Cooked Grains Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette
Check out this new recipe from the New York Times health section: Cooked Grains Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette. You can use a variety of grains in this salad like a brown rice, farro, quinoa or bulgur. The mixture makes a robust main-dish salad for summer.
1/2 pound ripe, locally grown tomatoes
1 garlic clove, green shoot removed, finely chopped or puréed
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cups cooked grains, such as quinoa, brown rice, medium or large bulgur, or a combination
Kernels from 1 ear of corn, steamed four minutes (you can cut them from the cob before or after you steam)
1 medium cucumber, seeded and diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, parsley or tarragon, or a combination
1. Cut the tomatoes in half across the equator, and grate on the large holes of a box grater into a wide bowl. Stir in the garlic, salt and pepper, vinegar and olive oil. Add the remaining ingredients, toss together and serve.
Yield: Serves four to six.
Advance preparation: You can make this several hours ahead and keep in the refrigerator, but leave out the herbs until ready to serve. Leftovers are good for a couple of days.
Nutritional information per serving (four servings): 320 calories; 11 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 48 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 21 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 10 grams protein
Nutritional information per serving (six servings): 214 calories; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 32 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 14 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 7 grams protein
For more recipes and nutritional information, visit The Body Firm or The New York Times Online.
Clean Out Your Kitchen Part 1
Your kitchen will make or break your weight loss results.
A kitchen stocked with the makings for healthy meals and snacks will keep you on track, even when late-night cravings strike. On the flip side, a kitchen filled with unhealthy munchies will derail your weight loss efforts every single time.
So what should your cupboards hold and what should be off limits? I've designed this self-guided kitchen raid to help you sort out the good from the bad.
Go ahead, grab a garbage bag, print out the list below, and then head to the kitchen.
The Refrigerator
Let's start with the fridge, the heart of your kitchen. If you find something in your fridge that is on the "Dump this" list, then you know what you have to do. Get that garbage bag ready.
Dump this: Beverages with high fructose corn syrup or sugar. Drinking calories is one of the quickest ways to gain weight, so quickly rid your fridge of any beverage that lists HFCS or sugar on the ingredient list.
- Replace with: Water. It is a well known fact that most people are partially dehydrated, a condition that is harmful to your health and wreaks havoc on your weight loss efforts. Keep plenty of cold water on hand for proper hydration.
Dump this: Rich dairy products. I know that cream cheese tastes amazing, but fat-filled dairy products are extremely high in calories and should not reside in your fridge. Eliminate high-fat cheese, milk and yogurt from your kitchen.
- Replace with: Fresh Vegetables. The produce drawer in your fridge should be overflowing with colorful nutrient-rich veggies. In fact, your fridge should hold more veggies than the drawer can hold. Veggies are filled with fiber, vitamins and nutrients and are a vital part of a healthy well-rounded diet.
Dump this: Fatty meats. It is important that you be selective about the meats that you eat. I may tell you that chicken is a great source of protein, but if you take that as a license to eat fried chicken everyday then the benefit of the protein will be lost in all the extra fat calories.
- Replace with: Lean meats. Skinless chicken breast, lean ground turkey, white fish - there are numerous choices when it comes to lean meats.
Dump this: Fruit-flavored yogurt. I hate to break this to you, but that cute individually packaged yogurt is going to do more harm to your waistline than you think. More than 50% of the calories in fruit-flavored yogurt come from sugar. Check out the ingredient list and you likely find both high fructose corn syrup AND sugar.
- Replace with: Plain low-fat yogurt, Greek yogurt, or low-fat cottage cheese. If you love yogurt, then get the low-fat plain version. You can even chop up some fresh fruit and stir it in. Another option is to have a scoop of low-fat cottage cheese with chopped fruit on top.
For more tips visit www.thebodyfirmaz.com.
Spinach Salad Recipe
The first thing that you'll notice about this salad is that it tastes amazing. It also doesn't hurt that spinach is an extremely nutrient-dense food. The recipe calls for raspberry vinegar, which is a flavorful and refreshing alternative to traditional, oily dressing. The fruit and nuts add flavor, fiber and healthy fat.
Servings: 8
Here's what you need:
- 8 cups cleaned spinach leaves
- 3 oranges, peeled, sliced and quartered
- 2 cucumbers, peeled sliced and quartered
- 1/8 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
- 1/8 cup sunflower seeds
- 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1 cup strawberries, sliced or whole raspberries
- 1/2 cup white balsamic raspberry blush vinegar
- Combined the spinach, oranges, cucumbers, macadamia nuts, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds and strawberries in a bowl.
- Add the vinegar and toss well.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 99 calories, 3g fat, 14g carbohydrate, 2.6g fiber, and 3.5g protein.
For more fresh and easy recipes visit The Body Firm.
Protect Your Most Valuable Asset: You Mind
In a recent CBS business blog writer Margaret Heffernan highlights the value of business assets, especially in service industries. Heffernan writes that manufacturing industries have many tangible assets such as factories, equipment and warehouses. But in service industries, such as personal training, the minds and creativity of a business's employees is what is most valuable.
In this hard economic time it is service industry businesses that must protect and nurture those assets. According to Heffernan, the quality of service diminishes during recessions because employees are working too many hours, under extreme pressure. Her solution? de-clutter your life and focus and quality services and production. She says this will only come when you put down the cell phone and tackle one task at a time.
For more on this intiguing story, click here.
Visit us at The Body Firm for more blogs, undated weekly!
Focus on the Negative for Once
Each time that you do a weight lifting repetition you are utilizing three types of strength. These are:
- Positive strength: the motion of lifting the weight.
- Static strength: holding weight in a contracted position.
- Negative strength: the motion of lowering the weight.
Most people completely miss the benefit of the negative in each repetition by allowing the weight to drop quickly with little control. It is understood that the negative portion of a repetition is just as important as the positive portion, and possibly more important.
Focus on the negative portion of each repetition by lowering the weight very slowly. Concentrate on the negative contraction, and make each repetition count.
If you are advanced, then use a training partner to assist you in moving heavier-than-normal weight into a contracted position, then lower it very slowly.
Another way to utilize negative repetitions on a machine is to lift the weight using two limbs but then lower it with just one. For example, use both legs to lift the weight on a leg extension machine, but then lower it back down slowly using only one leg.
For more weight lifting tips, visit us at The Body Firm.
Clean Burrito
Here's a healthy burrito recipe to sink your teeth into. Whole grains, lean protein and crunchy veggies make this a recipe that you'll come back to time and again. Serve with a side of your favorite salsa.
Servings: 1
Here's what you need...
- 1 sprouted grain, flourless tortilla
- 1 Tablespoon hummus
- 1/3 cup cooked brown rice
- 1/4 cup cooked black beans
- 1/2 cup cooked chicken, chopped (or baked tofu)
- 2 Tablespoons fresh corn kernels
- 2 Tablespoons chopped cucumber
- 1/4 cup shredded arugula
- 3 cherry tomatoes, chopped
- Warm the tortilla in a dry skillet. Spread the hummus evenly over the tortilla.
- Top the tortilla with rice, beans, chicken and veggies.
- Fold the two sides of the tortilla in over the filling, then flip up the bottom edge and roll tightly.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 380 calories, 7.8g fat, 45g carbohydrate, 7g fiber, and 31g protein.
Come in to The Body Firm today for more nutritional advice.