Abs Are Made In The Kitchen (Feed Me Fit)

“Abs are made in the kitchen”

We have all heard this right? It’s true.  I am a firm believer in this. You can train as consistently and hard as possible, be spot on with every bit of your training and still never achieve the results you want if your diet is not right. And those crunches? They aren’t going to help if you have a layer of fat over the muscles.

Above are my abs two weeks ago, below a week ago. Further below was Thursday (the evening before this posted).

I have just recently launched into my "6 pack ab" goal, never before have I attempted such a lofty goal! I asked Roy what to do and he advised that I do  Garhammer Raises, a lot more difficult than they look, here is a video of them:

I do these at home with my pull up attachment in the doorway of my son's room! Then comes Swiss ball crunches, lowering my back over the ball all the way down so my head almost touches the ground, then slowly up. I hold a very small 5 pound dumbbell at the back of my head. I do these at home in my guest room. My abs are burning after the Garhammer raises, the crunches really are difficult then. 

And lastly, crunches on the Glute Ham raise, again all the way down so there is a stretch in the abs, and slowly pull up using only the abs. 

I trained for years and never truly saw the physique I was yearning for until I started to consider my diet as important as my training. The two go hand in hand; they need each other so that you, as a whole can be complete.

I learned to eat properly first by hiring a nutritionist (who also happened to have been a Figure competitor previously), then I started reading every book on nutrition I could find.  After that it was all trial and error, finding what worked right for my body.

Your diet will change according to your goals. A  Powerlifter certainly will not eat the same as a Gymnast, who will not eat the same as a Sprinter. So you need to first have a good idea of your goals and what you are trying to create.

Many people really struggle with this, I find that interesting as I have absolutely no problem with this. First, cooking was my hobby before I started to seriously train. I can taste almost any dish at a restaurant and re-create it on my own. I often ask the wait staff about ingredients and express my interest, I have been invited back into the kitchen to watch and speak with the chef more times than I can recall.  I even won the “Build A Better Burger “contest in the Western United States many years ago! This is one big reason why my family isn’t always so keen on my competitions, all my wonderful “restaurant creations” get kicked to the curb when I am in competition mode. 

Even when dieting I seem to feel fairly satisfied with my diet; I still manage to create interesting and varied foods while adhering to a clean and nutrition diet.

But, for those of you who struggle, or don’t have time to cook, there is hope and flavor!

Feed Me Fit

Maggie Shih is the chef/proprietor of this service. She will plan and cook your meals so you don’t have to!  

Maggie is a Personal Trainer & Certified Fitness Chef who works with her clients to determine nutritional needs and will shop, cook and deliver meals all created specifically for you.   Maggie will even collaborate with your own personal trainer to discuss dietary needs if you prefer! 

Never heard of a Certified Fitness Chef? It is indeed a real designation!  Maggie is certified through the Spencer Institute, it is a NESTA (National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association) designation. 

I haven’t tried Maggies cooking yet, but I am very interested in learning more and I will soon. One of my attractions to the fitness industry (besides all of the beautiful bodies) is the passion that everyone has about their hobbies, interest and professions. It’s not an easy one; you must pour your heart and soul into it to be successful. Meeting others with the same passions and sharing experiences is a joy to me.

She and I have been trying to get together so I can see some of her creations first hand, and because of our demanding schedules, it keeps moving; but now it looks like we will be meeting at my home on Sunday where she will whip up some meals so I can give you a firsthand report.  I will be posting a blog with lots of pictures and reviews from our morning together.

In the meantime, she will be joining other health and wellness professionals at the San Jose Nutrishop, during a sponsored “wellness night” on Monday, March 25, 2013 from 4-7pm. You can stop by and sample some of her goodies, meet her and learn more about her services (since you cannot come into my kitchen on Sunday!) 

I will not be able to attend the Nutrishop wellness night because Roy and I will be training my hamstrings at the same time, and my training always comes first!

If you stop by, be sure to tell Maggie I sent you!

Look for my report on our morning of cooking next week. Check out Feed Me Fit on Facebook or Feed Me Fit website for more information.

Nutrishop South San Jose 

117 Bernal Road #10 San Jose, CA. 95119

I have not received any compensation or remuneration for this review, all views are my own. 

Life, Choices and my Dad

This past weekend I visited my father. I told Roy that all I could think about was driving 80 miles an hour along the California coast with the top down, munching on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He laughed and said he could picture me going so fast that the jelly was coming out the side of my mouth, along my cheek in a stream.


Well, after we trained Friday I made not one but two sandwiches, one was almond butter and no sugar apricot jam, the other was peanut butter and homemade fig preserves. Both on Alvarado Street Bakery Essential Flax bread- it has only 100 calories for TWO slices and 15 grams carbs. And it is really, really good!


I zoomed along with the music blasting in the warm air, it was almost 90 degrees there! The sandwiches were one of the best things I have eaten in ages.


I visited my fathers local gym twice, it used to be a Gold's but is now called Santa Maria Health Club. I like this place, it has almost everything I need. I feel comfortable here, it is a huge cavernous weight room and a small cardio area. Most of the guys come in wearing hoodies with the hood on, I am not sure why, but that's the style here. Maybe because it's a fighters gym. They have an octagon in one corner, an area with 16 heavy bags in the other and loads of equipment.

I noticed many women taking a cardio kickboxing class one day, funny that women tend to gravitate to those classes, the instructor looked good, but still, she doesn't lift weights so she was "skinny fat", her toned looking legs would jiggle as she jumped about.


Saturday was hams, quads and calves and they had some equipment I don't have at my gym so I changed it all up. 


Laying leg curl
Standing leg curl (loved this one)
Deadlifts
Front squats
Walking lunges
Donkey calf raise (we need one of these)
Standing calf raise (they have a dedicated machine)
Cadio


I got home three hours later (the place is 13 miles from his house) and we started to talk about life.


My dad has cancer. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer a little over a year ago, had a successful esophojectomy, radiation, chemo and the works, but is has metastasized in his liver. 


In the picture at the top of this post he is measuring the plaque he had made in memory of his neighbor, Bob. Bobs wife Judy just past away, so we needed to get the size for yet another one.


My Dad is a very, very smart man and he has always been very supportive of me and my health choices (meaning my exercise, competing and diet).  He never said anything negative about my habit of toting special packages of cooked food everywhere, eating different things than the rest of the family, my need for so many meals. But I don't think he ever understood, ever realized the importance. 


He talked a lot on the weekend, I suppose when you are faced with death, there is a lot to say.


He looked at me and said "Kristy, what you do is valid. Your devotion to health, to your diet, the care you take with the food you prepare. Your family is very lucky that they have you."


He said until now, he had not realized or understood how important it all is to life, the difference it can make between living and dying.  The difference between a comfortable old age and a painful one. It felt good to hear that, to be validated by such a smart guy.


We talked about a book he thinks I shall enjoy called The Watchman's Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction and I do plan to buy it, in fact my son expressed a great interest in it too when I explained it to him.


We talked about themes in the book, for instance, he asked what I thought of the obesity epidemic in the United States. Was it a personal choice, or systemic? Instantly I said systemic. I know we can all make choices, but when society teaches people that formula is better for babies than breast milk, when McDonald's happy meals are OK for a 3 year old, when sugar coated cereals are a healthy breakfast, society is failing, and is doomed. 


We can make choices, but it is becoming increasingly more difficult to make the right choice, and we all need to make a stand to change that. If you care about yourself, and your loved ones, do what is right, and start by loving and respecting your body. 

New Nutritional Guidlines

It's about time, that's all I can say. We all know that smoking dropped dramatically once they stopped advertising on TV right? Look how appealing this would be to a young male:

These people should be taken out into a field and shot like rabid dogs.

But the industry will be changing, and it's good for all of us! Take a moment to read this article.

Citing the goal of reducing childhood obesity, an interagency working group (IWG) comprising four federal agencies has released a set of proposed voluntary guidelines for the nutritional content of foods and beverages marketed to children and teens ages 2 through 17.

In 2009, Congress directed the Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to form an IWG to develop such recommendations.

The proposed voluntary guidelines recommend that food makers adhere to specific limitations on saturated fat, trans fat, added sugars and sodium in foods marketed to children. At the same time, they recommend that companies use advertising and marketing to “encourage children to choose foods that make meaningful contributions to a healthful diet from food groups including vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk products, fish, extra-lean meat and poultry, eggs, nuts or seeds, and beans.”

The proposal calls for food marketers, including restaurants, to “strive” to meet specified initial/interim nutritional and marketing criteria by 2016, and final targets by 2021. The proposal identifies 10 food/beverage categories that account for the vast majority of spending for marketing to children and teens, and recommends that the industry focus on these. Those categories are breakfast cereals, snack foods, dairy products, baked goods, carbonated and non-carbonated beverages, prepared foods/meals, frozen and chilled desserts, and restaurant foods.

Specific nutritional guidelines for the amounts of “healthful” nutrients products in each of these groups (full proposal PDF download), as well as the recommended limits on “negative” nutrients, are laid out.

The proposal calls for companies, by 2016, to meet the following limits on “negative nutrients” per RACC (federally determined “reference amount customarily consumed” which is not necessarily the same as “serving size”): saturated fat at 1 gram or less and representing 15% or less of calories; zero trans fat; no more than 13 grams of added sugars; and no more than 210 milligrams of sodium.

To define what “marketing to children” encompasses, the proposal uses 20 categories of advertising, marketing and promotional activities identified by the FTC in its 2006 and follow-up studies on food marketing to children.

Interested parties now have 45 days to comment on the proposal (including during a forum on May 24 in Washington, D.C.) before the group submits its final report to Congress.

The IWG’s summary states that the proposal “seeks to advance current industry efforts” in regard to the nutritional value of foods marketed to children.” However, it stresses statistics including: one-third of American children are overweight or obese; cookies, cakes, pizza, and soda/energy/sports drinks are the top sources of calories in the diets of children 2 to 18; and chips and French fries comprise half of all the vegetables eaten by children.

“The food industry spent more than $1.6 billion in 2006 alone to market messages to kids promoting foods that often are high in calories and low in nutrition,” the report states. “Their campaigns use television, the Internet, social media. video games, movies, sports and music events, in-store displays and packaging and even schools.” It also states that recent surveys show childhood obesity as being parents’ #1 health concern about their children, and that parents consider “TV ads promoting junk food” to be a big part of the problem.

Nutrition advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest has long maintained that efforts of individual food makers and the 17 companies voluntarily participating in the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ Children’s Food and Beverage Initiative (launched in 2005) are not producing enough improvement. CSPI cites, for example, its research showing that ads for foods of “poor nutritional quality” on Nickelodeon decreased only from 88% to 79% of food ads between 2005 and 2009.

“A key weakness of the current self-regulatory approach…is that each company has its own strategically tailored standards,” and that many have “loopholes,” Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy at CSPI, said in a statement following the proposal’s release “If companies are serious about addressing marketing to children, they’ll agree to follow the proposed national marketing standards.”

Industry Groups Respond

Timed to coincide with the proposal’s release, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Association of National Advertisers released results of new research conducted for the associations by Georgetown Economic Services. This study shows that the average number of food/beverage ads viewed on children’s programming by children 2 to 11 fell by 50% between 2004 and 2010.

“In recent years, food and beverage companies have adopted strict nutrition standards that have fundamentally changed the advertising landscape,” stated GMA president/CEO Pamela G. Bailey. “Since 2005, there has been a significant decrease in overall food and beverage advertising on children’s programs, coupled with a dramatic increase in ads featuring healthier product choices and healthy lifestyle messages.”

This research shows that kids’ show ads for a number of product categories decreased by large percentages over the six-year period: cookies (ads down 99%), soft drinks (down 96%), candy (down 68%), and frozen/refrigerated pizza (down 95%). Ads for breads/ pastries/ waffles/pancakes, gum/mints and snack bars fell by nearly 100%, according to the study. Ads for fruit and vegetable juices have increased by 199%.

The release stresses that food and beverage makers have in recent years changed the recipes of more than 20,000 products (all products, not just those marketed primarily to children) to reduce calories, sodium, sugar and fat, and that the industry is now implementing its own front-of-package nutritional labeling system.

In a separate release, ANA EVP, government relations Dan Jaffe termed the agencies’ recommendations “sweeping and in our view overly restrictive proposals which become dramatically more restrictive after a five-year phase-in period.”

“Despite calling these proposals ‘voluntary,’ the government clearly is trying to place major pressure on the food, beverage and restaurant industries on what can and cannot be advertised,” Jaffe stressed.

The IWG’s focus on the 10 product categories is based on “limited and outdated” ad spending data from 2006, Jaffe pointed out, citing the data from the just-released Georgetown study for GMA and ANA. He also questioned the group’s logic in stating that it is considering “a more narrowly defined, yet still restrictive, set of guidelines geared toward adolescents covering various forms of new media.”

However, Jaffe added that ANA is “encouraged by [the IWG's] support for self-regulation.”

In addition to food makers’ nutritional and advertising efforts, he noted that The Ad Council is working with First Lady Michelle Obama on her “Let’s Move” initiative and with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on its “Small Step” program. Media companies have donated nearly a half-billion dollars in public service advertising time and space to these programs, he reported.

Source: MediaPost.com

Leaning Out

You don't see me with my clothes on often do you? Ha Ha!

I always get a little extra boost when I start getting to this point, I like to wear form fitting clothes, but I also like the "form" to be "fit"....

Here I am Tuesday after work, these are one of my Lucky brand jeans, soft and worn and they shall now be relegated to the "larger" end of the closet, they are size 2.

I have clothes arranged by size since it fluctuates so much throughout the year. I have 0's to 4's. I think I may have a couple 5's in there somewhere, but they must be "skinny" 5's if you know what I mean.

I can see how people go on a diet and get discouraged, it takes time! When I get to this point things continue rapidly so I have to be careful, and being careful means beef more often (it has more calories and slightly higher fat), and peanut butter! Yum!

Recently I wrote about the changes I made to my diet, but unless you follow me and have for a while, you have no idea what it was to start out! So, let me give you a run down of a typical day for me (now).

Keep in mind I am giving estimates and I am including the calories, carbs and proteins for the vegetables. Many people don't even count them.

4:15 am Supplements & Lean 1 meal replacement drink
       200 calories; 20 grams protein; 18 grams carbs

6:30 am Supplements & Endurox R4 Recovery drink (1 scoop only)
       135 calories; 6.5 grams protein; 26 grams carbs

7:45 am Homemade Waffles (egg whites, oats, flavorings)
       300 calories; 31 grams protein; 39 grams carbs (if you are counting only starchy carbs it would be 27 grams)

11:30 am Lunch #1 Supplements & 4 ounces chicken breast; 3 ounces lentils; 2 cups vegetables
       320 calories; 37 grams protein; 29 grams carbs (if you were counting only starchy carbs it would be 17 grams)

3:00 pm Lunch #2 4 ounces chicken breast; 3 ounces black beans; 2 cups vegetables
       320 calories; 37 grams protein; 29 grams carbs;  (if you are counting only starchy carbs it would be 17 grams)

Here is a picture of Lunch #1 and 2 the day before, I have a lot of it pre-measured and frozen, I assemble it the evening before.

5:45 pm Dinner Supplements & Homemade Curried Chicken and Cauliflower soup (I make a bunch and freeze it in bags)
      186 calories; 24 grams protein; 15 grams carbs  (if counting only starchy carbs zero)

8:30 pm Bedtime meal Supplements & 1 cup egg whites with 1 cup spinach
      160 calories; 29 grams protein; 14 grams carbs,  (if you are counting only starchy carbs, zero)

Add to this the nuts I eat, about 1/8 cup total (3 before each starch meal), using cashews as an example:

80 calories, 2.5 grams protein and 4 grams carbs (6 grams fat) Nuts add up!

9:00 pm Sleepy time tea.....
     

So grand totals:

Calories 1701; Protein 187; carbs 174 (but only 61 starchy).

The starches are very low but I make up for it in vegetables! The vegetables keep me full, provide fiber and energy and my muscles are super full despite the low starches. In this (rough) calculation I added the calories from any splenda too.

There are days when my starches will be much higher, and my calories might be also. For instance I occasionally have starch at dinner, the key is keeping it different so your body adapts to the variances.

Do not get in the rut of eating the same thing day in and day out, just like weight training, your body will make sure it adjusts to that and it will maintain it's weight, that's what it is designed to do. Your body was designed to survive quite well on what it gets, and survive with a layer of fat!

The Endurox R4 is a specially formulated recovery drink that is high in carbs. It is the preferred ratio of 4 to 1 (carbs to protein), studies show this is the best ratio of nutrients to ingest immediately after weight training. When not dieting to lose fat I will use 2 scoops of this.


I take a lot of BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acids) and Amino Acids throughout the day. I will write more on my supplements at another time, because that's not where you start. That is why they are called "supplements", they are meant to be added to an existing good diet!


Add to this very low caloric intake my exercise today:


1 1/4 hours heavy weight training (it was leg day again!)
Stairs/jump rope at lunch, run up 300 stairs, run down 300 stairs, jump rope 300 times.

Tuesday is not a day I go to the gym after work.

Back in the saddle

I got home from Mexico Thursday night, the limo dropped us at about 11:00 p.m. it was oh so cold and wet, what a change. David stayed up and started laundry, Cooper took a very long, hot shower then switched on the TV he hadn't seen in days. I crawled into bed as soon as I could, I was exhausted.

I woke early, it was 5:30 and I couldn't sleep any longer, I crept quietly out of bed and started back into my routine. First, continue laundry. We would be leaving in a couple hours to go see Pop, so there was lots to do. After laundry I would need to pack some clothes for a cold, Central Valley climate!

I bundle up in a coat and go out into the garage to set up my weeks worth of protein drinks for pre-workout (first meal); amino acids for post training; and my branched chain amino acids for fluid during training.

I keep it all on my dryer in the garage, and since I am such an organized creature of habit, and always really tight on time, I find that getting everything ready for a week works well and I have what I need at all times. I can then just grab what I need and go.

I was actually craving a chocolate Lean 1 drink, and was happy to start my day with one.

I drink a Lean 1 combined with other supplements every morning. I also take L-Leucine, caffeine, Beta-Alanine and L-Glutamine.


For my drink while training I have X-Tend branched chain amino acids, and then afterward I take Gold Medal Aminos from Fitness Nutrition, a company started by Dara Torres (Olympic Swimmer).

Here you can see the concoctions all measured out and ready to go. The purple tops are the pre-training protein meal (and the other supplements added), it's like my own Ready-To- Drink, just add the mixture to water in a shaker cup!

The smaller containers in front center are the measured X-Tend (orange) and the medium sized ones on the right are the Gold Medal Aminos.

Every night I take one of each from the basket in the garage, put them on the kitchen counter and when I hop out of bed at 4:00 a.m. I have what I need. I mix my protein concoction with water in a shaker cup and take my supplements with it while I read the sports page, I then mix the X-Tend in my water bottle and take the Gold Medal Aminos in my gym bag to take immediately post training.

Supplements are also in daily pill reminder cases, I have four of them, morning, lunch, evening and bedtime. Again, all filled up on the weekend and the lunch times are carried in my purse, so I always have them.

Anal? A bit, but it helps me to be successful.

Sometimes when the sports page is boring I read my horoscope. I know they are silly and not true, nor can they be tailored for each individual, but sometimes it makes me feel really, really good. Today was one of those days and I know it was written just for me.

It said this:

You'll soon be involved in a project to restore, refurbish, or revive. What you wind up with will be an improvement on what came before.

Interpret it the way you will, I know what spoke to me, and it was immediate. Baby steps, giant leaps, zigs and zags, but all leading me in the right direction.

Proper Nutrition

My husband and son always laugh when I drink this right before bed, they say it looks like I am drinking melted butter.

It is actually amino acids.

I take a lot of amino acids and branched chain amino acids. They are the building blocks of muscle.

You will hear just about everyone say you need to eat a lot of protein to gain muscle, what you actually need is the amino acids that your body is able to pull out of the protein.

I eat the correct amount of protein, as prescribed by a nutritionist and I also drink a lot of amino acids.

Proper nutrition is a balanced diet, year round. You cannot go on a diet for a length of time, get ripped then go back to eating like the average Joe and expect to stay ripped.

Won't work, guaranteed.

You can relax your diet, but you can never give up the "clean" eating, not if you want to keep that gorgeous body.

Just like the human body adapts to training, requiring constant changes to keep from becoming stagnant and cease growing, the human body adapts to nutrition.

Eat the same old stuff day in and day out and soon you will suffer. You won't show gains, you may start having gastrointestinal issues, your body will rebel.

That is why it is imperative to eat seasonally. You need to include many different foods in your diet, one day you may have beans for your starch and one day brown rice (NEVER white). They have a different caloric value, and that is good, some days your calories are slightly higher than others. Keeps it guessing, just like in training.

Varying your foods is also good for your head- psychologically I mean.

I won't get into carb cycling, this is about a diet for life, not a diet for an event.

Include bright vegetables, greens, fresh fruit. If you choose what is in season (locally, not in Chile), then it will have the highest nutrient content, and you are sure to never get tired of the same foods as they will change with the seasons.

Adelle Davis

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.

Since  learning about nutrition and how it effects my body composition and physique, I have come to embrace this philosophy. It is definitely not the American lifestyle though, so it can be a challenge most of the time.

Most of us have heard the quote above, but few know who to attribute it to. The quote is a wise one when attempting to keep body fat to a minimum, you should fill up early in the day, not late at night. 

The picture is a fish stew I made, and it is inexpensive and wonderful. You can write me if you really want a detailed recipe, but is is basically white fish, any shell fish (I use what looks good at the time), tomatoes, fish both, saffron, salt, pepper, onions, bay leaves and parsley. I like to add some beans to it for a starch, but it isn't really part of it. 

Those not watching their calories can dip in lots of crusty bread!

Other food for thought from Adelle Davis:

“To say that obesity is caused by merely consuming too many calories is like saying that the only cause of the American Revolution was the Boston Tea Party.”

“If this country is to survive, the best-fed-nation myth had better be recognized for what it is: propaganda designed to produce wealth but not health”

 “Thousands upon thousands of persons have studied disease. Almost no one has studied health.”

"Since we spend approximately a thousand hours a year eating our meals, they should be pleasant hours”

 “As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself. “

“We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.”

Adelle Davis, one of the country’s best known nutritionists, was born in 1904, and lived an active 70 years. In 1938 she received her Masters from Purdue University , graduated from University of California at Berkeley , and took postgraduate work at Columbia University and the University of California at Los Angeles before receiving her Master of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Southern California Medical School . Throughout her career, she worked with physicians, beginning in New York with dietetics training at Belluvue and Fordham Hospitals, her first job at the Judson Health Clinic.

Later in Oakland, California and then in Los Angeles, she worked as a consulting nutritionist with physicians at the Alameda County Health Clinic and the William E. Branch Clinic in Hollywood as well as seeing patients referred to her by numerous specialists. After planning individual diets for more than 20,000 people suffering from almost every known disease, she gave up consulting work to devote her time to her family, writing, and lecturing.

Adelle Davis was the author of four best selling books: “Let’s Cook It Right”, “Let’s Have Healthy Children”, “Let’s Get Well”, and “Let’s Eat Right To Keep Fit”.

Adelle Davis was a visionary. When going back through her history it is amazing to realize the impact Adelle had on the most recent and popular diets that are the craze now. Dr. Barry Sears, author of “The Zone” speaks very highly of Adelle Davis and her impact on his discoveries. Thirty years ago Adelle Davis was a supporter of Dr. Atkins, founder of “The Atkins Diet”. Adelle Davis was the pioneer of the nutritional revolution. Her teachings and writings influenced people striving for health and wellness long before our time.

Adelle Davis’s Nutritional Philosophy

Adelle lived and wrote in the post-World War II era, which was enthralled with freedom of choice. The motto of the Health Food Movement, if indeed one of the many could be chosen, was “Freedom of Choice in Nutrition.” Blind freedom is “not freedom, but license”, and Adelle was determined that her clients and readers would not be in the dark about the scientific basis of nutritional education.

Adelle Davis gives us the kernel of the research in nutrition, based on experiments and scientific writings that she read voluminously and thoroughly. She received her Masters Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Southern California, and practiced professional nutritional counseling for 35 years, applying to thousands of cases, the solid scientific research she had made herself thoroughly responsible for.
 
Adelle Davis noted that the body does best when all of the known nutrients have been available, as well as fresh food sources for obtaining nutrients yet to be discovered by science. She writes so often, “When the diet is made adequate…” The key to this philosophy is knowing the amounts of nutrients that the body requires under given conditions, one can make educated decisions about what substances to include in the diet. This is true freedom of choice in nutrition. Without knowing the research, one cannot judge what amounts are necessary to avoid vitamin deficiencies.

The crux of her findings boil down to this: deficiencies in vitamins, mineral elements, or other nutrients can cause illness that is reversed when the nutrients are added to the diet in an educated way, and “when the diet is made adequate” in all other respects.

My mother used to talk about what a wise woman Adelle Davis was, and I agree. Check out some of her books, she was cutting edge at the time and her advise still is.

Cheesecake Factory

"R" and I were heading out for a little shopping and we needed lunch first. I picked her up at the club and off we went to Valley Fair with our first stop the Cheesecake Factory in the mall.

I had never set foot in one before, but I had heard the name countless times. I think it must be the most popular place for Figure competitors immediately after a competition.

I had a copy of the nutritional facts in my hand and I was astounded by the calories in their foods. 

I needed protein and some greens, and a little carbs too, shouldn't be difficult but the Cheesecake Factory is an evil, evil empire.

Don't get me wrong, I had a great lunch and a fun time with "R" but only because she and I are wise to their tricks and we know how to select a healthy meal.

We were seated and a young, college age waiter come over and started to tell us about the specials. 

Waiter: "We have cream of chick" 

Kristy: "No" I said, "No cream, thanks", so he went on 

Waiter: "Breaded and fried...."

Kristy: "No, no fried. I know what I would like. What is in your Chicken Caesar salad?'

Waiter: Romaine, chicken, Parmesan, creamy garlic Caesar dressing..."

Kristy: "Chicken breast right?"

Waiter: "Yes, chicken breast"

Kristy: "I would like romaine lettuce, chicken breast, Parmesan cheese on the side, no croutons, no dressing"

Waiter: "Oh, right, I forgot the croutons.."

R: "I will have the same"

Waiter: "I'll bring the bread"

Kristy: "No bread, thanks"

Waiter: "Looks like I have some healthy eaters today!"

Most people think a salad is healthy, most salads are anything but healthy. In the link below you can see Cheesecake Factory's nutrition charts, the Chicken Caesar is 976 calories, that is almost half my daily caloric intake. They show the saturated fat, but not all the fat....

Cheesecake Factory Nutrition

The calories and fat are coming from the salad dressing and the croutons, a bit from the cheese but dry cheeses are low calorie and not a huge cause of concern. So that is why I told him to leave them off.

He delivered the salad dressing on the side in two gravy boats, it appeared to have been about 1/3 cup each!  On top of that, their food is served on serving platters, the portions should be illegal.

Unfortunately is it quite clear by looking around that many of the patrons frequent this place often.

I brought my own dressing (I was prepared). This is great dressing, low cal and wonderful flavor.

Here is the back, and in case you cannot read it, the nutrition is as follows:

1 Tbsp

15 calories

1 gram fat

115 grams sodium

1 gram carbs

1 gram sugar

1 gram protein

You can see my salad at the very top, and my container that I transported the dressing in. It made a great salad, and a healthy one as opposed to the impostor they attempted to serve me.

As we ate the waiter came back, rested his hand on my shoulder and asked how everything was, "R" and I both froze. "Fine, thanks, everything is great" I said.

'What was that?" R asked..."I have no idea, I have never been touched by  waitstaff at a restaurant before..." It made the entire event even more surreal.

He came back with the bill and said based on what we ordered, he knew that dessert was out of the question.

Not only was he cute, but darn smart too!

Salad Lyonnaise

One of my favorite salads, Salad Lyonnaise. It can be rather fattening if you order it at a restaurant, but if you make it yourself, it can be quite delicious and good for you at the same time.

Salad Lyonnaise is made with frisee, with a mustard vinaigrette, croutons, lardoons and a poached egg on top. Most people automatically assume a salad is healthy and a great diet choice. Not so, in fact, most restaurant salads are as calorie laden as a cheese burger and just as fattening.

To start with, the salad dressing is always a killer. It is laden with fat and they put way too much on, the greens are almost always swimming in oil.

Croutons are also covered in oil, they are fried!

Lardoons? Those are just long, thick slices of bacon.....

So how do you make this at home so it tastes good and you aren't ruining your diet?

Make your own dressing, but make a white wine mustard vinaigrette:

1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp grainy mustard
1 Tbsp Flax oil
pepper
1 packet splenda

Then, don't fry croutons, but cut some whole grain or ezekiel bread into large squares, bake it in a 400 degree oven, turning occasionally until crisp, 10 minutes. Or toast it and cut it into cubes.

Cut turkey bacon into thick slices, then fry or microwave and drain well.

Toss the frisee with some of the vinaigrette, croutons and lardoons, then top with a poached egg. The egg should still have a warm, runny yolk so that when you cut into it, the warm yolk mixes with the salad greens. Sprinkle on some chopped chives and a couple grindings of pepper.

Delicious!

Good Carbs Bad Carbs

What exactly are carbohydrates? There are many kinds, but when I say "carbs" I am referring to starchy carbs, things such as:

Beans, oats, brown rice, barley, black eyed peas, corn, corn tortillas, cream of wheat/rye/rice, kashi, lentils, peas, potatoes, yams, quinoa, rice cakes.

These are all good for you and they are the "carbs" that need to be weighed or measured. You should have one serving of these at every meal (except your last meal if you eat just before bed). Although when I am intentionally eating to gain weight, I will eat carbs at my last meal. In fact, I will increase all of my starchy carbs at each meal by 2 ounces and that does the trick! So you can see why you do not want to over eat carbs if you are trying to loose weight.

Vegetables and fruits are also "carbs" but they are not starchy carbs, they are packed with nutrients and fiber and have very little calories. You can eat these with abandon, eat as much as you like. So nutritionists do not generally refer to fruits and vegetables as "carbs", they will refer to them as "fruits" and "vegetables".

Two caveats:

Fruit is high in sugar, so if you are attempting to really lower body fat, these should be limited to a couple servings a day, and pre-competition, eliminated all together.

Some vegetables are classified as "starchy" carbs, you may have noticed them in the list above. Peas and corn. If you are eating these two, they count as your starch, not your vegetable so weigh or measure them.

All of the above complex carbohydrates (good carbs) are high fiber foods, which improve your digestion, they help stabilize the blood sugar, keep your energy at an even level, and help you feel satisfied longer after your meal.

A mistake I see occur quite frequently is someone thinks they are eating healthy, so they load up their plate with a big plain baked potato and an ear of corn...no, no, no! You can only choose one of those as they are both "carbs", you need a vegetable in place of one.

Now we have the simple (bad) carbohydrates, the ones that you need to limit or avoid all together. Which you chose depends on your goals. If you are competing, you won't eat anything on the list below for a few months before your competition. If you are not, then some of this is OK, in moderation.

Pasta, refined breads , crackers, cereals, chips, candy, anything made with flour, flour tortillas, fruit juice, sugar, corn syrup, any packaged food. Sugar and other simple carbohydrates can alter your mood, lead to cravings and compulsive eating, cause wide swings in your blood-sugar levels, and cause weight gain in most people. These foods also tend to be very high in calories.

I eat 6 times a day. My first meal is a shake (with 20 grams of carbs) and my last meal is egg whites and spinach, so "technically" it has no carbs.

The other 4 meals all contain one of the above starchy carbs. I eat a great deal of brown rice, quinoa, yams and beans at lunches and dinner. Breakfast usually contains oats or cream of rice.

I eat bread on occasion, but it is usually one of those dense, really dark, heavy rye or spelt breads and I toast it and put low sugar jam and/or peanut butter on it.

Remember the good carbs are the "fuel" that keeps you going, keeps your brain functioning, your muscles round and full looking. These are also the really tasty ones, like the big baked potato, so it is easy to over eat- hence the need to weigh them.

Remember, packaged food is the enemy! The more that a food has been altered from its natural state, the less nutrients it has and just becomes a lot of useless calories.