When you own your actions, you win……period.
The gym is buzzing these days. New members, new training routines, and (more…)
Read These 5 Blogs To Make Your Resolutions Stick!
I dislike New Years and all the hoopla that surrounds this overhyped holiday. It’s not fair to hate on the party people, because partying is not the problem with New Years, it’s the resolutions. I am just as guilty of making them as anyone, but…. (more…)
4 Questions To Avoid Overeating
Do you ever get so ravenously hungry that you can eat anything and everything?
The truth is we all do. Binge eating is the most common form of overeating, and something I am definitely guilty of.
I’m not alone. The holidays are upon us, and you may have allowed yourself to get a bit loose with your diet. Knowing when to hit or (more…)
Conquer your fear of the gym: The 5 Step Plan
photo credit: articles.elitefts.com
As tough as these guys look, they are probably very nice! Whatever your situation at the gym, you need to find a way to enjoy it. When you skip workouts or shy away from certain parts of your gym, the only person you are hurting is you! I was so afraid of dudes like this when I started going to the gym, but then I realized they don’t give a (more…)
How Can I Eat More Vegetables
photo credit: replenishingsoul.com
Many diets focus on number of calories, or specific food items to avoid, but very few emphasize the importance of what you actually do eat. If I had to lose 50lbs all over again I would increase my vegetable consumption tenfold.
Here are a few ways to turbocharge your intake of fibre, vitamins, and minerals from the almighty vegetable. (more…)
How to Maximize Your Enjoyment of Recreation Sport
Do you wish that your recreation league was more fun?
In this post we will discuss 5 ways to improve your overall enjoyment of recreational sport activities.
Having bounced around several adult recreation leagues, I have come to a few realizations. First, the leagues I have been involved with are just too damn competitive. Second, fun seems to take a backseat to winning.
Even leagues that are classified as non-competitive are in fact competitive. People just can’t help themselves. Whether it be grown men engaged in a fist fight in a ball hockey game, or adults swearing at the umpire in a slo-pitch league, something isn’t right.
Unfortunately I can not exclude myself from the aforementioned behavior. I have been known to lose my cool for reasons as inconsequential as being called offside in hockey! What competitive sports can do to people is shocking.
It is vital then to reflect on why we chose to join a recreation league in the first place. Here are few reasons you may have joined a recreation team.
- You are not good enough to play professional sports
- You wanted another venue to hang out with friends
- You have an excuse to get out of the house, get some exercise and just play!
With these seemingly innocent reasons to join a league in mind, here are 5 ideas to make your particular game more enjoyable!
5. Be a crowd pleaser – I have a friend that used to bring a big jug of water to every event. I’m not sure how many people actually thanked him for this kind gesture, but boy did we appreciate it. Don’t be shy, bring treats, share your goodies. It’s impossible for there to be too many beers in the hockey dressing room, or sunflower seeds on the bench at the ball diamond.
4. Always think about your teammates – There is nothing worse then having a puck/ball/court time/ or glory hog on your team. Nobody paid money to join a league just to watch one person do all the work. Sure it is nice to score points, but remember that you joined a team, not a skills competition. It’s often said that the best players make the players around then better. So work on that and encourage your best players to pass and share more.
3. Be Happy, be social – You joined the league to play with your friends, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make new ones. Watch the hitters in baseball when they reach first base. See how much they chat it up with first baseman. It’s kind of funny. I always wonder what they are saying to each other. By engaging in positive discussion with the other team before and during the game you are creating a safer environment based on mutual respect.
2. Never argue with referees – Advice I need to follow more myself. Officials in recreation or competitive leagues really have everyones best interest at heart. Just treat them like a friend, or potential friend. Nothing is worse then being ridiculed by a player in front of a crowd. I know this first hand from my officiating experience in ice hockey. It’s not an easy job, and everyone is trying their best.
1. Show up early and stay late – There will be times when this is difficult because of circumstances beyond your control. Showing up on time is a good reminder to your team, and friends that you care about them. It shows you are interested in socializing with them about things other than the game, and it shows that you are committed to the cause (of having fun of course)! If your team likes to hang around after play is over then make a point to stick around when you can. Everyone has different life circumstances, but making time for the people you chose to play games with says a lot about you and will ultimately enhance your enjoyment too.
How to Make Sweet Potato Fries
I love to cook, but hate wasting hours in the kitchen. I’m always looking for ways to get the job done faster. Although the best meals usually require more preparation time, here is a quick and tasty one!
MMMM warm and CRISPY, sweet potato fries!
Serves: 2 people
Ingredients:
- 2 medium sweet potatoes or 1 big one
- 4 tbsp oil olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Equipment:
- Baking Pan
- 1 large zip lock bag or tupperware container
- parchment paper
Directions:
- peel and cut sweet potatoes
- place cut potatoes in ziplock bag or similar container
- add olive oil, (fries should be glossy looking, not drenched
- add remaining ingredients,zip up the bag and shake it!
- place fries on baking sheet, on top of parchment paper
- preheat oven to 350
- bake for 20 minutes, turn and bake for another 15-20minutes.
Body By Vi 90 Day Challenge Review
Photo credit: topnews.ae
If you haven’t heard of the Body By Vi Challenge yet, I’m sure you will soon. Body By Vi is a subsidiary of the Visalus Science company, and it’s vision is two-fold. On one hand the company makes a promise that their meal replacement solutions can help it’s customers lose weight as proposed in the 90 Day Body By Vi Challenge.
On the other hand is the network marketing machine. Visalus set up their company using a tradition network marketing pyramid (which is a fine strategy – free advertising!). They reward their customers for selling products, and inspire them to enrol other sales associates to forge a path to riches.
I have googled hundreds of keywords, and it is tough to come across and unbiased review of the Body By Vi Challenge. So before we proceed, I think it is important to separate the two sides of Body By Vi.
Body By Vi as a weight loss solution
Let first address the nutritional aspect of the Body By Vi 90 day challenge. The Body By Vi challenge essentially recommends it’s followers drink 2 meal replacement shakes per day. In addition to the 2 shakes they also recommend eating a meal that that is high in protein, low in fat, and moderate in carbohydrates. An example of this would be fish, with broccoli, and maybe a side salad with low fat dressing.
It doesn’t take a doctor to figure out that this type of meal plan (2 shakes, and a light dinner) will dramatically reduce calorie consumption for people that were previously consuming a typical north american diet. In fact this diet structure has been written about for some time. 2 shakes and a salad is the precise prescription from Fitness Black Book’s Rusty Moore for getting ultra ripped. So the philosophy is nothing new, but it does work.
The following is taken directly from the Visalus website listing the benefits of using the Vi-Shape shake.
- The shake mix provides complete nutrition – fast
- Helps control appetite
- Provides bone-healthy calcium
- Provides heart healthy, low fat protein
- Helps promote & maintain lean muscle mass
- Supports protein digestion and nutrient absorption
- Helps support healthy energy levels while cutting calories
- Provides fiber benefits for health protection
- Includes two unique fibers for health, and for hunger control
- Supports a low glycemic lifestyle
- Supports healthy metabolism
The benefits do sound great, and are in fact truthful. Many of the participants of the 90 day challenge will credit the shakes for these phenomenal benefits. The question we should be asking is, how else can we experience these benefits? Do we really believe that only Body By Vi can bring them to us?
The obvious answer is no. There are a few different ways to experience the laundry list of benefits pimped off on the company website. For starters, increasing protein consumption can produce more than half of the positive changes listed above. Protein on it’s own is a known appetite suppressant, is low on the glycemic index, and helps build and maintain lean muscle mass. Another is to increase your consumption of vegetables, especially leafy greens.
So, if we can get most of the benefits of the Body By Vi challenge by simply increasing protein and vegetable consumption, then why do it at all?
Well according to the company website
Each protein has been specially processed to remove fat, remove lactose, and remove carbohydrates. In addition, we have processed the soy to remove the isoflavones, so there is no estrogenic affect. The “shake mix that tastes like a cake mix” is hard to beat.
Having tasted the shakes, it’s hard to deny that they are tasty. In addition, the challenge is about convenience and if making meals is something you loath then this is a good plan. Not to mention that the price of the product is comparatively low. However, having compared it’s the Vi-Shape Mix nutritional value to that of a standard protein shake, there is not much of a difference.
I will concede that the Body By Vi mixture has gone to great lengths to clean the protein, and trim the fat, but not to the extent that we should label it a magic solution.
It is easy to become overwhelmed with nutritional facts, and end up believing whatever we hear, however we can’t lose sight of the reason the Body By Vi Challenge is so effective. I like to lay it out over a long period of time. Image the changes we would experience if we only consumed 2 shakes, and a salad for 90 days straight? That is where the magic is, not in the actual mixture.
The minor differences between regular meal replacement shakes and the Body By Vi mixture should not be credited for the success of the Body By Vi Challenge. It is the will of the participants to adhere to a calorie restricting that makes this plan successful. The same success that could be achieved with traditional protein and meal replacement supplements.
Why then, is there such a push to use Body By Vi over a regular meal replacements?
Cash Money
Just let the song run to the chorus…Body By Vi doesn’t offer a Hummer, or a Rolls Royce, but they will pay for a BMW!
I have to be honest. When I first learned about this company I knew they were slick. but I didn’t know how slick. Try searching Body By Vi Scam/review/any word here. What I found was hundreds of sites with “unbiased” reviews that were selling the product. Kinda of strange for unbiased reviews to be selling the product. All that aside, let’s be clear that the people in charge of this company are exceptional marketers.
The Body By Vi Challenge is more about business, than a sound nutritional lifestyle movement. If you are doing this challenge to lose weight that is great, and it will be rewarding. I just want you to know that the goal of the company is to get you to sell. This is how they grow, this is how they make money. There is nothing wrong with this model at all. In fact it is a genius business idea, and it has been around for years.
The reason this idea is so good (from a business perspective) is that you can create real motivation here. If you sign up to be a distributor there are some pretty sweet compensation packages. They range from getting your own product for free, to having the company pay your lease payments on a BMW. To further reinforce the benefits of joining the company distributors are probably going to be in good shape. Imagine how much easier it is to sell a weight loss product when you are losing weight yourself?
The people at the top of this company are super smart, they get it. They know how to incetivize the hell out of the program, and they know how to motivate. I see the allure here, no doubt, and I totally believe people will be successful in this business.
My major concern is that people following the plan will not think long term. If you really want to make a sustained lifestyle change, a program like this might be what you need to get started, but it is not the end game.
Do you really want to drink shakes for the rest of your life? Somewhere along this journey, I hope that people will realize that food is responsible for how we look and feel. When you approach this business, please consider both of their agendas. One is the weight loss proposition (90 days of 2 shakes and one meal), and the other is the business opportunity. Know how you feel about each agenda and act accordingly.
How To Improve Exercise Adherence
photo credit: just4youwellness.com
I am as guilty of this as anybody else, but I can’t believe the number of gyms profiting off of clients that don’t show up. It really is amazing.
I remember paying for a monthly membership at the YMCA for 2 years in which time I made less than 30 visits to the facility. This is great for business, but not for the general health of our community.
Tax dollars only go so far
Many countries are burdened with paying for the health care of their fellow countrymen. In Canada we have a comprehensive public health care system in which most major medical treatment is subsidized by public tax dollars. The last 20 years have been a difficult time with the rise of what many would classify as preventable diseases (cardiovascular disease, obesity related disease, etc.).
As such, the push to spend tax dollars on preventative medicine is gaining momentum, and the old model of medicating the sick (band-aid solutions) is becoming way too expensive, not to mention ineffective.
When I was contemplating starting a personal training business, my father suggested a cool idea to increase adherence.
His Idea
Offer rebates for people that complete the program. So if my course cost $400, offer a $200 dollar rebate for those that completed this program. If we could get the government on board with this kind of program it might actually work. While I would probably be happy to provide a rebate to clients that completed a training program, it would be easier if the government could chip in too!
It would be like getting paid to go to the gym……I bet there are places operating using this system already.
Have any other ideas to improve exercise adherence?
What would provide extra motivation for you or clients to complete an exercise training program?
Don’t fall for these weight loss ideas
We have all been there.
A few pounds (or maybe much more) away from our ideal weight, we get desperate. We know that if we eat better and increase our activity we will succeed, but we panic. We make quick fear driven decisions. Why?
Maybe we had a poor plan to start with. So, we panic. We settle for the quick fix. We romanticize about a thinner sexier self, get sucked in and stoop to a level that is almost laughable, but at the same time unfortunate.
Remember the Low Fat fad that dominated the food industry in the 90’s? Well the average person still believes that fat is bad (lipid hypothesis)…….despite overwhelming evidence that illustrates the contrary. This school of thought has only made us sicker and created and obesity situation that is out of control!
Avoiding fat because you think it makes you fat……..Bad idea.
What about overweight marathon runners? They must be fit if they can run a marathon. Some runners are in great shape, but not all of them. Every year thousands of couch potatoes decide to train for a marathon in an attempt to ditch their gut. Sure, there are success stories, but many more broken dreams, and bodies as a result.
Training for a marathon or any running race for the sole purpose of losing weight….bad idea….
Herbal weight loss pills? I wish I was above them, but they somehow made their way into my daily routine once upon a time. Seriously, over $50 billion/year is spent on diet pills and diet food items in America alone. How sad. I fell for it too. Devastatingly ineffective and expensive.
Taking weight loss pills….bad idea.
Following government recommendations for daily food intake. Why should we adhere to a set of guidelines that intentionally attempts to confuse the public? The average person can not correctly identify food items as a carbohydrate, fat, or protein, but we push hundreds of terms down the throats of our citizens anyway. Public Health agencies are a joke in most countries. They serve the interest of lobbyists and multinational agriculture companies. Don’t forget it.
Following government nutritional recommendations…bad idea.
If you know of any other bad weight loss ideas, please share in the comments section!
