FJ Picks Of The Week

Hello healthy readers. Here are our picks of the week

Exercise

3 Workouts to Improve Your Run

Source: Active.com

The name of the article says it all. From aerobic training to building strength and speed, its got it all. Note: a couple of workouts mentioned, ask you to do some hill running. If you don’t have any uphill streets in your area, put up a 3-4% incline on the tread mill do get the desired effect.

Top 9 Fitness Myths -- Busted!
Source: WebMD
Some things all beginners should know when they hit the gym.

Do Guys Need To Work On Their Butts?
Source: World Fitness Network
Gents, something that you should know on why you should build your butt muscles

Health
Knowing cholesterol numbers could ward off heart disease
Source: CNN
Ladies, its especially something that you will want to read. This is exactly why we say you should keep your cholesterol in check.

The Obesity-Alcohol-Depression link
Source: Self Magazine

Another great read for the ladies. Its gives a great reason for why its so easy to over do it on sugar and other fatty foods when one is a bit tipsy.

Nutrition
Spicy Hungarian Goulash

Source: Canadian Diabetes Association

Low in fat, no sugar and good amount of protein. Something to try out.

Motivation
Mind Over Matter. And Feet.
Source: Diary of A Reluctant Athlete
We thought this story was great for motivation and determination because its real. Its not based on some gigantic realization. Its plain and simple – you want something, you go for it and you achieve it!

Enjoy the great info people.

Stay Fit

Apollo

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Taking A Break From A Healthy Diet. How Soon Is Too Soon?

So you’ve been good the whole week. You’ve eaten healthy meals and have managed to stay away from all those things that can slow down your progress. Now you wanna reward yourself with a few big macs and some sugar filled treats. You’re thinking “How much harm can they do to my one week of healthy eating” right? Well, loads actually.

Although its amazing that you’ve stayed healthy for one week (especially if you just got into healthy eating), its not ok to take a weekly break from a regular healthy diet.

Here are my top 3 reasons for not taking a break so soon

Your body just started burning up those excess calories. You spending a day or two, tanking up on alcohol and junk food treats, can easily add 3000-4000 extra calories to your diet. This may sound impossible but given that just a double whopper has around1400 calories, you can easily pile on the excess without even realizing and end up right back at square 1. Not somewhere you wanna be when you are trying hard to get fit

Your cravings will never stop. When you are regularly eating junk food, even if it is on a weekly or a fortnightly basis, you’ll keep on wanting more of it. Which means that it will be harder for you stay true to your cause.

You are more likely to give up healthy eating. A break from healthy eating can easily turn into a permanent vacation. People tend not to even realize how this happens. One day they’re just thinking they’ll indulge themselves for one more day. Then 5 months and 10 pounds later, they’re still indulging. These people aren’t weak, its just human nature - The deeper you get into something, the harder it is to come out.

So when should you take a break? I say once a month is good. If you spend 29 days eating healthy and exercising, chances are that one day of heavy eating wont change a lot of things. But even then, be careful. Its really easy to extend your break.

At the end of the day you totally should take a break. Like I’ve said before, you’re doing all of this health stuff to enjoy life. And part of the enjoyment comes from indulging these things once in a while. But that’s what it should be once in a while.

Stay Fit

Apollo

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Apollo's Daily Diet

Lets get straight to it. What do I eat and how do I make sure I eat to stay healthy and fit? I get asked this Q all the time. So today I thought I’d share my meal plan with you.

Its got 3 proper meals, and then a lot of little snacks that I keep having through out the day. Before you read on, I need you to understand one thing. I do not slave away all day preparing these snacks. It literally takes me seconds. So do not think that I am a freak of nature who spends days preparing these meals. It’s just not possible and not at all practical to do that. All my snacks are off the shelf. Now that we’ve cleared that up, lets read on…..

9 am breakfast - Protein shake
I’m not one of those people who can eat early in the morning. Plus like the most of you, I don’t really have time to make an elaborate breakfast. But at the same time I know I need my nutrition. What better way to do that than starting out with a protein shake. Its on the go, it doesn’t take me ages to prepare and above all its what my muscles use to build and repair themselves.

11am mid morning snack – Oatmeal
This is when my eyes really open up and I am fully awake. By this time my body usually signals me to get some energy for the day. Oatmeal is the clear choice. Its got fiber, its low in sugar, has very little fat and has quality carbohydrates. Plus it’s a natural way to reduce cholesterol.

1:30 pm lunch – A mix of everything
I don’t really stick to one kind of set meal. No one should. I usually choose a combination of the below foods for my lunch

Chicken - grilled, cooked or roasted
Fish - cooked, steamed, roasted or grilled
Vegetables - cooked or roasted
Lentils – cooked
Lean minced meat – cooked
Whole grain pasta or wild rice (helping size about the size of my fist or hand if I’m really hungry)
Whole grain bread (a couple of slices)

4:00pm post lunch snack – Wheat Crackers, nuts or fruit
By this time I start getting the munchies. Wheat crackers are something that I’ve really started to like. But some days I go nuts with nuts :) While I usually have fruits post my workout, on some days I go with a banana, apple or some plums

6:00 pm pre workout snack – small sandwich
This is really a mini sandwich since I don’t want to throw up during my workout. I usually have a slice of bread with some turkey. Or if I’m short on time I just go with what I eat as my post lunch snack.

8pm post workout snack - fruit 
Now that I’ve used up my energy working out, I have some quality sugar in the form of berries or a pomegranate to bring back my glycogen levels. Don’t worry about what glycogen is. I’ll be explaining that in a later post. For now just know that after your workout its good to have some fruit.

8:30 pm dinner – Chicken, turkey or fish
At night, I like to keep things simple. I don’t like going to bed with a stuffed feeling. So a simple cooked or grilled meal does the trick for me.

10:30 pm post dinner snack – Protein shake
I finish the day with what I started - my nutritious shake. A lot of us don’t realize that protein is what feeds our muscles. And they sometimes don’t have enough of it. Well they should. After all its what works its magic on the muscles.

So there you go. That’s my meal plan. Sure there will be some obvious questions like why protein shakes, why so many meals. Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to address all those Qs and more.

If you do have other Qs however, be sure to ask them through your comments and I'll be sure to answer them

Stay tuned and Stay Fit

Apollo

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The FJ Picks Of The Week

Hello there you lovely devils you!
Heres our  2nd installment of the FJ Picks of the week; in our effort to share the pearls of wisdom on the net. You can also refer to it as our weekly round up. From how swimming can be a good exercise for women, to new research being conducted to combat aging; this round up has some good reads for exercise, health and nutrition. Enjoy

Exercise
Swimming Can Boost Every Woman's Fitness
A good read that explains the benefits of swimming as an exercise for women. It lists 9 benefits including hearth health, exercising during pregnancy and strengthening your core.
FJ TIP: If you don’t swim that often then be sure to include swimming in your workout regime. It will be a nice break from the regular routine and will work your whole body.

Team Up to Get Fit!
A Self.com blog entry that shares a fun move you can do with your workout buddy. The move itself is a pretty good one actually. It will work on strength as well as endurance.

Understanding and Enhancing Your Core Strength
Since we have also been focusing the last week on giving some core strengthening exercises, we thought this article posted at the About.com exercise section, would also be a fitting pick. It explains what is meant by core muscles and gives you some good exercises for your core

Health
Yoga For Sex
Men you are going to wanna see this Mens Health video. It’s a minute explanation of a study that found yoga improved sexual endurance in men.

Quest for a Long Life Gains Scientific Respect
This article on the New York Times website, is a bit “Sciency”, but its fascinating. It highlights the work and research being done on anti aging. Makes you think if we will soon have an Elixir for youthful life

Nutrition
Don't Over Analyze Your Results
A very good short post at the Nutrition Data blog. Discusses some very simple and effective methods to monitor your weight while making sure that you dont become obessesive about monitoring it all the time.

There you have it folks. Our picks for the week. Read them. See if they are relevant to your fitness goals. If so then practice whats mentioned in them and get closer to acheiving what you have set out to do..

Stay Fit
Apollo
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The FJ Weekly Roundup

And a good day to you my fellow wellness lovers. Today starts the beginning of a new weekly post that is about sharing the knowledge. There are so many great sources out there and it would be unfair to deprive you of them, just so that we can keep you on our blog. That’s why we at Fit Junction have decided to bring you a weekly round up of interesting news items and posts that we come across each week. 

So lets get to it....

Exercise

What's It Like for a Heavy Person to Run a Mile?
An article posted by Thats Fit. Discusses interesting points for how over weight people should start their running program.

5 Secrets from an NFL Trainer
Posted at Mens Health. A great article that shares great tips to incorporate in your workout routine

Get a Tight Butt and Legs
A Womens Health post that shares some good exercises for toning your butt and your legs.

50 Legs
Posted at theworkout.com blog, this is a challenging and intensive leg workout with many squat variations. Be sure not to rest for more than the mentioned time. 

FJ Challenge: If you really want to push the limits and feel you have some energy left, then do five 12-15 seconds sprints immediately after the last exercise of this workout. Rest a maximum of 45 seconds in between each sprint. This will be great for improving your endurance and will have your metabolism revving for the next few hours.Please note that this challenge is NOT a part of the 50 Legs workout article. It is just an FJ recommendation

Nutrition

Healthy Recipe: Szechuan Chicken
A Womens Health post that shares a good healthy recipe. Only 0.3 gms of saturated fat, 1.1gms of sugar and 27.6 gms of protein. Something to try out

Health 

Flaxseed Helps Lowers Cholesterol

Posted at the diet blog, an interesting take on Flaxseed and how only whole flax seed is beneficial. 

Motivation 

Top 6 Exercise Excuses and How to Beat Them
A post by WebMD  that addresses the most common excuses for not exercising including, “Exercise is boring” and “Cant exercise because of the kids.”

Why do You need to exercise?

A post at Girl Get Strong that encourages you to discover what motivates you.

This rounds up the interesting news we have come across this week. Stay tuned to these posts guys... because its only going to get better.

Stay Fit

Apollo

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Food Advertisers. What They Tell You, What They Dont

Proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Pretty much everyone knows what they are now. More and more people are asking about calories and looking at food labels, trying to make sense of the ingredients. This of course, poses a problem for our favorite fast food chains and the other food advertisers out there. If we wisen up, how are these guys going to shove that 1100 calorie burger down our throats? Or worse…whose going to drink that 1400 calorie sugar-filled slurpy? After all that’s where their "moolah" comes from. Because of this, they’ve become really selective of what is put out there, and only market the hell out of those few things that are fit enough to communicate. Well they aren’t going to get us that easily! Because today I’m going to talk about what what they don’t tell you about their Sugar & Grease combo.

What they tell you: Less than 2% fat

What they don’t: More than 50% sugar

What they tell you: Made from natural ingredients

What they don’t: How much they process those natural ingredients to drain every ounce of goodness from them

What they tell you: No trans fats

What they don’t: A lot of saturated fat

What they tell you: No added Sugar

What they don’t: The tons of refined sugar the product already has

What they tell you: Only 350 calories

What they don’t: The processed ingredients making up the calories. It’s not all healthy

What they tell you: Grilled to perfection

What they don’t: Marinated in butter and other sugary sauces before the grilling begins

What they tell you: Same amount of vitamin C as there is in an orange

What they don’t: 10 times the amount of sugar that is there in an entire bucket of oranges

What they tell you: The ultimate sports drink to energize your workouts

What they don’t: Unless you’re doing something extremely strenuous over a long period, you can do just fine with water and a healthy pre-workout meal

What they tell you: High in protein

What they don’t: Also high in sodium, saturated fat and processed carbs

I could go on and on, but I think you smart people get the picture. So the next time you hear or read their marketing pitch, make sure you consider the other aspects as well. It will go a long way to keep you healthy

Keep smiling:)

Layla

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