“Sure, I know I should be working out, but I just can’t find the time”.

I hear it all the time.

How about 15 minutes a week, though?

Don’t tell me you can’t find 15 minutes a week!

How about if I only gave you TWO exercises to do?

OK, here we go.

The PLANK is, in my book, a fantastic whole body exercise.

If you’ve taken a Yoga class, or worked one on one with a trainer, or hung out with me for any length of time, you’re familiar with the PLANK.

Here’s how to do it.

Kneel on your hands and knees. Move into the PLANK position by extending your legs backward and reaching forward through the crown of your head, similar to if you were doing push-ups.

Keep your shoulders relaxed and away from your ears, and keep your hips up. Don’t allow your back to cave downward.

Hold yourself up, palms flat on the floor, arms extended, up to 90 seconds.

Remember to breathe.

If you have wrist issues and flat palms don’t work for you, bend your arms so you’re supported from your elbows and forearms. There are many variations on the plank, but start here.

WALL SITTING looks much easier than it is.

The WALL SIT works your legs, and strengthens your abs and back as you press your back into the wall.

Here’s how to do it.

Press your back against a wall. Walk your feet away from the wall and then slide your back down the wall until your knees form ninety-degree angles. Hold up to 90 seconds. Remember to breathe.

Do these two 90 second exercises as a set 5 days a week and you’ll have your 15 minutes!!

Enjoy,

shelli

Seems like I’m always talking about and looking for ways to cut back on our intake of sugar.

I recently read that for the past 100 years in the United States, blood pressure has been rising.

Today, 30% of American adults are diagnosed with hypertension. That’s a lot of people!

Researchers have been able to link both fructose and high-fructose corn syrup to high blood pressure in rats.

But what about in people?

Researchers from the University of Colorado checked to see whether added sugar intake was linked to blood pressure among the thousands of Americans who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006.

They found that those who ate and drank more fructose from added sugars (as opposed to healthy sources like fruit) had higher blood pressure AND larger waistlines than those who didn’t.

How many grams of fructose seemed to be the cut off point? 74 grams a day would do it.

How much is that exactly? Well, 2 bottles of soda a day would just about get you there.

Don’t drink soda?

Here’s what I suggest.

Just for a week, (yes, you can do this, it’s only 7 days) keep track of what you eat and the added sugar.

Then, cut back on foods with a lot of added sugar.

READ labels: you’ll be amazed when you start to pay attention to how much added sugar you take in each and every day.

And your heart, kidneys and waistline will thank you!

shelli

We’re talking turkey!

I know you may think you know everything about turkey, but keep reading, OK?

Did you know, for instance that turkey is a great lean source of protein (which means less calories)?

It’s also a great source of niacin (helps heart function), phosphorous (bones and kidneys), iron (anemia), zinc (stress and healing), potassium (kidney function), and other B vitamins (brain and heart).

Also, ground turkey, which is easy to eat all year long, can be used in nearly any recipe that calls for ground beef.

Here’s something to remember, though.

Lean ground turkey (93 percent lean, 7 percent fat) made from white and dark meat, has the same amount of calories and fat as lean ground beef. Only ground turkey, white meat only, offers a noticeable reduction in calories and fat.

See, that wasn’t too much to read!

Now if you want three of my favorite turkey recipes (turkey chili, turkey burritos and turkey meatloaf) send me an email and I’ll send you the recipes.

So this week, don’t let the turkeys get you down!

shelli

Here’s a question I get asked at least once a week.

Are whole eggs or egg whites better for me?

I was staying with a friend recently and she started to make breakfast. I went over to see what she was cooking and saw she was getting ready to fix some eggs.

Much to my surprise I noticed she was cracking the eggs open and separating the egg whites into a bowl and throwing out the yolks.

I asked her why she was throwing out the yolks. Here’s what she said, “I thought the egg yolks were bad for you because of the cholesterol and fat in them.”

Fair enough. I know there’s a lot of information out there that would lead her to reply like this, HOWEVER…..

The yolk is where all the NUTRITION is!

This is a great example of how confused most people are about nutrition.

Most people now think that the egg yolk is the worst part of the egg, when in fact, the YOLK IS THE HEALTHIEST PART OF THE EGG!

Does this sound like you?

By throwing out the yolk and only eating egg whites, you’re essentially throwing out the most nutrient dense, antioxidant-rich, vitamin and mineral loaded portion of the egg.

Egg yolks contain B-vitamins, minerals, vitamin A, folate, choline, lutein, and many other nutrients as well.

In fact, the egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition compared to the yolks.

Even the protein in egg whites isn’t as powerful without the yolks to balance out the amino acid profile and make the protein more bio-available.

And if you eat egg yolks from free range chickens, they’ll be loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

Yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12 of the egg. In addition, the yolks contain ALL the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).

The most common objection I hear, even when people know about the nutritive value in the yolks, is “But I heard that whole eggs will send my cholesterol levels through the roof!”

This is actually FALSE.

First of all, when you eat a food that contains a high amount of dietary cholesterol such as eggs, your body down-regulates its internal production of cholesterol to balance things out.

And, if you don’t eat enough cholesterol, your body simply produces more, because cholesterol has dozens of important vital functions in the body.

Lately, there have been studies indicating that eating whole eggs actually raises your good HDL cholesterol to a higher degree than LDL cholesterol, thereby improving your overall cholesterol ratio and blood chemistry.

And please remember that high cholesterol is NOT a disease!

Heart disease is a disease, but high cholesterol is NOT.

Cholesterol is actually a VERY important substance in your body. It is WRONG to try to “lower your cholesterol” just because it’s in the best interest of pharmaceutical companies for everyone on the planet to be on statin drugs.

If you’re interested in the topic of cholesterol specifically, I wrote a much more in depth article for my Joyinmovement newsletter. Go to www.joyinmovement.com and look under the link for newsletters. You’ll see it in the archive.

Getting back to the nutritive value of egg yolks, yolks contain the antioxidant lutein, as well as other antioxidants. Antioxidants help protect you from inflammation within your body (which is the REAL culprit in heart disease, not dietary cholesterol), giving you yet another reason why the yolks are actually GOOD for you.

Need more proof that whole eggs are better for you than egg whites?

I recently read a University of Connecticut study that showed that a group of men in the study that ate 3 eggs per day for 12 weeks while on a reduced carb, higher fat diet increased their HDL good cholesterol by 20%, while their LDL bad cholesterol stayed the same during the study.

However, the group that ate egg substitutes (egg whites) saw no change in either and did not see the improvement in good cholesterol (remember that higher HDL levels are associated with lower risk of heart disease).

Whole eggs are not a “bad” food that will wreck your body. They are FAR superior to egg whites.

Some people ask about the extra calories in the yolks.

I see this as a non-issue.

Even though egg yolks contain more calories than just eating the egg whites, the yolks are so dense with good nutritional value in those calories.

This helps you regulate your appetite for the remainder of the day, so you end up eating less calories overall.

In addition, the healthy fats in the egg yolks help to maintain a good level of fat-burning hormones in your body.

Overall, this means that the extra fats (healthy fats) and calories from the yolk are so nutrient-dense that they actually HELP you to burn off body fat!

Make sure to eat organic free range eggs from healthier chickens. These have the highest nutrient value.

This is due to the fact that a free-roaming hen allowed to roam on plenty of land will eat a variety of greens, insects, and worms transferring MUCH higher levels of nutrients to the eggs compared to an unhealthy hen that is trapped inside a dark factory farm hen house in horrible conditions and fed nothing but piles of corn and soy. It’s a DRASTIC difference in the nutrition that you get from the egg.

So next time a health or fitness professional tells you that egg whites are superior, you can quietly ignore their advice knowing that you now understand the REAL deal about egg yolks.

And can we all please STOP with this silliness about eating an omelete with 4-5 egg whites and only 1 egg yolk. If we want real taste and real health benefits, we’d all be better off eating ALL of our eggs with the yolks.

After all, do you REALLY think that our ancestors thousands of years ago threw out the yolks and only ate the egg whites?

NOT A CHANCE!

They intuitively knew that all of the nutrition was found in the yolks. Unfortunately, our modern society has been brainwashed with misinformation about fats and cholesterol.

I personally eat whole eggs almost every day. I recently had a check-up and all my blood work done and I’m fit, trim and healthy as can be, so enjoy your eggs and let me know if you have any creative new egg recipes and I’ll pass them along!

shelli