Peanut Butter Raisin Recovery Bites (GF, DF, SF, V, V+)

by megalitz on May 13, 2012 in Nutrition, Recipes with No comments

This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegetarian and vegan.

PB Raisin Recovery Bites

I am so excited about these recovery snacks! Made with all-natural ingredients, these bites contain the necessary protein and carbohydrates required to increase recovery and protein synthesis post-workout. Be sure to ingest this snack within 90 minutes of a workout for maximum benefits. For best results, consume within 30 minutes of activity.

Not only are these bites delicious, but cost-effective as well. What you would normally pay $3-4 per serving for at the store, you are paying less than $1 for by making your own. And you know EXACTLY what the ingredients are! No unnecessary additives in these bites!

Notes

  • Recipe Yields: ~24 bites (at approximately 1.5″x1″ size)
  • Prep Time: ~10 minutes
  • Notes: Feel free to experiment with ingredients

Ingredients

  • ~12 organic Medjool dates, pitted
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • ¾ cup gluten-free oats
  • 1 Tbsp organic ground flaxseed
  • 1 Tbsp hemp protein powder
  • ¼ cup dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts
  • 2 Tbsp organic creamy peanut butter
  • 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil
  • 1 tsp raw honey
  • ¼ cup coconut flakes
  • ¼ cup raw, hulled pumpkin seeds
  • ¼ cup raw, hulled sunflower seeds
  • ¼ cup organic raisins

Preparation

  1. Remove pits from dates, set aside.
  2. Add walnuts, oats, ground flaxseed, hemp protein powder and peanuts to food processor.
  3. Add dates to food processor two at a time, processing for only a few seconds each time. Try to avoid over-processing, as the mixture will become oily from the nuts.
  4. Add peanut butter, coconut oil and honey, process for for a few seconds until combined.
  5. Add coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and raisins, process for a few seconds until combined. Feel free to mix by hand to avoid breaking the seeds.
  6. Test the mixture. Take ~1 Tbsp full of mixture and press it between your fingers. It should stick together nicely. If mixture seems dry, feel free to add in additional peanut butter, coconut oil or honey. If the mixture seems too wet, add in additional oats.
  7. Dump mixture from food processor onto cutting board and flatten by hand (or use wooden roller). Be sure to firmly press mixture into one large, flat slab. Cut the bites into desired size (~1.5″x1″) with pizza cutter or knife and store refrigerated in tupperware container. Wax paper can be used to separate layers of the bites inside the tupperware to keep them from sticking together while refrigerated, but is not essential.

I hope you enjoy these recovery bites! They will keep in the refrigerator for about a week, but feel free to store them in the freezer as well! I prefer to eat them when they’re a bit softer, so I’ll take them out of the refrigerator a few hours before my workout. This leaves them at the perfect temperature for consumption after my evening activities. They also make a fabulous dessert! These PB Raisin Recovery Bites are rich in natural sugars, protein, fiber and omega 3s. Enjoy!

And for a delicious pre-workout snack to load those glycogen stores, check out my Almond Coconut Raisin Energy Bars.

Almond Coconut Raisin Energy Bars (GF, DF, SF, V, V+)

by megalitz on April 9, 2012 in Nutrition, Recipes with 7 Comments

This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegetarian and vegan.

I’m a big fan of natural energy/granola bars, but I’m not a fan of paying high prices for them. The ones I like the best—the ones that are the healthiest and taste the best, seem to be so pricey at the store! Especially when you eat one every day. $3-4 a day for an energy bar? No, thank you. So I decided to start making my own. I can now control the ingredients and the specific amounts of those ingredients, really making these bars something that I think are delicious, while providing my body the nutrients it needs for pre- and post-workout snacks. All without spending a bajillion dollars!

I was paying $3-4 per bar when I purchased them at the store. By making my own, I now spend less than $1 per bar. Much better! I even started cutting them into bite-sized pieces, making them last even longer! I have several different versions of these bars—this is the first of many!

Notes

  • Recipe Yields: ~8 bars (depending on size)
  • Prep Time: ~10 minutes
  • Notes: Feel free to experiment with ingredients

Ingredients

  • ~18 organic Medjool dates, pitted
  • ½ cup gluten-free rolled oats
  • ¼ cup walnuts
  • ¼ cup almonds
  • 1 Tbsp raw almond butter
  • 1 tsp virgin coconut oil
  • ⅛ cup sunflower seeds (raw, hulled)
  • 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
  • 2 Tbsp almond meal
  • 2 Tbsp coconut flakes
  • 1 tsp brown rice syrup (or agave nectar)
  • ¼ cup organic raisins

Preparation

  1. Remove pits from dates, add to food processor.
  2. Add rolled oats, and process for just a few seconds to combine the ingredients without over-processing.
  3. Add walnuts and almonds, process for a few seconds.
  4. Add almond butter and coconut oil, process for a few seconds.
  5. Add ground flaxseed (yay for fiber and omega 3s!), almond meal and coconut flakes, process.
  6. If “dough” seems dry, feel free to add in additional almond butter or brown rice syrup/agave nectar.
  7. Stir in raisins by hand.
  8. Remove “dough” from food processor and flatten by hand (or use wooden roller) onto a cutting board. Cut the bars into desired size (either “bars” or bite-sized pieces), and store refrigerated in tupperware container. Wax paper can be used to separate layers of bars inside the tupperware, to keep them from sticking together while refrigerated.

I hope you enjoy these energy bars! They will keep in the refrigerator for about a week, but feel free to store them in the freezer as well! I prefer to eat them when they’re a bit softer, so I’ll take them out of the refrigerator in the morning, leave them out during the day and eat them before my evening workout! They’re also great for breakfast, or for a quick pick-me-up snack during the day! Heck, they even make a good dessert! They are rich in natural sugars, protein, fiber and omega 3s. Enjoy!

The Perfect Conditions

by megalitz on April 8, 2012 in Lifestyle, Motivation with 1 Comment

As a Group Exercise Instructor, one of the excuses I hear most often for not coming to class is “I have to get in shape before I come to your class.” Um… color me confused, isn’t that what class is FOR? It is indeed. There are numerous people I can think of who have fed me this excuse…. years ago. They’re still not in any better shape than they were the day they spoke those words to me. If they had just come to class instead of procrastinating, who knows, they might be in a better place than they are today. As with everything in this world, you have to WANT to make a change before it will ever happen. You have to want to come to class yourself, I cannot force you. You have to want to lose weight for yourself, get healthy, make changes, etc. Although I wish these things for many people, unfortunately I cannot do anything for them if they don’t want to help themselves first.

The excuses for not coming to class got me thinking, and I realized they all have one thing in common. They are all some form of a procrastination. “I have to get in shape first”, “I have (insert obligation here) tonight”, “I’m tired today,” etc. In all of these instances, people seem to be waiting for the perfect conditions to exist before they make a change, in this case, trying a group exercise class. This theory can be applied to anything, really. Trying a new class, changing jobs, going back to school, having children, etc. In all instances, people always seem to be waiting for the stars to align. Sadly, this is never going to happen. Although if it does, will someone please call me? :)

Once you realize that these perfect conditions you are waiting for never exist, you have cleared a huge obstacle. A class member and friend of mine recently experienced a chain of frustrating events, where she could easily have skipped her workout with VERY good reason—but she did not. I absolutely love this story and had to share. Here is her message to me:

You will be so proud to know that it is midnight here in Milan, after only about 5-6 hours of on/off sleep in the last 24 hours, one of Joe’s bags still MIA from the airport (where is tennies are), me with the worst case of IBS, we did 30 min NTC app our skinnies in the hotel room!! Lol…pure dedication to fitness!

That is the perfect example of someone who wanted something to happen, so they put all excuses aside and just made it happen—plain and simple. It’s perfect.

The truth is, you will never have enough time, money, this or that to do anything if you don’t REALLY want to do it. So ask yourself what the true reason is that you are procrastinating, and be honest with yourself. If you are not coming to class because you “want to get in shape first”, ask yourself “why?” Why do you want to get in shape before coming to class? You will get in shape IN CLASS, I assure you. So is that you are afraid that you will be tired during class? Won’t make it through class? Who cares?! If you don’t try, you will never know! Maybe you are embarrassed about being out of shape—no problem, I know the perfect place to help remedy that! I can also guarantee you that you will lose more weight if you just come to class TODAY rather than taking a month or two or twelve to “get in shape” before you do come to class.

Take a moment to think about the things you have been putting off lately, and make a promise to yourself to complete the first thing on your list. Then move to the second, etc. But quit waiting for those perfect conditions to arrive and just do it!

For my current group exercise teaching schedule, visit the “about” section on my Facebook page.

Peace, love and motivation,

Melissa

Lentil Dal (GF, DF, NF, SF, V, V+)

by megalitz on March 23, 2012 in Nutrition, Recipes with No comments

This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegetarian and vegan.

I’ve grown quite fond of lentils lately. In fact, I am now searching through (and testing) every possible lentil recipe on the planet, and I will post the best ones. I made this simple lentil dal last night and was very impressed with it! Thank you One Green Planet for this recipe.

Notes

  • Recipe Yields: ~4 servings
  • Prep Time: ~10 minutes
  • Cook Time: ~30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
  • 1 c yellow lentils (I used red here)
  • 1 c green lentils
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cinnamon stick (or a dash of ground cinnamon)
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste (buy from a glass jar, not a can)
  • 4½ c vegetable broth (low sodium, organic)
  • cilantro (optional, for garnish)
  • salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Preparation

  1. Add olive oil to a pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté for ~2  minutes.
  2. Add garlic and ginger, sauté for another  minute.
  3. Sift through lentils, removing any debris. Then rinse lentils, drain water and add to pot.
  4. Add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, turmeric, cumin, tomato paste and broth. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer.
  5. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, until lentils are tender.
  6. Remove bay leaf and cinnamon stick, garnish with cilantro and serve warm. Enjoy!
One Green Planet has amazing recipes and other articles to help you live a greener life. Check them out here!

Week #8 Challenge — Time to Exercise!

by megalitz on March 13, 2012 in Lifestyle, Motivation with No comments

Couple exercising outdoorsIt’s week 8 of the Biggest Achiever Program, and for the most part the challenges so far have revolved around food, and what we do or don’t put into our bodies. Good nutrition is essential for a healthy body. Also necessary, however, is exercise. Unless you are involved in some sort of rigorous/two-a-day training program, it’s probably safe to say that you could use a little more exercise in your life. So this week’s challenge will be to take your exercise up a notch.*

*There are many different ways to “take your exercise up a notch.” I would say “increase the amount of exercise you currently do”, but some of you will be at your max for the days of week that you train. For some the increase will come by increasing the amount of days per week and for others, it will be the duration or intensity of the exercise itself. There are many other acute variables that can be adjusted as well, including volume, load, rest periods, etc. If you are currently solely doing cardiorespiratory training, adding strength training into your routine is another great way to shake things up.  Since this challenge is so individualized, feel free to email me with questions on how you should safely take this to the next level. 

This challenge will obviously vary based on your current exercise regimen. Below are a few quick examples of what you can do to switch up your routine. As a Group Fitness Instructor, I highly recommend you try a Group Fitness (Group Exercise/GroupX) class. They can be intimidating at first, I understand that. I was intimidated as well. But just remember that everyone has had their first class, everyone has felt those same feelings. Take a risk, you may find that you really enjoy it. Worst case scenario is that it’s not your thing. If so, no big deal. If we all liked the same things, the world would be a terrible place to live. So embrace it, and try something else.

SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE: So let’s say you are currently doing nothing for your body in terms of exercise and/or are currently under a doctor’s care. If this is the case, you will need to start VERY slowly. In fact, I recommend you get your doctor’s approval to engage in exercise. An easy way for someone living a sedentary lifestyle to start exercising is to simply go for a short walk. Any way you can move a little bit more during the day will go a long way for you.

MODERATE EXERCISER: Let’s say your current workout regimen is a run or some sort of moderate exercise 2-3 times a week. I would encourage you to add strength training to that, twice a week, and possibly one more day of cardio. If you are a runner, try adding one day of exercise on the elliptical machine, which will provide you with some cardio exercise with less of a stress on your body. Maybe you don’t want to strength train. I could go on and on about the benefits of strength training, regardless if you want to change your muscles/body or not, but I’ll save that for another post. If you prefer not to lift weights, I would recommend you try some body weight exercises, like planks, push ups, bridges, etc. As a moderate exerciser, you are shooting for 4-5 days of exercise, up from 2-3.

WORKOUT-A-HOLIC: Maybe you work out quite a bit, say… 4-6 times a week. I would encourage you to switch up what you are doing for the week. Try interval training for example? Tabata is a great way to torch calories fast, lose weight, retain lean muscle mass, and rev up that metabolism! Or if you always do interval training, try to go for a long walk or a run. Get some strength training in and try some new exercises. Or maybe you always work out in the evenings, try morning workouts this week. This is for the person who is in their groove as far as their workouts go. You never want to get too comfortable. Also, ensure you take at least one day off a week to rest and let your body recover. Hard workouts tear the body down, and you will need to let it recuperate, otherwise your body will being breaking down muscle, which of course is no good.

One week is not nearly enough time to see a difference in switching up your workout routine, but it will be good to introduce yourself to new things. It takes 21 days to make/break a habit, so I highly recommend trying to switch it up for the next 21 days. You’ll truly be amazed at what comes out of it. My current teaching schedule is as follows, I would love to see you try some of these classes out! If you are not a member at 24 Hour Fitness or Equinox, please let me know, and I will get you in on a guest pass.

Monday: 7:25pm Absolutely Ripped, 7:45pm Tabata at Equinox Highland Park

Wednesday: 7:30pm Nike Training Club at 24 Hour Fitness Valley Ranch

Friday: 6:00am Tabata at Equinox Highland Park, 6:30pm Boxing Boot Camp at 24 Hour Fitness Valley Ranch, 7:30pm Crunch Time also at 24 Hour Fitness Valley Ranch (immediately follows BBC)

Saturday: 9:00am Nike Training Club at the Nike Store in NorthPark Center (outside, in the courtyard). Open to the public!

Sunday: 12:30pm Boxing Boot Camp at 24 Hour Fitness Mockingbird/Greenville

Vegan Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (GF, DF, SF, V, V+)

by megalitz on March 9, 2012 in Nutrition, Recipes with No comments

Thank you Chef Chloe for this delicious recipe! I can eat the stuffing by the spoonful it’s so good! This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegetarian and vegan.

Notes

  • Recipe Yields: 6 stuffed mushrooms
  • Prep Time: ~40 minutes
  • Cook Time: ~30 minutes
  • Notes:  The lentil stuffing can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored covered in the refrigerator. The mushrooms can be stuffed and assembled on a baking sheet the day before. Bake and finish the stuffed-mushrooms right before serving.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked brown rice (or quinoa, or grain of your choice)
  • 1 can lentils (rinsed and drained) or cook your own lentils (about 1½ cups)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil (plus extra for brushing)
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup gluten-free breadcrumbs
  • ½ vegetable broth (organic, low sodium)
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (plus extra for garnish)
  • 6 Portobello mushrooms (remove stems and gills)
  • 1 tomato, sliced into thin rounds
  • Sea salt
  • Fresh ground pepper

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F
  2. Cook brown rice and lentils (separately) as their packages instruct.
  3. In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp oil over medium heat. Add onions, cashews, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until onions are soft and lightly browned. Add garlic and cook a few more minutes.
  4. In a large bowl, combine onion/cashews, brown rice, lentils, breadcrumbs, vegetable broth, basil and thyme. Mix together and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  5. Brush both sides of mushroom caps lightly with olive oil and place top-side-down on a lightly oiled cookie sheet pan. Stuff mushrooms with ~½ cup of the lentil stuffing, finish with a tomato slice on top.
  6. Bake for ~30 minutes, or until the stuffing is browned and mushrooms are cooked through.
  7. Garnish with extra fresh thyme if desired and enjoy!
Thank you, Chef Chloe, for this amazing recipe. For more delicious vegan recipes, please check out her web site! I also made these with a side of roasted brussel sprouts and green beans. Yum!

Week #7 Challenge — Cook Your OWN Food!

by megalitz on March 5, 2012 in Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Recipes with No comments

Eating healthy becomes much easier when we are in control of what and how we cook. It is possible to find healthy meals outside of your own home, but you lose control over how such items are cooked. Eggs cooked in oil, sweet potatoes fried instead of baked… restaurants typically take the cheap and easy approach to all things. This week, we are going to focus on cooking our own food. This is going to be an essential concept in achieving a healthier lifestyle.

This week, you will cook at least 6 meals on your own. That means you, not a spouse or anyone else. This week you will prepare breakfast twice, lunch twice and dinner twice. This should prevent folks from only preparing say, breakfast for example, and taking the easy way out of the challenge. But none of you would do that, right? After all, this program is voluntary, and the goal is to step outside your comfort zone to learn new ways to become healthier. Everyday, at a minimum, you will be preparing one meal for yourself.

For some of you, this will be easier than others. This challenge is currently geared towards those that do not prepare very many meals for themselves. If you currently cook at least 6 meals on your own each week, you’re going to need to find a way to make this challenge one you will find more difficult. For instance, say you always prepare your own breakfast, always bring a fresh lunch (prepared by you, not a frozen meal) to work, and sometimes cook dinner for yourself… this week, I challenge you to cook dinner for yourself every day. Or maybe dinner isn’t the problem, but you’re a slave to the sodium-filled Lean Cuisines at lunch. If that is the case, challenge yourself to bring your lunch every day this week.

The point of these challenges is to make them difficult for yourself. If you come across a challenge that is going to be easy for you, find a way to modify it to ensure you will be learning something and at the end you will have taken something positive away from the week’s challenge. This is all about you, don’t forget that!

Below are some helpful resources I recommend for healthy recipes. Please try some new recipes this week, and if you find one you like, please share it with us! Do exercise caution, however. Healthy recipe sites will sometimes contain recipes that might contain healthy ingredients, but could be high in calories, etc. If you have questions, please feel free to email me!

Live Whole Be Free

CLEAN Program Recipes

Whole Foods

Chef Chloe

My New Roots

The Urban Poser

Skinny Scoop

100 Days of Real Food

You are in control of what you put into your body. You are responsible for how you look on the outside, and how you feel on the inside. Think of food as fuel. Ask yourself, is what I’m about to eat going to give my body the proper nutrients to function optimally? Good luck this week!

Peace, love and responsible eating,

Melissa

 

Vegan Mac ‘n’ Cheese (GF, DF, SF, V, V+)

by megalitz on March 4, 2012 in Nutrition, Recipes with No comments

This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegetarian and vegan, with a nut-free option available.

After several months of being dairy-free, there really wasn’t much I missed about it… until I read this recipe on ChefChloe.com, and I realized that I wanted Mac and Cheese. Badly! So I thought I’d give this vegan recipe a try and see if I couldn’t curb my craving without giving in to temptation. Luckily, it worked, and it is now one of my new favorite recipes!

Notes

  • Recipe Yields: ~4 servings
  • Prep Time: ~5 minutes
  • Cook Time: ~20 minutes
  • Notes: Can use regular pasta instead of gluten-free if you’d like

Ingredients

  • 1 pound gluten-free pasta (I used brown rice shells)
  • 3 cups broccoli florets
  • ¼ cup vegan margarine
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (or gluten-free all-purpose flour, or any other type of GF flour)
  • 3 cups almond or rice milk (I used almond)
  • ½ cup nutritional yeast (the cheese!)
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon agave

Preparation

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook according to directions on package, adding the broccoli for the last 5 minutes of cooking, cook until tender.
  2. At the same time, in a medium saucepan, whisk margarine and flour over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Add milk, yeast, tomato paste, salt and garlic powder to the saucepan, and bring to a boil, whisking frequently.
  3. Reduce heat to low and let simmer until sauce thickens.
  4. Adjust seasonings to your heart’s desire and stir in lemon juice and agave.
  5. Drain noodles/broccoli, add to sauce and serve immediately.
  6. Enjoy delicious mac and cheese without consuming any animal products! Hooray!
Thank you, Chef Chloe, for this amazing recipe. For more delicious vegan recipes, please check out her web site!

Week #6 Challenge — Compliments

by megalitz on February 22, 2012 in Fitness, Lifestyle with No comments

The Biggest Achiever Program is about improving ourselves mentally, physically and emotionally. In order to become happier and healthier on the outside, we have to work on the inside first. Although this week’s challenge is  bit different, it is equally important.

This week, your challenge is to give one compliment to yourself and one compliment to someone else, every single day. I urge you to step outside of your comfort zone on this, and give a complete stranger a compliment. When was the last time you remember getting a compliment from someone you’ve never met before and will likely never see again? Those compliments are very special, since the person giving them truly has nothing to gain in return. It always makes my day when I get a compliment like this, and with that knowledge, I try to do the same for others.

Now, you may give someone a compliment, and they may look at you as if you are from outer space. Forget about it. You are not giving this compliment for a sense of gratitude from them or anything in return. If they show appreciation, that’s just an added bonus. Also, try to give a compliment in regards to something about their personality, their body, their skill set, etc., instead of a material item. For example, telling someone they have beautiful eyes, a lovely smile, great muscles, a great personality, or that they are great at their job or are very well-spoken are better compliments than telling someone you like their shirt. Anyone can own that shirt, so although that is in fact a compliment, we’re seeking something a bit deeper here.

It is also important that you give yourself a compliment, every day. Find something you like about yourself, even if you think it’s tough. Maybe you did a good deed today, that is something worth complimenting. Perhaps you took the stairs instead of the elevator… that too, deserves a pat on the back. Find at least one thing that you can be proud of yourself for and say it out loud. Even better, leave it in the comments here! We want to draw attention to the positives in our lives. Doing that for ourselves and doing nice things for other people, make us feel good. When we feel good, life is better. Our worries don’t seem as big, goals seem more attainable, our stress levels decrease and the level of serotonin in our brains rises. Serotonin = good stuff.

I’m a strong believer that everything happens for a reason. I was in yoga when this challenge came to me, and wouldn’t you know it, two minutes later, a complete stranger came up to me and gave me a compliment. :)

Exercise Challenge — Push Ups

Every night before you go to bed, do push ups. Even better, do them in the morning and the evening! I’m not going to tell you how many, you will be dictating your own goals. To find/set your goal, do as many push ups as you can in a row, then every night, add one more to it. For example, if you can currently do 5 push ups in a row, tomorrow night, do 6. The next night you will do 7 push ups, and so on. The most important thing here is that you do the push up correctly. It is perfectly acceptable to modify the push up so that you are pushing your body up from your knees. If that is too difficult, you can do push ups in a standing position, against the wall. Doing the push up with proper form while showing control will build a solid foundation with the proper muscles. From here, you will be able to advance to other exercises, while decreasing the risk of injury. Click here to see the Mayo Clinic’s video showcasing proper form for modified push ups.

 

Good luck!

Peace, love and kind hearts,

Melissa

Week #5 Challenge — 12 Hour Detox

by megalitz on February 13, 2012 in Health, Lifestyle, Motivation with No comments

Congratulations on finishing the first month of the Biggest Achiever Program and welcome to month #2 of our three month program! I am proud to announce that many of you have been extremely successful on this program so far, not only with weight loss, but with an increasingly positive outlook on life in general!

I’ve gotten a lot of wonderful feedback on the program thus far, and as expected, some folks would like the program to be tougher and some think it’s tough enough already. That’s the beauty of a program like this, everyone is different. Everyone will progress at different rates and hit plateaus at different times. Just remember, when you feel like quitting, that’s a plateau, not failure. We all hit plateaus, it is normal to feel frustrated an uncertain any time you try to make a change, regardless if it’s for the better. Stay focused.

Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress. - Thomas Edison

As we enter the second month of the Biggest Achiever Program, I want you to continue to take it at your own speed, a speed at which you can be successful at, but one that also pushes your limits. If you don’t experience a sense of uneasiness, you will never see a change. So welcome that uncomfortable feeling you have, as it will make the feeling of accomplishment so much greater in the end.

This month, there will be more than one challenge at a time. You can choose to do one, two or three challenges. However, whatever you decide to do on Monday, you must stick with through the entire week. For instance, if you chose to participate in two challenges, you must finish both challenges. This teaches discipline. If you select one challenge, however, you CAN decide to add on more challenges as the week progresses. Since both a healthy diet and exercise are required for optimum health, some of these new challenges will involve exercise. Please check with your doctor to ensure you are healthy enough to participate in these exercises.

Week #5 Challenges

Main Challenge — 12 Hour Detox

This week’s challenge is to leave a 12 hour detox window between the last thing you eat at night and the first thing you eat in the morning. Yes, it requires a little planning, but mostly, it requires you to cut out unnecessary late night snacking!

The detoxification process kicks in 8 hours after your last meal and needs 4 hours to function optimally. It is after that 8 hour mark that your body has finished processing the last meal you ate. Once digestion is completed, accumulated toxins from the tissues are released into the bloodstream so that they can eventually be neutralized and eliminated with the help of nutrients. If the toxins are not eliminated, not only can they be reabsorbed into the bloodstream, but the free radicals that they contain corrode tissues and damage cells on contact. This is one reason why late night eating is discouraged. If your body never finishes processing your food before you eat again, it doesn’t have the chance to release other accumulated toxins. The reason we call that first meal of the day “breakfast” is because that’s exactly what we’re doing, we’re breaking the fast that has occurred overnight.

Secondary Challenge — Get Moving!

It’s important that we train ourselves to move more often. So that whole taking the stairs for a week thing? Yeah… we’re going to try to make that more of a lifestyle instead of just a weekly challenge. Read here for ideas on how to incorporate more movement into your everyday life, burning more and more calories, leading to… you guessed it… weight loss!
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