, but people universally neglect to train their legs. It’s a funny thing, since proper leg training will dramatically deliver total body results.

Walk into any gym and you’ll see the bench press taken, the dumbbells being curled-and an empty squat rack in the corner.

Leg exercises are tough, I won’t deny that, but the benefits are more than worth the exertion.

A Case for Your Legs

Your legs are a major muscle group, so it’s no surprise that training them will get you big time results. Training your legs will…

1. Melt fat from your body. As I mentioned above, leg exercises are tough. Your legs are a large part of your body, so each exercise literally moves your whole body. This is precisely why a good leg workout will fire up your metabolism to melt fat away. You’ll burn more calories while exercising your legs than any other body part.Due to the intense nature of a leg workout, your metabolism becomes elevated for more than 24 hours. That means that for an entire day your body continues to burn extra calories without any extra effort on your part. Who wouldn’t love that?
2. Build strength for everyday life. How often do you use your legs? Most of us depend on our legs constantly throughout the day-so wouldn’t it make sense to strengthen our individual mode of transportation? Kind of like putting a super charger on the engine of your car.Exercising your legs isn’t only about increased strength; you’ll also improve your coordination and balance. This means that you’ll be able to do and experience things that you otherwise would have missed. You only live once, right?
3. Uncover natural muscle shape. Let’s be honest, toned legs are attractive. I’m not saying that you’re legs will bulge with muscles (unless we trained you for that), but I am saying that consistently training your legs will uncover your natural toned shape.Many of my clients discover a whole new level of confidence after getting their legs back into shape. Women especially enjoy the freedom to wear shorts or a skirt without feeling embarrassed to show their legs. Wouldn’t you love that freedom?Oh, and I should tell you that as you strengthen your legs you’ll also reduce the risk of injury to your lower back because you’ll actually learn to pick things up off the ground the right way.

Best Leg Exercises

Now that I’ve convinced you to pay more attention to your legs, here are three of the top exercises you should do. Each of these exercises have dozens of different variations, so have fun and always keep your workouts fresh and challenging.

1. The Lunge: Start with your feet together, take a large step forward and bend your knees down into a lunge position. Exhale as you press yourself back up to a standing position, or continue through with your step into another lunge.
2. The Squat: Start with your feet shoulder width apart, inhale as you bend your knees, keeping your back straight. Be sure to keep your knees from going past your toes. Exhale as you push back up to a standing position.
3. The Dead Lift: Grip the barbell with a mixed grip (one palm faces you, one doesn’t). Allow the barbell to hang down in front of you as you stand on the platform with your feet shoulder width apart. Lean forward at your waist, keeping your back flat, and bend your knees, bringing the bar down past them. Exhale as you straighten your legs and lift the bar up. When you are standing upright lean back slightly and squeeze the muscles of your lower back. Hold this contraction for a moment. Inhale and slowly return back down to the starting position.

By no stretch of the imagination are these three the ONLY leg exercises out available. And that’s the other great thing about training your legs… you have tons of options and variations.

Want to know more about leg exercises and which ones are the best for you? Are you finally ready to get into the best shape of your life? Let me help.

Contact me today and we’ll schedule a consultation where you and I can assess your goals and I can show you the fastest and safest way to reach them.

Kristy Lee Wilson

www.kristy-leewilson.com

Tip: Blend Your Foods

Blending your foods means making sure that if you are eating a food item that does contain carbohydrates, make sure that you incorporate a good low fat protein along with it. Eating a low carb tortilla wrap, that the first ingredient is whole wheat flour, unrefined and adding lean chicken breast as part of your filling in the wrap, maybe with some thinly shredded romaine lettuce and other veggies.

Kristy Lee Wilson

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Is Breakfast Cereal Really Good for You?

If you’ve ever taken a look at the food pyramid, you’ve probably noticed how many servings of grains are recommended. Who can eat six to eleven servings of bread each day? It’s a good thing that cereal provides a good alternative for some of those servings. Or does it?

Breakfast cereal has a long history of being promoted as the quickest way to get a nutrition-filled breakfast. Yet many cereals are surprisingly low in fiber, and perhaps not so surprisingly, high in sugar. Still, if you are looking for an easy way to get in some fiber, dairy, vitamins and minerals in the morning stock your cabinets full of them.

There are lots of cereals on the shelves that are not that good for you. But that doesn’t mean that they’re all bad. Many breakfast cereals provide excellent nutrition. It just takes some effort to find the ones that do.

What to Look for in Cereal

Food labeling requirements have made it much easier than it once was to choose foods that are good for you. Reading these labels when shopping for cereal is one of the best ways to determine its nutritional value. Amounts of nutrients are required to be spelled out, so there’s no guesswork. Unfortunately, many people do not take the time to read them.

If you compare cereal labels, you might be shocked at just how little fiber some brands contain. This is often because they do not contain whole grains. Whole grain cereal is an outstanding source of fiber, and it naturally contains a number of nutrients. It’s also nice and filling, so you don’t end up famished two hours before lunch.

Sugar is another important factor in choosing a breakfast cereal. Many of them are chock full of it. Even some that are touted as healthy have a great deal of added sugar. But sugar amounts can also be a bit misleading. In cereals that contain dried fruits the amount of sugar may be rather high, but this natural sugar isn’t bad for you. If you’re not sure whether the sugar comes from the fruit or there’s a significant amount added, read the ingredients. The higher sugar is on the list, the more has been added.

In addition to being high in fiber and low in sugar and preservatives, the best cereals contain lots of vitamins and minerals. Most are fortified to provide extra nutrition. Some of the nutrients you can expect to find high levels of include folic acid, iron, vitamin D, B vitamins, phosphorous, magnesium and zinc. Many less healthy cereals are fortified with these ingredients too, so be sure to read the entire label.

Breakfast cereals range from glorified junk food to excellent sources of nutrition. When browsing the cereal aisle, it’s important to take the time to be aware of what we’re buying. Otherwise you might think you’re making a good decision when you’re really eating the equivalent of a handful of cookies for breakfast.

Kristy Lee Wilson

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