Ab Circle Pro: Does it Work?

As the infomercial states all you need to do is 3 minutes a day on this machine and you will have abs like Jennifer Nicole Lee the fitness model who is promoting this product on QVC.
I found the promotion of this product to be extremely misleading, 3 minutes a day on this piece of equipment is not going to give you abs like Jennifer Nicole Lee. Jennifer had those abs way before this piece of equipment was invented (unless she had it hiding in her basement). Spot reduction is a common exercise myth! The reviews I’ve read about this product are mixed. The most common complaint is that using this machine resulted in sore knees (after all you have to be on your knees to use this machine) and that it breaks easily. Most people stated that they “felt it working” (their muscle I guess) and were sore the next day. This is not unusual since you are now using muscles you may not have used in the past. The Ab Circle Pro does come with a nutritional guide and most people who followed this guide and used the Ab Circle Pro for about 20 minutes a day (not 3 minutes) did start losing weight. Well of course if you start exercising for 20 minutes a day and start a calorie restrictive meal plan you are going to lose weight, duh! But you can probably get the same weight loss results by going for a 20 minute walk (and eating healthily).
I do believe that using the Ab Circle Pro and following the nutritional guide is better than doing nothing (sitting on the couch) but I wouldn’t recommend it anyone. Basically after a while, your body will get used to any exercise program and you stop seeing any improvements or gains. Any new exercise plan works for about 6 weeks then your body just gets used to it. I am not quite sure how the Ab Circle Pro gives you a full body workout? The infomercial demonstrates that you can do pushups on this machine but you can also do pushups on the floor (everyone has a floor)! I think I will be able to purchase a lot more effective workout equipment for $200 + shipping & handling! Sorry, as I mentioned before, there is no quick fixes, magic pills etc, etc.

The Worst Drive-Through Meal in America

THE WORST DRIVE-THROUGH MEAL IN AMERICA
Carl’s Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger with Medium Natural Cut Fries and 32 oz Coke
2,618 calories
144 g fat (51.5 g saturated fat)
2,892 mg sodium

Wow! 2618 calories is much closer a man's daily caloric intake instead of 1 meal.

Should the Surgeon General be Slender?

The headline on the Washington Post magazine read “Should the surgeon general be Slender? President Obama recently appointed Regina Benjamin as the surgeon general and she is fat. Yes, I said the “F” word and don’t want to sugar coat it with one of those other words people often use to describe fat people, such as thick, plump, big boned , voluptuous etc.
What surprises me is that this is even an issue. The question should be “is she qualified”? Shouldn’t we be looking at her resume instead of her waistline? Not hiring a qualified person for a job because they are too fat (thin, black, white, short etc) is considered discrimination! This is not the first time a surgeon general has been over weight and I understand that a slender surgeon general would make a better role model, but would you prefer a less qualified surgeon general who was thin?

According to the surgeon general being fat cost America $117 billion a year in health care costs. Maybe the new surgeon general should lose some weight and help motivate American's to do the same!

Jump Rope Workout

Since I had issues with shin splints last week I am still taking it easy (I think), so instead of doing sprints or running I decided to create a jump rope workout that I can do at home. Jumping rope kicks butt, this workout is tough, my arms are like Jello right now and lifting up a cup of tea is a chore right now. My workout consisted of 2 minutes - jumping rope, 1 minute - bodyweight squats, 1 minute - diagonal wood chops, 2 minutes - jumping rope, 1 minute - squat thruster, 1 minute - standing trunk twists, 1 minute -mountain climbers, 1 minute - pushups and so on. I basically did this workout for 30 minutes. My arms got tired before my legs when I was jumping rope!

Golf Lesson

It's official, I have taken up golf and had my first lesson on Saturday. I think I did okay for my first lesson. I am looking forward to my first game. Craig plays a lot of golf and I told him that I would learn to play, and now it's finally happening. I am really excited. I didn't realize how much flexibility and core strength is needed for golf. I am going to have to incorporate more stability and flexibility exercises in my workouts. I've been surfing the net for golf gear to see what's out there and my only question is why are there so many pink womens golf bags? I am not a pink person and I refuse to purchase a pink golf bag! Pink is for babies!

Why would you deep fry cheesecake?

I am frequently looking for new recipes to try. Earlier today I was looking for a cucumber salad recipe that I had seen, and unfortunately I had had not bookmarked the recipe and unfortunately could not find it. I ended up making creating my own recipe with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, almonds feta cheese and my homemade vinaigrette salad dressing. During my search for this recipe, I stumbled upon some disgusting, calorie dense and greasy sounding recipes, some that I would never think of trying. Some of them included deep fried cheesecake, deep fried Oreos, deep fried Twinkies, deep fried ice cream and deep fried Snickers. (You see the common theme here is deep fried!) Why would anyone every think of frying these foods? All I have to say is clogged arteries. Of course I had to look to see how these foods could be deep fried because you really cannot just add cheesecake or Twinkies to hot oil and expect it to fry! Basically the way to deep fry cheesecake is to you have to coat it with Tempura batter and then deep fry it. Yuck!
I have said before that generally the average American knows very little about nutrition. But come on, how could someone not know that frying cheesecake and Snickers isn’t healthy? I don’t like Snicker, Twinkies, Oreos but I love cheesecake and would never think of frying cheesecake or eating fried cheesecake. I read an article recently about the healthiest foods on earth (vegetables, fruits, tea) and someone’s comment on the article was the following: “I think most of us know what is good for us… but tell me why I keep eating sweets, cookies, muffins, chocolate…. It's because we don't eat for nutrition but for entertainment, or from boredom, or habit, or many other psychological needs. Cure that itch and we would all eat better.”
I never thought about that, I know I eat for nutrition, maybe it’s the years of my mother telling “eat it, it’s good for you”!

Five Pounds (5lbs): The amount the average American could potentially gain each year, simply by drinking sweetened beverages like coffee and sodas, according to a new study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition!

You have the power to change anything about yourself or your life!

This healthy food diet that I started last week was not too different from my regular meals so it was extremely easy. I did miss my rice cakes. Since I couldn't have rice cakes I started making frozen yogurt. I basically got greek yogurt (because it is creamier than regular yogurt), fresh strawberries and stevia vanilla cream sweetner and I blended it and placed it in the freezer. Every hour I would blend it again and continued doing that for a few hours until it was frozen and creamy. I was quite surprised that my husband liked it. He liked it so much that he bought us a yogurt/icecream maker. My nice recipe will be mango frozen yogurt!

Unfortunately I had to cut my workout short today because of shin splints. Today my husband and I were running at the track and my right leg was so sore that I had to stop. I guess I will have to give up running for a while! I iced my shins when I got home which helped a bit. I am also going to do some of these preventative strengthening exercises:

Walk on my toes
With socks off, gather up a towel that is flat on the floor, using only the toes.
Walk on heels
Draw each letter of the alphabet with the big toe of each foot in the air

I hope I will be able to run next week.

Natural Food Diet

I don't eat a lot of processed foods, but I do eat some processed foods every now and them. This week I am going to take it even further, I am going totally hardcore and I am going on a Natural Food Diet. The goal of this diet is not to lose weight, I have to make this clear since people often associate diets with weight lost. With this diet I will be eliminating all processed foods, foods with additives and will be eating only foods that once grew, were alive and are natural. Some of these foods will include vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, sweet potatoes/yams, beans and of course lean proteins. I am not eliminating diary, so I will be eating yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, whey protein. I need to have my protein shakes after I workout so I need to have my protein shakes, but I will not be eating rice cakes which is often my post workout snack. Finally, fish oil and olive oil will also be included.

Why a natural food diet?
Natural foods are more likely to provide the vitamins and nutrients the body needs and also has a cleansing effect on the body.
Finally for those dieters who want to lose weight, natural foods are less likely to be fattening and more likely to be healthy. So why not eat real foods and no processed foods for a week? Summer is a perfect time to do it with the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables!

2009 US Annual Obesity Ranking

It’s that time of year again. It’s time for the US annual obesity rankings. Surprise, surprise, obesity rates rose in 23 states over the past year, hikes!
America’s fattest state is Mississippi, followed closely by Alabama. It is a bit alarming that 32.5% of adults in Mississippi are obese and 44.4% of children are overweight or obese. I’ve never been to Mississippi or Alabama, nor have I ever wanted to visit those states, but now here is even more reason NOT to go. I would probably have a difficult finding foods that I like to eat.
Colorado has the lowest obesity rate at 18.9%. I think I will head west (the closer to California the better) instead of south.
There are a number of health risks associated with obesity some of which include: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure.
Unfortunately most American’s are clueless about health and nutrition and believe that as long as they include a supersized diet coke/pepsi with their Big Mac and large fries it’s okay. Everyone wants that magic/miracle pills that will give them washboard abs and a toned midsection! I say, step away from the junk foods and by all means stay away from the 7 C’s: cookies, crackers, cream, chocolate, cakes, cereals and colas!

Happy Fourth of July

This Fourth of July weekend will be pretty quiet, no major plans. Craig and I are planning on going to the Tiger Woods golf tournament which is not to far from where we live. We aren't planning to go to see fireworks. Since we live on the 15th floor we can stay on our balcony and see lots of fireworks from our condo. Craig is on a low carb diet so he will probably eat whatever food I cook and not eat junk food. I went grocery shopping and I purchased some fish (grouper) one of my favourites. I've never cooked it before so I hope it turns out well. I just love summer for so many reasons including all the fresh fruit at the grocery stores. I bought the best mangoes, blueberries, and cherries yesterday. This summer I've been indulging in lots of fruits. Last summer I was unable to eat a lot of fruit because I was preparing for my competition. My theory is if I indulge in fruits and vegetables then I won't be tempted to eat junk food! Plus I love fruits and vegetables.

Hope everyone have wonderful and safe holiday weekend!

Happy Canada Day

I had someone ask me what is Canada Day, and my first thought was why don't you just google it! But seriously the easiest way to describe it to Americans is it's our Fourth of July. Canada Day celebrates the events that occurred on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act created the Canadian federal government!