Peanut Butter Sushi!? & Product Recommendation (Below)

What you’ll need:

2 slices of bread

Peanut butter to smear (amount to your preference)

Choice of filling:

-Apples

-Bananas (personal favorite!) 

-Celery

-Peanuts

-Cinnamon-Sugar etc.

Honey (optional)

Easy as 1-2-3…4!

1. Using a rolling pin, flatten out the two pieces of bread. One slightly overlapping the other, until they are both evenly flat and wide.
2. Smear on a big ‘ol spoonful of peanut butter, offset a bit to one side.
3. Thinly slice (long ways or hot dog style) whatever topping you have on deck, place it in the middle of the PB and roll her up nice and tight.
4. Cut into about 6 even sushi pieces, drizzle a little honey on top if you’d like, grab some chopsticks and enjoy!

Even if you went the cinnamon-sugar route, you just made yourself a cheap and healthy little snack that looks pretty damn cool too. Take that over-priced sushi buffets! 

Kon’nichiwa!

Here’s another healthy snack, which I came across today as a matter of fact:

 VitaTops. These surprisingly delicious and quite filling muffin tops are only 100 calories and 2g of fat each, while providing 8g of fiber and up to 5g of protein. They make for a perfect breakfast, snack or dessert, which can apparently be “walked off in 13 minutes”. With flavors ranging from banana nut to apple crumb, and from deep chocolate to chocolate mint, there’s bound to be something in there that you’ll like. They've even recently added a VitaEgg Sandwich, plain and with veggies, both between a whole wheat english muffin! Pick some up at Publix, or check out their website by clicking the name above. 

The Ultimate Full-Body Workout

Warm up with a 5 minute jog on a treadmill, increasing the speed by .5 every 30 seconds so you end with a bit of a sprint to get your heart rate up and work up a bit of a sweat. 

The fun begins:

Legs- (By starting with legs, your able to lift heavier weight which will release a tide of human growth hormone, testosterone and other hormones that will stick with you through the rest of your workout)

Superset(SS)* 3 sets of squats with 3 sets of straight leg dead lifts. Resting about 30 sec between each set.

SS 3 sets of leg press with 3 sets of calf raises.

 Chest- 

Hit 10-12 reps of each exercise, one after the other, resting for 30 sec in between each set.  Repeat circuit 3 times.

Flat machine bench press.

Incline machine bench press.(Not your prime bodybuilder, but he’s got it down)

Decline machine bench press.

 Triceps- 

SS 3 sets of weighted dips with 3 sets of seated over-head single arm triceps extensions.

 Back & Biceps-

With an EZ curl bar start with inside grip and do a set of 21’s followed bybent over rows with a heavier weight on an EZ bar. Do the same thing for the next set with outside grip and continue until you’ve done 2 sets with each grip, 4 in total.

 Shoulders & Traps-

Complete a circuit of a shrugs, upright rows and overhead dumbbell press. Repeat for a total of 3 times each.

 Abs & Forearms-

Start with a set of 20 reps of seated crunch machine with legs extended straight in front. Turn hips to the right and do 10 oblique crunches. Repeat on left side.

SS with 25 behind the back wrist curls. Repeat this circuit 3 times and….

Voilà! You have completed the Ultimate Full-Body workout. I’m sure that you feel fantastic right now and want to comment on this post saying just that, but before you log on to rave about how phenomenal your workout was, I recommend downing a whey protein shake to help speed muscle growth and recovery.

Screw everything you just read. It's CrossFit time.

Portion Distortion

Save money and your waistline all at the same time.

It’s the last week of summer and your running around getting ready for the new school year with all your “back to school” basics. After a 3rd trip to Target you finally look down at your watch and realize that it’s already 9 o’clock! You figure that you don’t have time to go home and cook dinner and to be completely honest with yourself, you’re just too damn tired from the long day of shopping. The Chili’s that’s caddy corner to good ‘ol Target catches your eye and you decide to go in and sit down. Not your best choice, but not your worst either. Resturants have not only added pounds of additives and other, well… shit, to their foods, but portion sizes have exploded. While staying home and cooking just nine meals a week as opposed to eating them out can save you about 3,000 calories and quite a few buckeroos, it can be tough to find the time. So when you do decide to grab a bite over at Chili’s let me give you a few pointers before you dig into your Crispy Honey-Chipotle Crispers (my ex-favorite entree). While the chicken strips may look delicious and at the same time, quite innocent, be prepepared to hit the gym tomorrow. Quite hard I may add, if you have the desire to burn off the 1,930 calories which are now sitting in your belly. One way to avoid taking in jaw dropping amounts of calories and fat from resturant disasters like that is to know about them before hand. Since this is usually not easy to do, here’s a few tips to help keep your waist slim and your wallet fat:

• Ask for a to-go box when you first order your food and set aside half (or as much as you think you can live without) before you dig in. Not only will this save you a few extra cals, but also some cash by replacing a meal with your leftovers the next day.
• This one’s for when you go out with a group, or on a date with a special lady friend. Instead of ordering seperate entrees, order a few appetizers and split them amongst yourselves. This also saves you some room to throw in a little dessert to divvy-up at the end.
• A bonus tip for at home snacking. Instead of grabbing the bag of Doritos and mindlessly munching from it, pour some into a small bowl and take it back to the couch with you. This will keep you from devouring the whole bag without realizing it while also leaving you satisfied because you were able to eat every last chip in front of you. OR you could just skip the fatty doritos all together and whip up one of the quick and healthy snacks from my previous post :)

Incorperate these tips when you wander out into the resturant world and save yourself about 50 pounds of body fat and over 10 times that in money in just 1 year. It’s a good thing too cause you’ll have to add some new, smaller clothes to the “back to school” shopping list!

A Day In the Life of Sh(me)e!

Here’s a little taste of my meal timing and some of the delicious and nutritious foods I’m fortunate enough to make and eat throughout the day:

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!” As you wake to start the day, do 2 minutes of a combination of jumping jacks, mountain climbers, air squats, burpees or push-ups. Not only will this kick start your metabolism, but exercise helps wake you up by sending oxygen to your brain. Down a glass of ice water; your body temperature runs at 98.6 degrees, and the nearly 32 degree ice water you just took in also revs up your metabolism as your body attempts to heat it.

8:00 A.M. -Breakfast

• 3 egg omlette (1 whole, 2 whites) topped with a little mango salsa. Toasted english muffin with peanut butter and banana

OR

• A bowl of old fashion oat meal with fresh fruit and a sprinkle of cinnamon

10:30 A.M.- Midmorning snack

• A FAGE 2% greek yogurt

OR 

• A piece of fruit with a few whole wheat crackers

OR 

• Hummus with multi-grain pita chips or carrots

12:30-1:00 P.M.- Lunch

• A turkey, pesto sandwich on either Martin’s 100% Whole Wheat Potato Bread, an Arnold Select Sandwich Thins, or a Flat-Out Wrap

OR

• Grilled chicken breast with brown rice

4:00 P.M.- Afternoon snack/Pre-Workout

• A bowl of Kashi Go-Lean cereal with 2% milk

OR

• Celery and peanut butter

OR

• Granola bar with a piece of fruit

(5:00 P.M.- Workout)

6:30 P.M.- Protein shake

8:00-8:30 P.M.- Dinner 

One of the fantastic recipes out of my “Cook This, Not That” cookbook, by the writers of Men’s Health. I try to incorperate a protein with a grain and a vegetable. Possibly followed by a healthy little dessert if I’m feelin good.

It may not seem like it, but by spreading your meals out over 5-6 smaller ones, you end up with a lower caloric consumption than you would eating the traditional 3 meals. This also keeps your metabolism buzzing throughout the day. Give it a shot and see how you feel. When you find yourself with a lot more energy and looking better than ever, keep it up!

This was written some time ago, but the only things that have really changed are the portions, which I now tailor to the Zone "blocks". In combination with hard work, it's helped me add about 10 lbs of lean mass!