Rules to Control Your Appetite

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If you’ve been controlling your cravings by starving yourself, you’ve been doing it wrong. Correct diet doesn’t work that way. Rather, it’s about eating enough to provide your body the energy it needs for your day to day work, in the healthiest way possible. This means you’re going to eat more healthy foods, while keeping away the guilty treats.

There are ways to diet without having to avoid eating more than three meals a day. Expert bodybuilder Chris Aceto shares some rules to control your appetite on Flex:

10 Rules to Control Your Appetite

As a bodybuilder, you probably already know about several diet strategies for getting ripped to the bone. Eating fewer carbs, consuming less fat and performing a lot of cardio are headliners that grab attention. One of the simplest and most overlooked aspects of controlling your bodyfat, however, boils down to curbing your appetite. When you can shut down the desire to eat or cheat, then stripping away bodyfat becomes much easier. Read more…

In addition to that, here are more tips recommended by fitness expert John Fawkes on Mind Body Green:

6 Surprising Ways To Control Your Appetite & Lose Weight

It’s hard not to eat too much — believe me, I know! You spend all day passing up sodas, donuts, pizza and chips … but after a while, you get hungry and everything you’ve worked so hard to avoid just looks so tempting and you give in and have something you know you shouldn’t be eating. Read more…

The “front door snack” technique can be helpful. The world is full of temptations the moment you step out of your house. It just makes sense to eat something that will keep you full, while loading your body with essential nutrients, beforehand.

Moreover, if there are foods that trigger your cravings, there are also those that will curb them. Here are the top seven, listed on Wellness Bin:

Top 7 Foods to Reduce Your Appetite and Make You Feel Fuller

Do you want to eat healthy foods or are you trying to lose weight? Whatever your reasons are, you must be having trouble keeping your appetite and hunger at bay. But worry no more because there are foods that you can eat to help keep those hunger pangs away for much longer. Read more…

So the next time you’re itching to eat that extra slice of pizza when you know you’re already full, just remember these rules to control your appetite. They will come in handy when you’re drooling in front of a lot of unhealthy foods.

But remember that there’s a difference between hunger and craving. Hunger is a need, while craving is just a want. Listen to your body. Controlling your cravings is bad if you know you’re already starving yourself to death. Sometimes, it’s not about how much you eat that contributes to fat, but rather on what you eat.

In addition to that, it’s better to consume small meals throughout the day instead of three full and heavy meals. Heavy meals usually result into a food coma, which is the sleepiness, laziness, bloating and gas you feel right after you overindulged.

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Eggplant Lasagna Rolls

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Ingredients

• 2 medium (685 grams) eggplants, cut into 6-8 slices
• 1 (15 ounces or 425 grams) container low-fat ricotta cheese
• 1 cup (30 grams) chopped spinach leaves
• 1 large (50 grams) egg
• 10-12 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups (170 grams) shredded part skim, low-moisture mozzarella cheese
• 1 (15 ounces or 460 grams) can tomato sauce
• Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste
• Fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

To slice the eggplants, chop the top and bottom ends off, and slice into 6-8 pieces lengthwise. Add the slices to a colander, and generously sprinkle with salt. Set aside for about 15 minutes or until the slices start to “sweat”. (Little droplets will form along the cut surfaces of the eggplant slices.)

Rinse the eggplant slices well, and pat dry with a paper towel. Arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet, and generously spray with cooking oil. Flip the slices, and add oil to the other side. Bake for about 12 minutes or until slices are just beginning to get slightly browned. Remove from the oven and set a side to cool.

As the eggplant slices bake, make the cheese filling by combining the ricotta, spinach, egg, basil, garlic and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese together in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stir to combine.

When the eggplant slices are cool enough to handle, you are ready to make your rolls. Spread 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce evenly along the bottom of a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish.

Take a slice of eggplant, and add about 2-3 tablespoons of cheese filling to the center of the slice. Roll into a burrito shape so that the two ends fold over each other, and place end side down into your prepared baking dish. Continue rolling the eggplant slices until you’ve used up your cheese and eggplant slices.

Spoon the rest of the tomato sauce along the tops of the eggplant rolls in your pan. Top evenly with the rest of your mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce in the bottom of the pan is bubbly.

Serve with chopped fresh parsley.

Source: Eggplant Lasagna Rolls – MyFitnessPal

Image Credit: Eggplant Lasagna Rolls

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Slow Cooker Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (60 grams) all-purpose flour
• 12 ounces (340 grams) lower-sodium smoked Andouille chicken sausage
• 2 (5 ounces or 140 grams) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 large (150 grams) onion, chopped
• 1 large (165 grams) green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 medium (80 grams) celery stalks, minced
• 2 cups (200 grams) sliced fresh or frozen okra (unthawed)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (14.5-ounce or 410-gram) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 cups (455 grams) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups (70 grams) shredded chard or kale, or torn spinach
• 3 cups (560 grams) hot cooked rice
• 3 medium (35 grams) green onion stalks, sliced

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Sprinkle flour on a heavy sheet pan or in a cast-iron skillet; bake, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven; cool to room temperature.

DID YOU KNOW? Roux is the secret ingredient to many Louisiana specialties. This fat-flour mixture serves as a thickener and adds a rich nutty flavor. The secret to shaving off calories is a fat-free roux. Instead of cooking equal parts fat and flour on the stove, all-purpose flour is baked in the oven to a golden brown color without oil or butter.

Meanwhile, cook sausage slices and chicken in a nonstick skillet over medium heat for 3–4 minutes until lightly browned. (This step is optional, but searing the meat gives the gumbo more flavour.) Place sausage, chicken, onion, bell pepper, celery, okra, garlic, tomatoes, seasoning and thyme in a 6-quart slow cooker.

In a medium bowl or 4-cup measuring cup, whisk together broth and reserved browned flour until smooth. Pour into slow cooker; stir until blended. Cover, and cook on low for 8–10 hours or high for 6 hours.

Stir in greens; cover and cook on low for 15 minutes until greens wilt.

Serve gumbo over 1/2 cup cooked rice. Sprinkle each serving evenly with green onions..

Source: Slow Cooker Chicken & Sausage Gumbo – MyFitnessPal

Image Credit: Slow Cooker Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

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Best and Worst Things to Do After Your Workout for Recovery

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By now, you’re probably aware that what you do before your workouts will dictate the flow of your session. For example, if you have greasy foods included in your pre-workout meals, you’re probably going to wrap up the session quickly because they’re known to make you feel sluggish. On the other hand, if you ate healthy foods (particularly with carbohydrates, protein and healthy fat) beforehand, then you’re going to be packed with energy.

The same goes to your post-workout routine. If you’re doing the wrong things, such as skipping meals, sleeping, etc., right after, then you’re more likely to fail. Why? Because you’re not letting your body recover properly.

To give you a better idea about this, let’s start with this article from bodybuilder, strength coach and personal trainer Eric Broser about the worst things to do after your workout, on Flex:

The 8 Worst Things to Do After a Workout

It’s time to delve into some post-workout missteps that you should avoid at all costs. Read more…

So if we now know the worst, of course there are the best things to do to not only enable you to recover, but also to maximize your gains. Read more as strength and conditioning specialist Jon-Erik Kawamoto talks about it on Men’s Fitness:

The 6 Best Ways to Recover from Your Workout

We know we don’t have to tell you to get your ass in the gym, but we might have to tell you that spending hours lifting day-in-and-day-out will stall your progress. Rest and recovery are essential components to any strength and conditioning program and most coaches and trainers would argue it’s just as or more important than the lifting itself. Recovery must occur before progress can be made. It’s important for staying injury free, long-term consistent training, and maxing out from time to time. Read more…

Moreover, registered dietitian and certified personal trainer Stephanie Greunke shares about what you can eat, how much, and at what time of the day to cope up with the gains. Read more in this article on Breaking Muscle:

Real World Advice for Post Workout Nutrition

You train for a reason. Whether that reason is to increase your strength, improve your endurance, enhance your flexibility, or simply just “to look good naked,” the key to reaching your goal has a lot to do with how you fuel your body. By fuel, I mean food: real, whole, nutrient-dense food. While part of training is for the sheer enjoyment of being active and/or possibly competing, we also want to reap the side effects of a more muscular, lean physique. Read more…

In conclusion, it’s important that you give yourself time to recover after every workout because that will boost your body’s gains. Failure to do so may only result to muscle soreness.

Avoid skipping post-workout meals, and more importantly, avoid eating the wrong foods. You have to avoid processed and fast foods, no matter how tempting a Big Mac, large fries and Coke sound. Don’t rely on sports drinks, too, because some of these contain lots of sugar, which in fact do more harm than good to your health. It’s still better to consume pure and clean drinking water to hydrate yourself.

You need to cool down and stretch, and you need to eat to bring back the lost energy. Protein is very much recommended because it’s known to enhance your muscle building capacity, and even maintaining it.

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How to Blast Cellulite on Your Thighs

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Having bigger thighs is one of the most common body dilemmas women encounter in their lives. Well, it’s hard to wear short shorts and bikinis during the summer season, you know. We ladies may pull that off, but sometimes it just doesn’t feel right. Worse, we lose a certain part of our confidence.

So while summer is still months away, you still have time to blast cellulite on your thighs. And boy, did it surprise me how easy they can be done.

Start with these five easy exercises demonstrated by Cassey Ho in a video on Health:

5 Exercises for Tighter, Leaner Thighs

Blast cellulite on your thighs and get lean legs with these 5 exercises from Cassey Ho. Watch this video to see the best way to slim down your thighs for leaner legs. Read more…

What’s really great about thigh and leg exercises is that they can be done almost anywhere, usually without any equipment used. This is a perfect fit for the people who don’t have all the time in the world to go to the gym. This 5-minute workout on Self will prove just that:

The 5-Minute Thigh Workout

This five-minute routine targets those hard-to-reach thigh muscles (yes, inner thighs included!). The simple workout combines cardio and strengthening moves to target this area—you’ll be feeling the burn after just a few reps. Read more…

If you want more ways to work your thighs out, other than the traditional squats and lunges, here are more activities listed on Style Craze that have just the same effects, probably even better:

8 Thigh Exercises For Strong Legs

The thigh area in humans is between the pelvis and the knee. Anatomically it is a part of what we call the lower limb, the upper limb being our hands. The thigh is comprised of one single bone called the femur. The femur is very dense and strong and forms a ball and socket joint at the hips and a condylar joint at the knee. We live in an age where less is more and the thigh plays an important part in the way we dress, by which I mean if we have toned and lean thighs, we would dress accordingly to flaunt them and if not we would do our best to cover them up. Read more…

See? It’s that easy to blast cellulite on your thighs, without any dietary pills or body shapers needed! You need to be patient in seeing the results, though, because no magic can make you lose fat overnight. So if you’re planning to rock in short shorts in summer, better start shaping up now!

If you hate doing conventional exercises, there are lots of other ways to exercise, anyways. These include cycling, aerobics, yoga and more. So there’s definitely no excuses!

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Amp Up Your Pull Up With These Tricks

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The pull up is a very beneficial exercise. It targets the upper back, biceps, chest, and shoulders.

At first glance, you may think it’s very easy to do since you’re just going to hang your body and pull, lifting your body up. But not everyone can actually nail that move, which can be a frustrating thing particularly for men. It’s a normal thing, though. Even expert athletes and bodybuilders had to undergo that excruciating feeling.

So what’s the trick to amp up your pull up? Let’s first read this article to do it correctly, on Men’s Fitness:

MY GOAL: I CAN’T DO A PULLUP BUT I WANT TO

Pullups are hands-down the best exercise for your upper back. It could even be argued that it’s one of the best exercises for the human body. But for many beginners, hoisting their body weight doesn’t always come easy, not even for a measely one-rep. If you’re just starting out and want to step up your fitness game, here’s your guide. Read more…

Moving on, you also need to boost your pull ups to welcome more gains. Certified personal trainer Jeremey Duvall shares his secret on Muscle and Fitness:

5 WAYS TO AMP UP YOUR PULL-UP

Pull-ups take the cake in terms of bodyweight exercises. Grabbing a bar and performing a few reps is enough to impress almost any of your friends. However, it can be extremely difficult to build your numbers into a large set. The pull-up requires a unique combination of relative strength (strength in relation to your bodyweight) along with core and grip strength. Absolute strength – the ability to hoist an impressive overall weight – matters less if you can’t control your own body. Read more…

Lastly, here are some final tips from CrossFit coach Jeff Kuhland on Breaking Muscle:

Coach, I Can’t Do Pull Ups: 7 Tips to Get You There

Pull ups are a basic movement in CrossFit, yet in and of themselves they are an intermediate gymnastic movement. Starting out pulling your bodyweight can seem like an insurmountable task. Read more…

Bottom line? Practice makes perfect. Therefore, you need to keep on practicing these tips and tricks to perform and amp up your pull up.

In addition to that, anything can be an alternative to gym bars. The easiest may be to find a metal bar and hang it in a safe place. Or you can go to a park, and try the monkey bars. You can also buy pullup bars that you can buy at a relatively cheap price. Whatever alternative you choose, just be sure you put your safety above anything else.

It’s a very helpful move to develop your overall body strength, including your grips. So all in all, it’s totally a must-try!

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Start 2016 Right By Feeling Healthy In The New Year

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Feeling healthy in the New Year doesn’t just include eating the right kind of food or following a strict dieting regimen. Sometimes, the things we need to adjust are not just physical. It is often wise that we take a step back, reflect on the things that happened the past year and contemplate on stuff that we want to keep, adjust, and eliminate from our lives so that we can move forward with our lives feeling refreshed and reinvigorated.

Do you want to lose weight? Do you plan to go somewhere this year? Is there something you want to achieve? Remember that identifying the questions you have within you is as important as answering them.

3 Tips to Help You Feel Healthy In 2016

Have you been wondering about how to experience more health and energy in your life?  If this is the year you have truly committed to living an inspiring life that you love, I would like to congratulate you. Doing something different takes real courage and commitment. On my own weight loss healing journey, I managed to heal a number of chronic health conditions that I was experiencing, as well as lose over 60 pounds in the process, and keep it off for good.  To help you on your own healing journey, I would like to share: Read More…

If you want to kick your 2016 by feeling healthy in the New Year, you need more than just list down the items for your New Year’s Resolution. It’s not always about food and exercises. Health is something that you need to see from mental, emotional and spiritual vantage points so that you can find your inner happiness and gain more than just good health.

Image Credit: 3 Tips to Help You Feel Healthy In 2016 – Food Matters 

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