Lena Loved My Wellness Soup!

Jan 12th, 2009

I got a great audio testimonial from one subscriber who loved my Wellness Soup.  Listen Here.  Lena was going to go out for takeout but got inspired by my soup recipe and decided to stay home and make her own.  She substituted wildly (using what she had on hand and what her tastebuds fancied).  She loved it…you can hear it in her voice.  Listen Here.

This is the picture she sent showing her delicious version.  Click on the picture to see a larger view.  Yummy!

If you missed my Wellness Soup recipe, get it here.

And don’t forget to check out my other soup secrets!

Wellness Soup Recipe

Jan 12th, 2009

While at a local coffee shop with friends, we interviewed each other about our Wild Wellness action.  Here’s one they recorded of me describing Cheryl’s Wellness Soup (50 seconds).

Now here’s a recipe for my Wellness Soup.   If you’re thinking about being healthier and losing weight, this soup will serve you well!

I love to make soup without a recipe.  I call it intuitive cooking.  Here’s a great soup I just made and ate – two bowls!  It was particularly satisfying and yummy–that’s why I’m calling it Wellness Soup.

If you don’t have all of the ingredients, feel free to substitute wildly.  I did not measure anything when I made this soup, but I’ve tried to give you approximate measurements.

Use your intuition (and what you have on hand) to select ingredients that will provide you with optimal wellness–that means it must be soothing, satisfying, and tasty!

CHERYL’S WELLNESS SOUP

Medium sized soup pot
Saute in 2 TBS olive oil (3-4 minutes – onion will look semi transparent)

*2 cloves of garlic
*1 whole onion – sliced or diced
*Portabella mushrooms – sliced or diced

Add broth (I used a 1 quart box of Imagine Organic, Free Range Chicken Broth).  Add an additional couple of cups of water.

Chop vegetables roughly and add to the soup pot (medium to medium high heat):

*Celery – 2 -3 stalks
*Carrots – 2 carrots or a handful of baby carrots – chopped
*Small head of Bok Choy (or other greens like spinach)
*1 zucchini (or summer squash)
*1 can black eyed peas (or other bean)

Cook for 20 minutes or so on medium heat.  The veggies will be soft but not soggy.

You can make a strictly veggie version of this soup or add some spicy Italian sausage.

BTW – some people say that eating black eyed peas and greens makes for a healthy, prosperous new year.

Let me know how you like it!  I’m still smiling and satisfied.

Say, maybe you’d be interested in knowing about Cheryl’s Soup Kitchen.  I loved creating this program.  It’s two audios and an ebook.  We just revamped the web site – check it out here!

In Cheryl’s Soup Kitchen, not only do you get fabulous soup and side dish recipes, but you also learn exactly how to streamline your kitchen, keep a kitchen journal, plan meals and efficiently prepare foods–soups and side dishes in particular.  You get shopping lists, food pantry suggestions, and tons of suggestions for improving your efficiency so you don’t have to spend so much time in the kitchen.

Find out all my soup secrets here.

Stay warm!

P.S. This post inspired Lena West to make her own version of this Wellness Soup. Listen in here.

Why Men Lose Weight Faster Than Women

Oct 24th, 2008

30-Day Self-Care Challenge (Part III) Day 24

6-Minute Fabulous Workout

Jun 2nd, 2008

I LOVE this 6-minute whole body workout from Ediets.com.  Bookmark this page and do this great workout several times a week – maybe every other day!

Lose Weight, Get Fit

May 5th, 2008

I like the information provided at ediets.com.  The articles are short but detailed enough that you can get inspired to take action for better health. 

If you have difficulty losing weight, this article may help you learn how to speed up your metabolism.  Good stuff. 

If you want to lose your love handles, this article will help.  Watch the video – wow. 

If you’re short of time but want to workout, here are the 10 most effective exercises.

The Healthiest Candy

Feb 24th, 2008

I like what Dr. Sears has to say about the healthiest candy. 

Walk Kansas!

Feb 21st, 2008

It’s Time for Walk Kansas!

Springtime signals the return of Walk Kansas, an eight-week fitness challenge for teams of six.  The 2008 program will begin March 9 and conclude May 3.  Last year over 20,000 Kansans participated in the program.

If each team member exercises for 30 minutes, five days a week (equal to 2 miles of walking), the team will collectively walk about
423 miles – the distance across Kansas – during the program. Team members report their activity weekly to a team captain who posts the information on the Walk Kansas web site.

Walk Kansas is offered by K-State Research and Extension.  Contact your local extension office to find out more about the Walk Kansas program in your area.  Most programs charge a nominal fee, usually about $5.00, to cover the costs of mailing newsletters, prizes and events.  T-shirts are optional and available for purchase.  Shirts for 2008 are available in lavender and heather gray.

Shawnee County Walk Kansas
In Shawnee County, team members will have opportunities for several group walks, including the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown Topeka, a walk in Historic Alma, and another featuring Topeka’s downtown architecture.  A kick-off event is planned at the Southwest YMCA in March and a wrap-up event will be offered in May at Gage Park.  Contact Cindy Evans or Pam Weaver at 785-232-0062 for information.  Captain’s packets can be downloaded from the Shawnee County web site at www.shawnee.ksu.edu. Important note: People participating in a program other than Shawnee County should contact their local extension office, as the materials and fees vary.

Walk Kansas Activities in Other Counties
All but four counties (dark green) are offering Walk Kansas events.  If you want to promote your county’s Walk Kansas events, shoot me an email with the promotional details included.  I will be glad to add them to this blog. 

How to Make Stir Fry

Feb 20th, 2008

Have you ever noticed that county extension offices have fabulous information and services?  I just came across a little video about how to make a stir fry – if you’re not already skilled at this. 

This demo is for stir-fry beginners.  It includes a printable recipe.  Enjoy!

http://www.walkkansas.org/Stir_fry.aspx (click the video icon)

Weight Loss & Emotional Fitness

Dec 6th, 2007

You’ve probably noticed that you sometimes eat in response to a feeling:  boredom, anger, nervousness, sadness, etc.  If you eat frequently to reduce the impact of an emotion, you could be an emotional eater.  Nutritionists and psychologists who write for Ediets.com frequently write about such topics. 

Today’s newsletter discusses 8 traits of the emotionally fit person.  Rate yourself on each of these traits to see how you’re doing.  The author makes this provocative statement:

Americans are as out of shape emotionally as we are physically and it is making us fat.

If we got into emotional shape we would lose weight . . . a lot of it!

Now there’s a tasty idea.  Find out how emotionally fit you are here

10 Fitness Myths Exposed

Sep 23rd, 2007

As an exercise physiologist, I work to dispel fitness myths.  It’s not always easy because myths have a way of perpetuating themselves – they’re viral. 

At ediets.com I found a good article that dispels 10 popular myths.  Here they are:

By Raphael Calzadilla, B.A., CPT, ACE
eDiets Contributor

It’s that time again… Time to dispel some of the prevailing fitness and nutrition myths. Oh, and believe me, there are many.

So pull up a chair, put aside your “lose 50 pounds by eating only grapefruit” article and open your mind for just a little while. You may disagree with these facts, but that’s what keeps the myths alive.

And away we go…

MYTH: Women will get big if they weight train.

A woman has approximately one-third the testosterone compared to a man, so putting on a ton of muscle is not going to happen. The women you see in the magazines who look big and manly are on steroids, growth hormones, etc. You may look bulky if you’re carrying excessive body fat and building muscle. However, if you’re reducing body fat, you’ll eventually be able to see those lean, defined muscles.

MYTH: You must work out five to six days per week to make progress.

I see a lot of people in the gym five to six days a week, and they’d be better off playing ping pong. Consistency and level of effort is the key. I’d rather see someone work out three days per week with enthusiasm and intensity, than five inconsistent days of lackadaisical effort. In fact, for those clients that have trouble with motivation, I recommend only two days of workouts per week, but they must do it every week.

MYTH: Spot Reducing is Possible.

The human body loses fat over the entire body at various rates of speed. It’s impossible to spot reduce. If you’re focusing on only losing fat that sits on your hips, it won’t work. Generally, the first place you gain fat is the last place you lose it.

MYTH: Stretching prevents injuries.

After analyzing the results of six studies, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could not find any correlation between stretching and injury prevention. According to Dr. Julie Gilchrist, one of the researchers involved with the study, “Stretching increases flexibility, but most injuries occur within the normal range of motion.” Dr. Gilchrist goes on to say, “Stretching and warming up have just gone together for decades. It’s simply what’s done, and it hasn’t been approached through rigorous science.”

Make no mistake — a stretching program is not without benefits. Seven of nine studies suggest that a regular stretching program does help to strengthen muscles. However, it does not appear to actually prevent injuries. Warming up prior to exercise and increasing blood flow to the muscles is actually more conducive to injury prevention. I’m not suggesting that you eliminate stretching. It is valuable and flexibility is certainly important as we age. However, we may be off base assuming it’s an injury-prevention technique.

MYTH: One should lose weight before they begin an exercise program.

There is no physiological reason to lose weight prior to beginning an exercise program. Exercise is the best thing for your health, and there is no time like the present to start. There are too many benefits of exercise to list here, but you’re doing every system and cell in your body a world of good by exercising. Any amount — starting with five minutes a day — is beneficial.

Fat loss and muscle gain are only two of the many benefits that your body will experience from exercising. Each day will get a little easier as you become more fit. There is no justification for waiting to begin — unless you have orders from your doctor.

Whether you exercise with 20-percent body fat or 30-percent body fat, you’ll still be providing your body with the same benefits. When you carry less weight, you can move a little more easily, and it may be less strenuous on your heart. You can be more fit at 30-percent body fat if you are exercising than if you try to achieve 20-percent body fat without exercising.

The goal is to gain or preserve muscle and lose fat, not just lose weight (which implies both muscle and fat).

MYTH: Lifting weights very slowly is the best way to weight train.
Lifting super slowly produces super long workouts — and that’s it. University of Alabama researchers recently studied two groups of lifters doing a 29-minute workout. One group performed exercises using a 5-second up phase and a 10-second down phase, the other a more traditional approach of one second up and one second down. The faster group burned 71 percent more calories and lifted 250 percent more weight than the super slow lifters.

The real expert says: “The best increases in strength are achieved by doing the up phase as rapidly as possible,” says Gary Hunter, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., the lead study author. “Lower the weight more slowly and under control.” There’s greater potential for growth during the lowering phase, and when you lower with control, there’s less chance of injury.

MYTH: Eating a lot less or going on a crash diet will get the results you seek.
This was a dietary strategy popularized prior to the 1980s. People would go on crash diets like the grapefruit diet and lose weight — meaning muscle and fat. They assumed just eating less would take care of everything.

Today, we know total calories are important, but so are the amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats in the diet.

A slight caloric deficit (less than maintenance) must be adhered to, as well as eating small meals and snacks every two to three hours. This helps to control blood sugar, and it is a fact that blood-sugar control will help you to lose fat. eDiets.com takes all the planning and hassles away by doing it for you.

I always recommend some sort of structured nutritional program. Just guessing doesn’t work.

MYTH: Performing countless abdominal crunches thinking it will get rid of the “pooch” area on the lower tummy/abdominal area.

I get a question related to this issue approximately 20 times per week. It is not possible to spot-reduce any area of the body.

The real solution is to reduce overall body fat through a slight caloric deficit, add resistance exercise (weight training) to stimulate the metabolism and cardiovascular exercise to burn additional calories. That’s the way to fat loss.

Performing crunches will never reduce the abdominal area because it only serves to strengthen muscle, not flatten a specific area. Just as 200 bicep curls will not make the arm smaller, nor will 200 abdominal crunches make the waist smaller. You cannot spot reduce any part of the body. It’s just not physiologically possible.

MYTH: Performing a lot of cardio is the best way to lose fat.

Some people go up to 90 minutes or longer on a cardio machine. The problem with this strategy is it’s completely ineffective. It’s a poor method to lose body fat and a real time waster.

You can workout for long sessions with moderate intensity or use shorter sessions with higher intensity (based on your fitness level). You can’t do both!

The shorter, more-intense session will burn more overall calories and preserve muscle, which will make you look tight and lean when you get to your scale weight goal. In addition, the shorter, intense sessions will have a more profound effect on the calories you continue to burn 24 hours after completing the session.

Want to lose fat efficiently through cardio? Pick up your pace a bit and try to get a more intense and efficient 30 to 45 minutes. You don’t need to be huffing and puffing for dear life, just increase the intensity a bit and keep it sustained at a higher level within your target heart-rate range.

MYTH: Calories are the only thing that counts when trying to lose fat or gain muscle.

Ratios of proteins, carbohydrates and fats are also important. The key to losing fat and gaining muscle is controlling and manipulating insulin levels. In simple terms, when we consume excessive calories or excessive amounts of high glycemic carbohydrates at one meal, the body’s blood sugar rises. When this happens, the pancreas secretes insulin to lower blood sugar levels.

One of the many drawbacks of this happening excessively is, along with putting you at risk for diabetes, the body also holds onto stored fat! A balance of proteins, carbohydrates and fats works most efficiently in losing fat and gaining muscle.

Don’t forget, the ultimate key to a lean and tight body is the combination of proper nutrition, exercise and consistency.

As always, check with your doctor before starting any exercise program.

 A drug-free competitive bodybuilder and 2005 winner of the prestigious WNBF (World Natural Bodybuilding Federation) Pro Card, Raphael Calzadilla is a veteran of the health-and-fitness industry. He specializes in a holistic approach to body transformation, nutrition programs and personal training. He earned his B.A. in communications from Southern Connecticut State University and is certified as a personal trainer with ACE and APEX. In addition, he successfully completed the RTS1 program based on biomechanics.