Want to have a delicious, guilt free desert?  Try fat free, sugar free high protein pudding.   This has all the pudding flavor with the added bonus of protein you can’t taste.

This is a delicious way to ensure that you are getting enough protein in during the day or a great treat for the kids.  My children and grandchildren love my pudding even though it is good for them.  I personally like butterscotch but you can use any flavor you like.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Follow these simple steps for a dessert that you’ll love!

Things You’ll Need:

1. Jello Instant Pudding mix, Fat Free, Sugar Free
2. Fat Free Milk
3. Protein Powder
4. Fat Free, Sugar Free, Whipped Cream

Instructions

1. Place 2 cups of fat free milk in a bowl or blender.
2. Add package of Fat Free, Sugar Free, JELLO instant pudding
3. Add 2 or more scoops of your favorite protein powder. The amount is up to you, I usually want 100 grams of protein in mine but it is up to you.

1. Mix with a whisk or blend in your blender until creamy.
2. Pour into bowl and refrigerate for about 5-10 minutes to thicken.

You now have a desert that is tasty and good for you!

This is going to be very brief.  If you want to get and stay fit you simply need to replace some bad habits with some good.

1. Lift weights. Muscle = Metabolism
2. Do cardiovascular exercise.  Burns fat and good for your health.
3. Eat protein.  At least 1 gram per lb of body weight.  Look at my protein made simple blog that has an easy chart
4. Eat all the green veggies you want.
5. Cut back on or eliminate starchy carbs, sweets, etc.  If it isn’t green don’t eat it.
6. The exception to eating the greens is fruit.  You can eat fruit but don’t over do it if you are trying to loose fat.
7. You can have one victory day or meal a week depending on your goals.  For this you can eat anything you want.
8. Eat at least 5 or 6 meals a day.
9. Drink 1/2 your bodyweight in ounces of water.
10. Be consistent.

Do this and you are well on your way to being lean, fit, vibrant and healthy.

If you have been reading my blog, books or articles or have ever seen me on TV you know I encourage protein intake.  Intake is just a different word for eating.  I was trying to WOW you with my enormous vocabulary. 

Eating chicken breasts, tuna and eggs all day long can get boring.  So here a just a few tips on how to spice up your protein intake.  Now I do love chicken and eat a lot of it…almost every day.  So you chicken activists can put your focus somewhere else.  This is just an option to make eating more interesting.

1. Protein drinks!  I use Labrada Nutrition and they come in so much variety you never get bored.  They even have one for breakfast!
2. Protein pudding.  Take your protein powder, add a little sugar free, no fat pudding powder into it and you have a delicious, high protein pudding.
3. Chobani Greek Yogurt.  I mix lemonade crystal light into it and it tastes like lemon chiffon pie.  High in protein, low in cards, 0 fat.
4. Take the above Greek Yogurt and put into the freezer for a while.  You now have an incredible high protein frozen yogurt desert.

I hope you find this helpful.  If you have any questions just let me know.  If you have any tips please share them here for others to learn from you.

How much protein?
The rule of thumb is at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. For example, a 100 pound person would take at least 100 grams of protein. This is a unisex rule. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. It is still 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. You are going to use your current weight, not your goal weight! It’s that simple. Don’t worry. I will give you an easy way to measure your protein out in a minute.

If you are trying to add muscle and/or lose fat, you need more protein. Let me explain. One gram of protein per pound of body weight is the bare minimum. I suggest that most people start off with this amount for the first month or two and then increase it from there. If, however, you are trying to put on muscle or burn fat, you’ll need to up it to 1.25 – 1.5 grams. Once you are doing this for a while, you’ll begin to “know” your body. You’ll know how much you need and can adjust up or down to meet your goals.

Okay I can hear you now. I don’t know how nor do I want to go around measuring my protein every time I eat. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be meticulously exact. It is very easy, in fact I will show you an old bodybuilding trick and give you a chart to make it simple. 20 grams of protein is a serving. A 20 gram serving of meat is approximately the size of a deck of cards. Usually one scoop of protein powder will be approximately 20 grams of protein, but read the label. You can get that information from the protein container. In fact I use a good bit of protein powder to supplement my protein intake and I am a big fan of Labrada Nutrition.  I have known Lee for years and he has a deep commitment to supplying the best products on the market.  In addition I make sure I always have Chobani Greek Yogurt in the house which is very high in protein & probiotics.  We will get into some tips on how to make eating interesting in a future blog.

So let’s go back to our examples. A 100 pound person would need at least 5 portions of protein during the day. 100 pounds = 100 grams of protein, divided by 20 grams of protein = 5 portions. Now just divide these serving among the meals you are eating. This 100 lb person would have one serving of protein with every meal if she was eating 5 meals a day.

Below is a simple chart that will help you. You don’t need to go crazy counting your protein intake, just use this as a guide and do the best you can. Making this easy for you will allow you to focus more time on the passions that God has put in your life.

The above portions are based on body-weight. For many years, I told people to throw their scales away because body weight is not an accurate portrayal of your fitness level. Since muscle is heavier than fat, you could be getting in better shape, but be heavier. Now, I tell them to get out their scales but to use it as a tool. A scale is necessary to help figure out your protein requirements and to help in the measuring of progress.

I hope this clears up the confusion on how much protein you need and has given you a simply way to figure it out how much protein you are eating.  Let me know if this was useful!

The way you start your day, sets the stage for the rest of your day.  Since you are the most important ingredient in your success you must take care of yourself.  You have no control over the economy and little control over other outside influences but you have complete control over yourself.  If you start your day off strong and positive the rest of your day will follow suite.

You must pay attention to what you put in your:

1. Body (mouth)
2. Mind
3. Spirit

Today I want to talk about starting your day of strong and how to get and keep your body energized.  Moving is critical because you will burn fat, build muscle and engage your physiology which will position you for a successful day.  This is how I started my day today.

I got up, put my clothes on grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to they gym for 45 minutes on the step mill.  I listened to Joel Osteen while I climbed 110 flights of stairs.  When I came home I had 5 egg whites and one whole egg scrambled with 1/2 onion, 3 thin slices of turkey breast and 1/2 avocado cooked in a pan with a little olive oil.  After I ate this I had a grapefruit and my vitamins.

Sounds simple and it is, you just need to get into the habit of caring for your most important asset… YOURSELF!

Was this helpful?  Let me know what else I can do to help you make 2010 your best year ever!

Eating while traveling doesn’t have to short circuit your fitness goals!

Here’s what you need to do:

• Bring food with you
• Bring protein drinks with you
• Eat at the airport or on the road just eat smart
• Bring your vitamins and supplements with you
• Drink plenty of water
• Be prepared

I was at a luncheon with Donald Trump yesterday in New York. We had Filet Mignon and it was fantastic! I flew in for the day and should have been home for dinner but it snowed.  I got delayed at Kennedy Airport for a few unexpected hours.  I was hungry and I know the longer I wait to eat the worse I will eat.  Here are a few keys to eating on the road.

• You can bring pre-made protein shots with you that are less then 3 oz so you can bring on the plane.  Several companies now make them.
• If you have to eat fast food, get the burger, chicken, etc but toss the bun.  Better yet tell them to leave the bun off this way you are not tempted.
• Bring protein cookies with you.  I make my own buy you can buy as well.  This will ease your sweet tooth and keep you satisfied.
• Traveling can make you forget to eat.  Set the timer on your phone to go off every two or three hours to remind you to eat.

Remember you have to eat and eat often to be fit, lean and vibrant.  Now you have some tips to help you to eat well while traveling.

This is a partial reprint or an article by Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale who is my friend and mentor and also the author of many books including the Metabolic Diet.

Vitamin D is More Than Just for Strong Bones
Not too many years ago vitamin D wasn’t considered all that vital beyond helping calcium challenged people, especially women who were or had a tendency toward osteoporosis, and of course to prevent rickets, something rarely seen in industrialize countries since even minimal amounts of vitamin D prevents severe deficiency.

As such, when most people hear about vitamin D they think of sunshine and bones. That’s because it’s common knowledge that exposure to the sun results in the formation of vitamin D and that vitamin D is important, along with calcium, for strong bones.

While that aspect of vitamin D is important, there’s a lot more to the vitamin D story.

Vitamin D is really a group of fat soluble prohormones called secosteroids. Thus, unlike most other vitamins, vitamin D is really a steroid hormone that the body uses to manufacture calcitrol (1,25-Dihydroxycholecalciferol), which is the active form of vitamin D in our bodies.

The two major forms of the vitamin obtained from sun exposure, food, and supplements are vitamin D2 (or ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (or cholecalciferol). Cholecalciferol is the vitamin D produced in humans by exposure to the sun, and is felt to be more effective than ergocalciferol for enhancing calcitrol levels in our bodies.

Recent research however, show that vitamin D is crucial for many functions in the body, and is crucial for many internal cellular processes, insulin production, the immune system, depression, heart disease, pregnancy problems, birth defects, skin and other cancers, and other diseases, including inflammation in the body from various sources, including aging.

For example recent studies have found that low serum vitamin D levels were associated with all-cause mortality, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality.

As a measure of just how important it is, it’s felt that possibly up to 2,000 different genes, which represents about one-sixth of the human genome, are affected by vitamin D.

Ok I am back!  Now that you have all “D” facts on vitamin D.  (a little NY humor on “D” facts)  You should send  Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale’s an email @ mauro@metabolicdiet.com  to get his newsletter.

Dr. Di Pasquale is one of my mentors and has had an incredible influence on my eating philosophy.  I am proud that he is a good friend and mentor and I will be posting some of his information here.  But you should subscribe to his email so you stay on the cutting edge just like I do!

Thanks for letting me post this Mauro!

I am starting a new series on this blog called The Brooklyn Body Plan.  I hope this feature is going to be very helpful to you in your quest to live a Peak Performance Lifestyle!

Also I would love your feedback on which name you like best!  Brooklyn Body Plan or Fuhgeddaboutit Fitness?

I want to take a moment to explain the reasoning behind this post.

The main reason I want to do this is to get very straight forward, truthful information into your hands with no hype or BS.

Just like people from Brooklyn, what you see is what you will get on this blog.  Much of my background in bodybuilding and fitness originates out of a little dungeon of a gym that produced some of the best physiques in the world including that of the incredible Lou Ferrigno.  R&J Health Studio holds a place in bodybuilding and fitness history for many reasons and became  famous out side of the bodybuilding world when parts of the movie Pumping Iron where filmed there staring Louie Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I also had the great honor of owning this gym for a period of time.

I have been in many gyms around the world and have met a ton of people but Brooklyn has a way of boiling things down to the basic truths.  No one has the time or the patients for a bunch of fancy talk and this no non sense attitude carries over into the gym.  Lets find what works, do it and get on with it.

I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of all the new fitness gimmicks, weight loss secrets and diets  out there that are a big fat waste of time and money.  Most of the time the physique models that are demonstrating the new diet or piece of exercise equipment don’t even use it.

This blog will be short pieces of useful information that will work and that will be easy to implement into your life.

How do you like that?  Sound like a deal?

If not then don’t worry about it or as We Say in Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboutit!

I wrote this article a few weeks ago and it has been published all over the world.  I thought I would share it with you!

Are you after the elusive 6-pack or just looking to tighten up your tummy?  There are three key areas you need to focus on to achieve the results you are after.  Read on for a terrific tummy!

1. Proper Cardiovascular Exercise
You can have the best abs in the world, but if they’re covered by fat, you won’t see them.  You must burn off the body fat through proper cardio so you can see your abs.
Cardio needs to be consistent and hard enough to get your heart into the fat burning zone.  At AIHF Wellness, we teach everyone to start right where they are!  Walking for 20 minutes is a good start and then work your way up to at least three to four sessions a week of fast walking, running, the stair master, the elliptical, swimming or biking.  The key is to find something you will do on a consistent basis.  You need to burn more calories then you are consuming so you can get rid of the fat that covers your abs.

2. Proper Resistance Training
The abdominal muscles are a muscle just like your biceps and they need to be worked.  Some great exercises are crunches, leg raises and twists.  Once you get more advanced you can get fancy but for now work on those core exercises and they will strengthen your abs.  This will result in better posture, help elevate back pain and give you nice ab development once you strip away the body fat.

They key to doing any exercise properly is to make sure you are using the desired muscles.  This is even more important when doing abs.  If you rock, sway and use bad form you could injure your lower back.  Make sure you are concentrating on the muscle and not just going through the motion.

3. Proper Nutrition
I am putting this last so you remember it!  Do not sabotage your results in the gym by pigging out at the table.  80% of getting rid of unwanted body-fat is done through proper nutrition.  You can do all the cardio in the world and eat poorly and never see the results you are after.  If you consume more calories than you have expended, you add body fat. Period!
Eat five to six small, well-balanced meals every three hours or so, dividing your protein, carbohydrates and fats among them.  The key to fat loss, is to find the amount of carbohydrates that your body operates best on and don’t exceed that “carbohydrate threshold” by eating too many carbohydrates.
Drink at least a gallon of water each day as well. It will help in nutrient absorption and digestion and with flushing toxins from the body.

Bottom line, make sure you are supplying your body with well-balanced, healthy food every three to four hours, exercise consistently and you will get the terrific tummy you are after!

One of the keys to optimal body composition is having carbohydrates  work with you, not against you! – John Rowley

Eliminate grains, particularly wheat. This is one of the most important things you can do with regards to carb intake. Wheat affects blood sugar levels the same way table sugar does. Besides the carbohydrate effect, grains such as oats, wheat, spelt are the most common food allergies.

The main source of carbs should be fibrous. Fibrous carbs typically have very low carb content. The high fiber content helps bring about a very moderate insulin response, thus making them an ideal fat loss food. The best sources of fibrous carbs include :
* Broccoli
* Lettuce
* Cabbage
* Cauliflower
* Mushrooms
* Green beans
* Onions
* Asparagus
* Cucumber
* Spinach
* All forms of peppers
* Zucchini
* Cauliflower

The darker the fruit, the better it is for you. Dark fruits tend to have very thin skin, (hence they need to produce more anti-oxidants to protect themselves from the sun). That is why darker fruits are great anti-inflammatory foods. For example, bananas have thick skins therefore they have lower anti-oxidants contents. Also the darker the fruit the lower on the gylcemic index it is. Of course, this applies to fruits in their natural state; when grapes become raisins, their glycemic index goes up because of dehydration of the fruit.

Replace grains with greens in sandwiches. Instead of using bread, use dark leafy greens to wrap the meat. It will slow down the glycemic index and help shift in your favor the acid/alkaline base, which green vegetables do very effectively.

Limit fructose intake. Even though fruits are great foods loaded with nutrients, they also contain fructose. Fructose in too high quantities can slow down thyroid function. Plus, fructose doesn’t raise insulin, which is why you should also avoid high fructose corn syrup which is in many foods today like the plague. In other words, since fructose does not raise insulin, the insulin is not getting it into muscle cells. It just lingers around and wreaks havoc on your metabolism. Most people should eat no more than 5-10 grams of fructose a day! For very active individuals, 20 grams of fructose should be the maximum intake.

Side note for you fitness enthusiasts: One of the worst sources of fructose are the weight loss bars containing high fructose corn syrup, that you can find in the “health” section of most stores today.

The best time to load up on carbs is the first 10 minutes following your workout. Since insulin sensitivity is at its highest after the workout, this is the time to take in your carbs to maximize muscle mass gains. This is the ideal time to have your 5-10 grams of fructose. This is the one time of day that you can have high glycemic carbs and have it be a benefit. I like using a little fruit juices with a high glycemic index (i.e. pineapple, grape, apple) with the rest of the carbs coming from a high fiber fruit, such as strawberries. I usually mix a couple of ounces of fruit juice, a few pieces of fruit, whey protein and water in a blender and make a nice post workout protein shake.

Add protein to your post-workout carb intake. Like I said, I add fruit to my post workout protein drink which will restore your glycogen after a hard workout which will help with your recovery without having your body store fat.