Have a Drink This Weekend!

The term “Beer Belly” gets thrown around quite a bit when it comes to drinking.  But fear not!  The term may not be all it’s cracked up to be.  It all depends on what you drink, how much you drink and what you eat while you’re drinking.

Think about every single time you watch a commercial with alcohol in it, every picture you see with alcohol in it, where they place the alcohol in stores and what you think about eating when you imagine yourself having a few drinks while watching the big game.  What do you think about?  Fatty foods.  Most of the reason people gain the weight is because of the food you eat while you are drinking, but not the drinking itself.  Of course it’s great to eat nachos, burgers, fries and chicken wings once in a while, but when you do don’t blame it on the alcohol (no Jamie Fox / T-Pain bun intended).   Here are a few other reasons why you should allow you to indulge yourself in a couple of drinks this weekend.

1.) Having 1-2 drinks every other day or so lowers your risk of heart disease and having a heart attack.

2.) People who drink 1 or 2 drinks every other day or so have less body fat then those who only drink every few weeks but have 5 or more drinks at a time.

3.) Wine has a ton of antioxidants in it to prevent sickness and disease.

4.) Guinness has a surprisingly low amount of carbs and is one of the better darker beers for you.  Stick to Guinness when drinking dark beers.  Other good options are pilsners, lagers, goldens and most light colored beers.  STAY AWAY from the fruity options!  They are filled with carbs and sugars!

So go ahead, have a few drinks this weekend.  Just make sure you are being responsible, only sticking to only a few drinks and not eating too much junk to go along with it.  Have fun and until tomorrow, spend Everyday Living Fit!

Guiltless Sweet Potato Fries!

Tired of going out to eat and feeling bad about not being able to get what you want because you’re afraid of what it’ll do to your body?  Well fear no more!  Here’s a recipe for sweet potato fries that you won’t have to feel one bit bad about!  But first a few reasons on why sweet potatoes are healthy for you.

1.) While white potatoes have slow digesting carbs that stick with you all day, sweet potatoes have fast digesting carbs (which you need) and will burn quickly.  This means your body won’t store the carbs as fat.

2.) There’s Beta-Carotene in them, along with many other vitamins, which prevents heart disease and cancer.

Here’s the recipe!

Guiltless Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

1 large sweet potato

2 tbs. olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1.) Preheat oven at 425

2.) Cut sweet potatoes into fry shapes or wedges, whichever you prefer

3.) In a large bowl, mix fries, olive oil, salt and pepper.

4.) Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil and spread fries out evenly

5.) Cook for 25-30 minutes flipping halfway

6.) Enjoy!

These sweet potato fries are one of my favorites!  Don’t forget to check back daily for new health and fitness tips.  Don’t be afraid to comment or leave suggestions! 

Until tomorrow, spend Everyday Living Fit!

Image Source: http://www.theculinarylife.com

Take You Leg Workout to the Next Level With Balance Ball Squats!

No one likes leg workouts. But if you’re going to do them, you might as well get the most out of it.  Enough with the leg extension and leg curl machines!  Those are bad for your knees and don’t do nearly as much for your legs as Balance Ball Squats do!  Balance Ball Squats work every part of your legs, including your calves. 

When you squat, whether it’s with or without weights, you work your entire lower body and your core.  Doing squats on a balance ball exponentially amplifies the results!  This is because all of the smaller muscles around your legs, ankles, calves and core have to work that much harder to keep you balanced.  This is a great exercise you should definitely put in your leg routine.  Start with three sets of no weights for a few weeks then work your way up to holding dumbbells while you do it.  Here’s how it’s done.

1 – Stand on an upside down balance ball as shown in the picture above.

2 – For the first few times, extend your arms in front of you to keep your balance until you get used to it.

3 – Slowly squat down until your knees are at 90 degree angles. 

4 – Slowly stand back up.

Beware, your first few times you will shake like crazy at the bottom of the squat because all of your smaller supporting muscles aren’t used to being worked out.  You’ll love the way you feel the next day and you will love the results!

Good luck!  Until tomorrow, spend Everyday Living Fit!

Image Source: http://www.fitplan.com

Get More Out Of Cardio!

When you stand on the elliptical for a half hour and barely break a sweat, doesn’t that tell you that something isn’t right?  Long cardio sessions in which you’re barely breathing hard aren’t the best way to spend your time at the gym.  In fact, they actually burn more muscle than they do fat.  In order to maximize the fat burning process in a cardio session you should be doing High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT.

HIIT is about going almost as hard as you can for a short period of time and then resting a minute.  The idea is to keep your body guessing.  When you’re speeding up then slowing down your heart and body have to work harder to keep up, which is why you burn more fat.   For example, I use the stair climber.  I turn it on as high as I can so I’m literally sprinting on the steps for 30 seconds and then turn it down to a slow speed for 60 seconds.  This can be done on the treadmill, elliptical, stair climber, row machine, bike or even doing sprints outside.  Here are some more facts to persuade you.

1 – You burn more fat by doing less cardio. HIIT burns more calories in20 minutes than you would in an hour of long distance at an easier work rate. 

2 – After HIIT your body will continue to burn fat for up to 24 hours where as a slow, long distance will only continue to burn fat for 15 minutes after a workout!

3 – It makes the time FLY by!  You’re constantly just looking forward to the next 30 seconds or a minute.  By doing so you forget about the total amount of time you have to reach.  You’ll be at 20 or 30 minutes in no time!

So next time you are going to do some cardio, try 20 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training.  You’ll be amazed at what you were missing by doing those long elliptical sessions all the time.  Start at 20 minutes then work your way up to more.  Good luck and until tomorrow, spend Everyday Living Fit!

Time For a New Playlist

There’s been plenty of times where I’ve turned on my iPod at the beginning of a workout and thought, “I’m so tired of listening to this same playlist over and over again!” And it actually causes me to lose motivation. Change it up a little!  This week, your goal should be to make a new playlist to workout to.   Here’s a list below of websites that have great playlist selections for your new mix.

The Ultimate Workout Mix – All Genres

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/13/145185920/the-ultimate-npr-workout-mix?ft=3&f=114113159&sc=nl&cc=mn-20120116

Popular Songs Right Now

http://www.billboard.com

25 Best Rap Songs to Workout to of All time

http://rap.about.com/od/songs/tp/BestHipHopWorkoutSongs.htm

Rock Workout Mix

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7kmPzh1Pg0MAohdXNyoA?p=rock%20workout%20playlist&fr2=sb-top&fr=yfp-t-372

Sometimes all it takes is tweaking the little things to get you motivated again.  Check these sites out, make a new playlist and get back in the gym more motivated then ever!  Until tomorrow, spend Everyday Living Fit!

Thanks to James from Sharky and the Habit for the Ultimate Workout Mix site

Image Source: http://mindofmurph.blogspot.com