New TurboFire Workouts - A Message From Chalene Johnson

Ooooooo - I can't wait to get the new videos!!!!  Turbo Fire is LITERALLY my favorite workout program.  If you have any questions about it - let me know and once you are ready to buy -- go to my coaching website and click SHOP (please?). :)

Why Strength Train?

Okay, so I keep getting questions about whether or not women will "bulk up" if they start strength training.  The answer to that is no (because we're women - bulkiness is basically testosterone-related). YOU MUST STRENGTH TRAIN (yep, I said MUST) and the article below tells you exactly why.  I couldn't put it in better words, so I thought I would just copy the article "as is".


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Why Strength Train?
By Kathy Smith


Still not convinced you should strength train? Here's a good reason. After the age of 30, we all lose a quarter pound of muscle mass each year. Yikes! With less muscle, our metabolism slows down and we gain fat—averaging about 15 pounds a decade. While muscle is metabolically active (each pound of muscle burns approximately 35 to 50 calories per day), stored fat is not, burning far fewer calories. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn throughout the day, whether you're walking, vacuuming . . . even sleeping! What's more, while aerobic activity burns fat during exercise, weight training utilizes fat hours after exercising, so your metabolism stays slightly elevated for a longer period of time following a strength-training session than following an aerobic workout.

The reason to drink Shakeology every day, IMO...

This article did it for me.  It explains why I need these nutrients --- EVERY day. Please read on...

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The Hunting of Shakeology Ingredients!

By Darin Olien

OK, how did the over 70 ingredients end up in this fantastic blend of potent nutrition and yumminess? Like I mentioned in a previous article I started with some questions. I asked myself, "What do most bodies require in this day and age?" "What is not being delivered in food today (and even good, organic food)?" "What are the gaps in nutrition that need to be filled for the majority of people?"

But the first question was, "Why do we even need a shake with that much nutrition anyway? What's wrong with the food we eat anyway?"

The fact is, these days, our food is lacking nutrients. The nutrient density of our food has continued to plummet as the value of money has trumped the value of quality. It is insane, but true!

The facts are well documented. Pushing farm production has depleted soils. Crops of non-nutritive foods have replaced nutrition-dense foods. And pesticides and genetic modification are wreaking havoc with the chemical and genetic markers that have evolved over the centuries. That means we're putting more food into the pipeline that has less of what we need and more of what we don't need. On a biological level, your body hardly recognizes the food we are swallowing.

Ask yourself…how do you expect your body to live tirelessly, vibrantly, with the power to defend itself from disease if what is being fed into it is like putting dirty gas in the tank of a Ferrari? What a waste of a beautiful sports car!

If we want our health to improve, we need to be aware so we can choose differently, and in this case, we chose to create something to fulfill the deep desire of EVERYbody's need to be fed more nutrition. So we started by filling in those gaps, giving the body what it really wants and requires!

The result is 70-plus ingredients, feeding the body the equivalent of a supercharged multivitamin and protein-rich health smoothie. As important as the ingredients are, what drove their inclusion was the body's need for these vital ingredients, the cornerstones of Shakeology's creation:

1.      Whole foods. So many supplements on the market are just fragmentations of the complete matrix of real food. Think of it like taking the most popular scene from a two-hour movie and calling THAT the movie. It's incomplete without the character development, plot, and nuance that make it a holistic experience. The same goes with food. On a biological level, your body needs the whole "movie" to get the complete benefit of the vitamin or mineral that is the star. You just cannot replace or reengineer the incredible balance and creation of whole foods. So we selected high-quality, potent foods, herbs, grasses, and ingredients and then processed them minimally to preserve the integrity, phytochemicals, natural vitamins, minerals, alkaloids, phytosterols, etc. This was a huge aspect of Shakeology getting the whole, deliverable nutrition in bio-available ways.

2.      Vitamins and minerals. We included quality nutrition from potent and varying whole-food sources ("nutrition, right off the vine" as I like to call it). And then we backed that up by adding in a well-balanced vitamin and mineral profile since whole foods fluctuate from crop to crop.

3.      Enzymes. Enzymes are critical for optimal health. But since enzymes flood the food only in the last days of ripening before harvest, enzyme supplementation is critical for the majority of people. Even if you eat all raw foods, the enzymes are still low. And cooked food has ZERO active enzymes.

A very quick note . . . why enzymes? They have been called "The Fountain of Life!" They are behind EVERY single process in the body! Yes, EVERYTHING requires enzymes! The labor force of the body that digests, absorbs, allows for signals to be sent, creates new blood cells, etc. is all governed by enzymes. You would be shocked at how starved your body has been for enzyme support. That's why the addition of these vital forces to Shakeology was so critical!

4.      Prebiotics and Probiotics. We've all heard about foods with additive probiotics, like yogurts for instance. Did you know that your body can actually manifest its own probiotics if you feed it prebiotics? With the way people eat today they have created a thriving environment for UNHEALTHY BACTERIA in the body. That has created all sorts of debilitating breakdowns of the body: candida, fibromyalgia, even the foundation for mental and emotional fatigue…and on and on. The prebiotics of the amazing yacon root (which I will get into in future posts) is food for the "healthy" bacteria, and in turn creates an environment for healthy probiotics to flourish. By getting our internal "ecosystem" in balance, you have the potential for a vibrant, thriving body and life! It's complex, and even difficult to fathom an ecosystem inside your own body, but it cannot be underestimated. You need prebiotics to help you foster probiotics!

5.      MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane). MSM is a naturally occurring sulfur compound found in FRESH, RAW fruits and vegetables, milk, fish, and grains. But within hours of harvest, MSM changes and is virtually gone. That's why it is very difficult to get MSM naturally, because where ancient man ate what he picked almost instantly, today it is picked, processed, packaged, and palleted for months before it hits the table. MSM is long gone. But why is it important? MSM is critical to the connective tissue and the fluidity (or space) between cells! MSM gives them "room to breathe." When the body becomes very rigid, tight, painful and stiff, oftentimes MSM is at very low quantities in the body. Since we are not eating our own foods immediately after harvesting we MUST supplement this vital component or the body has a hard time staying healthy and flexible on a cellular level, which translates throughout the body on a biomechanical level as well.

Tai Cheng is here!!

We have a new one!!! Tai Cheng!!! It's for all fitness levels... Oh, I'm not going to go on and on about it, you'll just want to watch the video :)

Minty Shamrock Protein Shake

Since we are rapidly approaching St. Patrick's Day - here's a new recipe for you!

Minty Shamrock Protein Shake
If you're not using Greenberry Shakeology, you don't need to add the peanut butter.  Greenberry is LOADED with veggies & nutrient-dense ingredients.  For some reason, the peanut butter completely "cuts" that "green" aftertaste.  The PB is not needed if you will be making your shake with regular vanilla protein powder.

-1 scoop of Greenberry Shakeology (or a vanilla protein powder of your choice)
-2 heaping tablespoons PB2 powdered peanut butter (or 1 teaspoon peanut butter)
-2 tablespoons fat-free, sugar-free cheesecake-flavored instant pudding mix (this makes it creamy like ice cream)
-couple of drops of mint extract (play with the amount - too much will clear your sinuses & too little makes the shake blah.)
-2 cups of ice
-Truvia or Stevia sweetener, to taste

Toss the protein powder, peanut butter, pudding mix, mint, ice, and sweetener into a blender.  Blend from medium speed to high, adding water as needed until the shake has your preferred consistency.

Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Makes 1 serving
Per serving:  210 calories, 20 g protein, 33 g carbohydrates, 2 g total fat, 5 g dietary fiber, 513 mg sodium

From Chalene Johnson's book "PUSH"

Shakeology - article in Businessweek

This is a fascinating article about Shakeology in "Businessweek".  I loved the stuff before and now I really love it.  :)  So, I need (I said "need") to share it with you:


http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/the-adventures-of-superfood-man-01262012.html


Read it...it's worth 5 minutes of your day!! :)


THEN --- when you want more information about it (I said "when"), go to my site to do your research:  http://www.shakeituptoday.com.

Hypothyroidism - what to look for and what to expect

I'm re-posting this since January is 'thyroid awareness month' :). It was originally written by me in November 2010. I am down 13 pounds now...for the record. ;)

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Hypothyroidism is a condition/disease where your body is lacking the sufficient amount of thyroid hormone. The problem with this condition is that the thyroid is in charge of your metabolism. When you lack thyroid hormone, your metabolism slows. You can see how this plays into weight loss...right? When someone is hypothyroid, it is EXTREMELY difficult to lose weight. Where one person can lose 2 pounds in a week, you may only lose .5 of a pound.

This actually happened to me just last week, I was thrilled with losing 7 pounds over the last 2 months drinking Shakeology and increasing my workouts. Then my friend tells me 'oh, I've been doing the same thing, I'm down 15 pounds'. UGH! This is where your 'will' to lose weight has to be the strongest ever. You CAN do it, you have to work REALLY hard at it, and it's WORTH IT!

Maybe you're unsure of whether you are hypothyroid. Some of the signs of hypothyroidism are:

Fatigue
Weakness
Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight
Coarse, dry hair
Dry, rough pale skin
Hair loss
Cold intolerance (you can't tolerate cold temperatures like those around you)
Muscle cramps and frequent muscle aches
Irritability
Memory loss
Abnormal menstrual cycles
Decreased libido
Constipation
Depression

You may have just a few of these symptoms or you may have many of them, each person is different. For me, I had many of the symptoms, but I kept coming up with other excuses for them. Then, once I started losing my hair, I high-tailed it to a Doctor! Lo and behold, I found out that I have a version of hypothyroidism called Hashimoto's Disease (a disease where the body attacks the thyroid, because it thinks it is something bad).

If you think you may be hypothyroid, you must visit your DOCTOR asap. You can see your regular doctor, but it's even better to visit an Endocrinologist. He/She will do the proper blood tests so you will know, once and for all, whether it's your thyroid that's wreaking havoc on your life. Good luck!