Foods You Should Never Eat

1- Aspartame

This artificial sweetner is thought by scientists to alter brain function.  

2- Food Dyes

Red 40, Yellow 6 and others (found in Sour Patch Kids for instance) have industrial chemicals in them and are known to cause cancer (development of tumors).

3- Nitrates

Synthetic nitrates (not those found naturally in foods) are used to prolong the life of food and is found in deli meats.  Nitrates can cause cancer and cause headaches and allergic reactions.  

4- Partially Hydrogenated Oil

This is a trans fat, which is an "ugly" fat.  It is in many processed foods to help prolong shelf life.  Buyer beware that if the label reads "0 trans fats," that does not mean that the food is trans fat free.  Legally speaking, food companies are permitted to list 0 grams as long as the food contains less than 0.5 grams.  Trans fats raises bad cholesterol or low-density lipo-proteins (LDL) and lowers the good cholesterol or high-density lipo-proteins (HDL) and it clogs arteries.

5- Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)

BHA and BHT are used to preserve fats in foods and are synthetic antioxidants.  These chemicals are soluble in things such as methanol and ethanol.  They are also used to protect the fats found in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.  BHA is also found in petroleum products.  The chemical properties of BHA and BHT cause cancer.

6- Parabens

Parabens are found in baked goods, cosmetics, some processed meats, and cereals.  These are added to foods to prevent mold growth and are related to hormonal problems including breast cancers, and reduced testosterone levels in men.

Read your labels! 

SMOOTHIES

Chipotle Rocks!

Chipotle becomes first US restaurant chain to voluntarily label GMOs

Their ingredients statement shows which foods have GMOs in them.

ingredients statement

Chipotle has always been a healthy version of fast food.  They pride themselves on having eliminated the rBST's and they also source local ingredients as much as possible and they eliminate the toxins that other traditional fast foods typically have.

The only forms of corn or soy exist when there are no other commerically available non-GMO sources.

www.naturalnews.com Chipotle GMO labeling

Great dinner suggestions by Ryan MacDonald

When in Napa California....

Feed by Round Pond- Ryan's Best Dinners

Can't wait to go to Round Pond this summer.  Olive Oil Tasting!!!!

Round Pond

Memorial Day Picnic Food Ideas

looking for something to bring to that Memorial Day picnic?
Don't have a lot of time but want something that stands out and tastes good too?
Here are a few suggestions:

Red, white and blue strawberries

Ingredients:

strawberries

white frosting

granulated sugar with blue food coloring

Dip the strawberry into the can of frosting (any kind will work as long as it is white). You might need to heat up the frosting for a few seconds in the microwave oven to soften.

Add blue food coloring to some granulated sugar.

After the strawberry has been dipped into the frosting, dip it again into the blue sugar.

ENJOY!

Red, white and blue pound cake

Photo, Courtesy- Taste of Home

Ingredients:

Frozen pound cake thawed

Bludberry pie filling

Strawberry or raspberry pie filling

Whipped topping

After thawing the pound cake, cut length wise into three segments.

Place bottom segment on serving tray.

Add blueberry topping to the bottom segment (don't overfill to avoid spillage).

Add middle pound cake segment.

Add strawberry or raspberry filling (do not overfill).

Place top pound cake segment on top.

Cover entire cake with whipped topping.

Stars and stripes crispy treats

Ingredients:

Butter

Marshmellows

Rice Crispies

Blue and red food coloring

Mix butter and marshmellows and melt slow and low so it does not burn.

Separate into threes.

In one bowl (third of the mixture) add a few drops of blue food coloring and Rice Crispies, gently mix.

In a second bowl, to another third of the mixture, add a few drops of red food coloring and Rice Crispies and gently mix.

To a third bowl and the last third, add Rice Cripies and gently mix.

Grease a 8 x 8 inch pan.

Add the red crispy mixture to the bottom of the pan and spread evenly.

Add the plain colored Rice Crispies on top of the red and spread evenly.

Add the blue Rice Crispies on top of the plain colored Crispies and spread evenly.

Let set to harden.

Thank you to all of our armed forces past and present and happy Memorial Day!  

Low Calorie and High Cardio - Not The Way to Go

If you workout to burn Calories and you do not lift weights, you will burn fat and drop weight.  However, you will just be the same shape (smaller version).  

People think that women should not lift weights because they will bulk up.  That is not the case.  Women just are not capable of building bulk like men are because women do not have enough testosterone.  Women can lift weights and they should lift weights.  

It is proven that muscle burns more than fat.  To burn more fat at rest, muscle is necessary.  You also need to feed the muscle so that you don't burn muscle instead of fat.

You need to fuel the muscles but the idea of eating MORE protein is a MYTH.  You do not need more protein.  You just need lean/low fat types of protein.  The muscles can only metabolize so much protein and then any extra is essentially wasted and too much will store as fat just as any excess number of Calories.

toning-myths-truths-to-lose-fat

Try a protein shake with healthy carbohydrates and sugars after a workout.  

I recommend:

Jay Robb protein powder, banana, milk or almond milk.  Make sure to eat within an hour after a hard workout.  

Workout each body part on separate days rather than doing an entire body workout everyday.  Concentrate on chest, back, legs, arms, abs on different days.

• “Superset” – two exercises back to back with no rest in between.
• “Dropset” – once the set is complete, immediately perform another set with the same amount of reps in order to exhaust the muscle.
• “Burn Out” – continually lifting the weight until the muscle is fatigued.
• “Run the Rack” – a dropset. Complete reps to failure of each weight along the length of the weight rack.  For example, lift a ten pound dumbell as many times as possible.  When too tired to continue, pick up the next highest dumbells and do it again.  Keep doing this until you reach a dumbell that you cannot lift.

Best Snack!

I tried this Fiber One Protein bar today and it was super yummy!  It was coconut almond flavor.  Now, I am not a huge coconut fan but it was goooooooooood.  

Calories= 140

Total Fat= 6g

Saturated Fat=4g (most people do not realize this but coconuts have saturated fats)

Trans Fats=0g

Cholesterol=0mg

Sodium=115mg

Total Carbs=17g (under 20 so I consider that good)

Dietary Fiber=5g (25-35 is the RDA)

Sugars=7g

Protein=6g

Now this does have sugar, corn syrup and fructose but the low carbs and the 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber should counterbalance that.

I recommend!