Does Meditation Help You Lose Weight

Well it's Tuesday morning and it's time for me to get back on my weight loss diet plan. This weekend I did let myself go a little bit and take a little bit of a break.

Being very strict on your diet 7 days a week for each and every one of those twenty-four hours a day for a straight seven days can be difficult. And even though I have lost a tremendous amount of weight and people look at me and think that it's so easy for me, in reality it's not.

Because I have been eating a clean diet for so long I do not always get the cravings for the Cakes and Pastries and sweets like I did in the past. But at times of stress I always want to eat something that may not exactly be the best for me.

Of course I'm talking about something sweet like a candy bar or a scoop of ice cream. And let's not forget potato chips, pretzels and chocolate bars. Oops and I almost left out nachos, frozen yogurt and water ice. So even though I may not always physically crave unhealthy foods I do suffer from being a stress eater. When stress is high, that is when I crave the foods that are going to make me fat and even make my diabetes much worse.

And now that I finally am willing to admit that, I have realized that I now have to make an effort to reduce my levels of stress and strain. So I have started to implement some daily routines that will hopefully reduce my levels of stress during the day. One of the stress relievers that I have tried doing is meditation.

I have taken some classes on it and when I first took the classes I was really into it and I did it twice a day and 20 minutes for each of those sessions. And in the beginning when I first started I definitely set aside the time to do my morning and afternoon meditations. I did find my mood and attitude was much more relaxed and I was able to handle stressful situations much better. But I have to honestly tell you that finding two 20 minute sessions during the course of the day has become very difficult and I have stopped meditation.

And I do notice that my ability to cope with certain high pressure situations has taken a turn for the worse since I have stopped meditating. I also noticed that while I was meditating the dark bags that I had under my eyes totally disappeared the more I did my daily meditation. But since I have stopped meditating those bags have returned once again. So I am going to start meditating again! I am going to do a 20-minute session first thing in the morning and then I'm going to plan another 20 minutes meditation session sometime around lunch time.

One thing that I have to say is I am much more likely to do the meditation sessions if I scheduled them during the day. So just like I'm scheduling my consultations and appointments and therapy sessions with my clients and patients, I now schedule my meditation sessions in my appointment book. So I will let you know how this goes next week when I post again on the blog.

3 Philadelphia Style Weight Loss Recipes

Ricotta cheesecakes with fruit

Ingredients:

• ricotta cheese - 1 Cup
• 2 egg whites -  lightly whisked
• organic honey - 1 tablespoon
• 4 cups of fruit - mixed fruit you can use cherries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.

Start this wonderful recipe by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. add your 1 cup of ricotta cheese to a large bowl and break it apart with a spoon. Next add your egg whites, vanilla Essence and organic honey and mix everything until it's smooth and totally combined. Next grease four ramekins with coconut oil and spoon  the Regatta cheese mixture into the room can and make sure that the tops are level. You can now bake this for about 20 minutes or until the Ricotta cakes are risen and golden.

Now to make the fruit sauce let's set aside about one-quarter of the fruit for just decoration purposes. Measure about 2 tablespoons of water and pour this into a pan and set this on top of a medium heat. Add the rest of the fruit to this pan and heat gently until everything is softened. Then take the pan off of the heat and set this on the side to cool slightly. Now we can try the fruit in a blender or NutriBullet or even a food processor and you can serve the sauce warm or cold over top of your cakes. and you can even cut the fruit that you have set on the side on top of the cake and if you like you can even use some mint leaves to add a little bit of green. This makes for cakes and each cake has approximately 11 grams of carbohydrates and 160 calories.

Fruit filled souffle omelette

Ingredients:

• strawberries - 3 quarter cup with the Green Top removed and cut in half.
• 3 eggs
• Stevia - 1 tablespoon
• heavy cream - 3 tablespoons
• vanilla extract - three or four drops
• Butter - 1 tablespoon

First we want to remove the green leafy top of the strawberries and slice them in half and then put them on the side.  none crack open your eggs and separate the white from the yolks and put the egg yolks and stevia enable and beat them until the mixture is fluffy and pale. Then add in the cream and vanilla extract. Then whisk the egg whites in a very large bowl and then add this into the yolk mixture. the next step is to melt your butter any pain and then pour in the egg mixture and let this cook until it's firm. After that spoon over top your strawberries and gently fold the egg on top of itself like you normally would with any type of omelet that you are making. Finally you get to put your omelet on a plate and cut the omelet in 3 pieces. take two of these pieces and put them on two other dishes and then enjoy. This makes 3 servings each having about 280 calories and 12 grams of carbohydrates.

Orange Avocado Smoothie

Ingredients:

• one small avocado
• a small handful of parsley
• 3 ounces of asparagus spears
• 2 large oranges
• Lemon juice that you squeeze from a fresh lemon
• ice cubes
• mineral water

Cut your avocado in half and remove the stone. Spoon out the flesh and put it into a blender and then add your parsley. Chop your asparagus spears and add this to the blender and blend everything until it's nice and smooth. Squeeze the juice from your oranges and the juice from your lemon and add these to the blender and blend everything once more until it’s super smooth. Pour this into two glasses but only about the glasses are 2/3rds full and then add the ice cubes and the mineral water. You should drinks this soon after you make it. You can add of few orange slices if you like.

The Weight Loss Diet That Philadelphia Weight Loss Doctors, Personal Trainers and Wellness Specialist Follow

If you live in or near Philadelphia you have access to the best weight loss, wellness and diet programs in the country. And in interviewing some of the top medical weight loss doctors, nutritionist and personal trainers in Philadelphia one thing was clear.

There is one word that when you talk about It’s like a nuclear bomb going off amongst medical doctors, nutritionists, personal trainers, alternative medicine and holistic medicine practitioners and other health and wellness practitioners in our Philadelphia region. And that word is sugar.

Not just sugar but also products like Splenda, equal, etc.... Just take a look at what everyone is eating in our country. Everyone is eating foods that are man-made, processed, foods that are not natural in the world they are the result of what chemists have developed in the labs of their various food companies.

And it's no coincidence that because most people are eating a diet loaded with unhealthy sugar that our country and our people are getting more sick as time goes on.

If you look at the records from the various government agencies you will see that this great country consumes over 150 pounds of sugar type products each and every year.

If you do the math that's about close to 40 teaspoons of sugar for every person in this country each and every day of the year.

Now when you compare that to the past most people only consumed about 5 pounds of sugar in a year and that would come out to being less than 1 1/2 teaspoons per day. And to make it even worse if you look at way back in time when people were eating some type of sugar, they were eating natural foods that converted into sugar. Foods like good healthy fruits and vegetables. They were not eating processed foods and genetically modified foods like we are eating today.

When we are eating the whole purpose of the digestive system is to metabolize the food that we are eating in turn it into sugar. The reason for this is because sugar is one of the  main sources of nourishment and energy for our body. Our bodies use 2 sources for fuel and they are sugar and fat. From the good nutritious foods that we are eating like fruits and vegetables when your body turns things into glucose the brain and our muscles use that for energy. When we eat something that is sweet or something that is artificially sweet tasting our bodies react in a certain way and this will cause two very important  organs the pancreas and the liver to get ready for sugar entering the system and they of course release hormones allowing the body to function properly.

The issue is that in today's society we like everything to taste sweet. Whether it's breakfast lunch or dinner we always want something that is sweet tasting in our mouth. 

And whether it's a piece of candy, cheesecake, real sugar or an artificial sweetener our body cannot tell the difference and this causes it to release tons of insulin into our system. So our body is getting lots of empty calories that provide no nourishment and this is making us fat and sick. 

These types of processed foods cannot give the body the nourishment that it needs to heal, regenerate and promote a healthy body and lifestyle. Eating too much sugar can lead to all types of diseases like bad teeth, migraine headaches, insomnia, and even stomach problems.

And you think you might be doing your body good if you were eating sugar substitutes like Splenda, etc…  but sadly these also spike your insulin and eventually cause certain illnesses in your body.

So even though you think these products are totally fine for you they really are not. So when you are eating these pink and yellow packages of sweetness your body is expecting sugar and this will start an insulin spike and your body does eventually spike it’s insulin and because there is nothing in there giving it fuel this will actually increase your hunger and your appetite.

This is the way the body is designed when you taste something sweet your body expects fuel.

And because those pastel colored little  goodies have concentrated sweetness, tastings these products will dramatically increases our hunger and our cravings.

So in fact these sugar substitutes are just making us fatter instead of making us skinnier. T

he results of the study are actually going to scare you because it's totally unbelievable. A University Science Center actually determined that for each can of diet soda that you consumed daily this increases your risk of being overweight and obese by 40%.

Whether you realize it or not everything that we are eating in today's world is a serious issue. What has been told to us as being a good healthy diet is actually just making us fat and sick.

If you want to fix this start by making  small little changes in your life.

What I did was I stopped using those little pastel colored sweeteners and I just had my coffee with heavy cream and that's it. And when I needed something sweet I would just grab a handful of grapes or berries or some natural type of food like that.

For my snacks I eat lots of vegetables. I usually stop every morning at the supermarket and I buy one of those bags of baby carrots and I eat them all throughout the day.

As I stopped eating the artificial type of sweeteners and sugars I was actually able to really enjoy the sweetness, the natural  sweetness of the carrots.

Forget about everything that you've been told about eating healthy and try to keep your diet to lots of healthy green vegetables,  cruciferous vegetables, good healthy proteins and try to eat as little starchy grains as possible. Starchy grains also convert to sugar and this is also making us fat and sick.

As you eliminate the artificial sweeteners from your life you will finally begin to realize how delicious fruits and vegetables really are. All of these foods give us the vitamins minerals and nutrients that our body needs for proper health and wellness both physically and mentally.

So if you want to lose weight and get healthy cut out the artificial sweeteners and eat lots of veggies and go for a walk at the end of the day and enjoy life.

Fitness - Weight Loss and a Ketogenic Diet

I am writing this article today because over the past several weeks I have had many patients coming to the office asking lots of questions about a low carbohydrate high-fat diet and most were concerned was that this would put them into ketosis. Now for some people, ketosis is something that they heard about and it may be something that they know when their friends who tried this type of weight loss diet usually lost quite a bit of weight.

But then some have heard some negative comments about ketosis. So in this post I'm just going to review the simplified version of what ketosis, how to get into ketosis and if it is safe. Going into a state of ketosis just means that your body is switching from burning sugars that are floating around in your bloodstream from all of the foods that you have eaten like; pasta, cakes, pastries, rice and drinks and even alcohol into a mode where your body is now burning it's own body fat for fuel instead of the sugar that has been floating around in your bloodstream. This is very simple and straight to the point and still it may be a little bit confusing for some people in understanding how your body really goes into ketosis.

Now this basic knowledge of ketosis will help you finally understand why people lose weight on low carbohydrate diets. You may think that this type of diet is new but it’s been around since the 1800’s but it was not called a ketosis or low carb diet. It had a variety of names and just as many versions of what to eat and what not to eat. I bet you didn’t know that doctors would recommend this type of diet to their patients in the early days of medicine.

Yes, this type of diet has been around for a long time.

In the early years of medicine many physicians would actually have their patients going on a diet that excluded starchy carbohydrates and sugars. And astonishing proved to help a multitude of people with variety of different health issues.

Now, back to explaining what ketosis is. Your body goes into a ketogenic state when there is not enough carbohydrates and sugar in your bloodstream to replenish the amount of sugar type of compounds that are stored in your lover. And this sugar type of compound that is stored in your liver is called glycogen and this is just simply a super fast source of fuel for your body. 

But when you have too much sugar in your bloodstream into much sugar in your liver you develop what is commonly known as a fatty liver and this is not healthy. So too much sugar in your body too much sugar in your liver causes a variety of issues such as diabetes and we all know that when people have diabetes sometime down the line if they do not get everything under control they will eventually have a heart attack or stroke. 

So in order for your body to go into a ketogenic state the only way for this to happen is when there is a lack of sugar floating around in your bloodstream and this will decrease her insulin levels and this will cause your body to start using its own body fat for fuel and energy. Your body specifically your liver will break down all the facts into compounds known as ketones. And when your body starts using this instead of sugar for fuel is call the state of ketosis.

So just to prove you when you eat foods that contain a lot of sugar my candies and sodas and cakes and pastries and when you also eat foods that are just starchy carbohydrates like your rice pasta and rice your body will break them down into sugar that sugar will float around in your bloodstream and this picture is on my bills and when you're in some levels are high in your bloodstream it will push all of the calories from everything that you were eating into your fat cells. This is what is giving you that big fat belly and the big hips the big thighs the big legs. So

This means when you were increasing your weight and body fat that your body is using the sugar that is floating around in your bloodstream for energy instead of using your body fat for fuel and energy. 

So in order for your body to burn fat you simply need to decrease the sugar types of food you were eating so that your body will eventually start burning your own body fat and you will lose weight, you will usually lose pounds and inches.

How do I get into ketosis?

You put your body into a state of ketosis I simply decreasing you mount of sugar loaded food and starchy carbohydrates that you were eating each and every day. As you do this the body will burn the sugar in your bloodstream very quickly and then it has no other choice but to start burning your body fat for fuel. Normally it takes anywhere from 48 and sometimes 72 hours to get your body into a state of ketosis.

Can I lose weight on a ketosis diet?

There seems to be a growing trend of many weight-loss specialist recommending to their patients to follow a key to see this type of diet or a lower carbohydrate diet. The sad thing is that most of the food that we eat during the course of our day during this present time consist mostly of processed foods and starchy sugar eluded carbohydrates. And we all know that most of eat too much bread, pasta, rice, sugar, bagels, muffins, cakes and pastries and let's not forget that nice glass of wine that we drink at the end of the day just to relax and unwind. 

If you limit these types of food on a daily basis this should automatically put your body into a fat burning mode and possibly make your body go into the ketogenic state. 

When used for weight loss people usually use quite a significant amount of weight on programs that lower the amount of carbohydrates that you were eating in a day. Such diets are the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet and even the Paleo diet. T

hey Count on the fact that when you stop eating certain type of foods your body will eventually start burning your own body fat for fuel and this will cause you to lose weight. These types of diets depend on this order to get your body losing weight quickly. And of course the low-carb diet has also been called the primal diet or even a caveman diet in these types of diet ultimately cycle periods of ketosis and periods of Maintaining normal sugar levels.

Is a Ketosis Diet Safe For Me?

So many people ask this question and quite honestly ketosis is usually safe for most people. In fact and caveman times and times much before what we called civilized society there were periods of feasting and periods of famine. 

So during the periods a feast our ancestors were eating everything that was available to them and they would gain weight and then when food was scarce they would slowly instead of the store dropping weight but as the amount of food decreased their body probably slowly entered state of ketosis in this enabled human beings to survive and prosper throughout the course of time. 

Maintaining key ptosis in definitely is not recommended. The one part or something that we should be careful of with his ketoacidosis and normally only people that are type one diabetics can enter ketoacidosis because their body does not produce any insulin at all. But in a normal person usually your insulin levels prevent your body from going into ketoacidosis. 

But if you are considering this type of diet in order to lose weight or improve your overall health I certainly recommend that you speak with the medical weight-loss doctor and have him guide you through this type of program so you will be as successful as possible.

There are even studies now where they are trying a ketosis type of diet in order to help people with all types of diseases including diabetes, hypothyroid and a multitude of other health problems. 

There are also some people who recommend the ketogenic diet program to assist people who are suffering from cancer. It is thought that the ketones help destroy cancer cells in the body. 

But this is new research and definitely needs to be looked into a bit more thoroughly. But like I always say before you start any type of nutrition program you always must discuss it with your family medical doctor to make sure that it is safe for you to do. 

I hope you enjoy this article and as always please come back to my blog next week for more healthy tips.

3 Scrumptious Recipes Under 400 Calories

Here are 3 scrumptious recipes that are all under 400 calories. They are easy to fit into any 1200 calorie or 1600 calorie diet plan.

Cranberry Orange Club Salad

Ingredients:

• Low sugar orange marmalade – ¼ cup
• Dijon mustard – 2 tablespoons
• A 2 ½ pound turkey breast half with the bone
• 2 slices of turkey bacon
• Cider vinegar – 2 tablespoons
• Olive oil – 2 tablespoons
• Another 2 tablespoons of the low sugar orange marmalade
• Another one and a half teaspoons of Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons of cranberries, dried
• Orange juice – 2 tablespoons
• Chopped romaine lettuce – 6 cups
• Chopped tomatoes – 1 cup
• Shredded cheddar cheese – ¼ cup
• Shredded Swiss cheese – 2 tablespoons
• Low-sodium or unsalted croutons – 2 tablespoons

Start by preheating your oven to 325°F. Then in a small bowl stir together the ¼ cup of marmalade and 2 tablespoons of mustard. Make sure that you remove the skin from the turkey breast. Rinse the turkey and pat dry, with paper towels.  Then placed the turkey breast with the bone side down on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast the turkey uncovered for about 1 ¼ hour up to 1 ½ hours or until the juices run clear and the turkey is no longer pink. Be sure that you are basing the turkey occasionally with the marmalade mixture during the last 15 minutes of the roasting. When the  turkey is caulked remove it from the oven and cover it with foil and let it sit for about 15 minutes before slicing. While your turkey is cooking you can cook your turkey bacon, make sure that the bacon is thoroughly cooked and drained on the paper towel to remove the excess oil. Then chop up your bacon. For your salad dressing in a small bowl you can was together the vinegar, 2 tablespoons of  orange marmalade, olive oil and one and a half teaspoons of mustard.  Add the dried cranberries and the orange juice to achieve the  consistency that you like for your salad dressings. Shred half of the turkey for the salad and you can place the rest of the turkey into a container and refrigerate for another meal. When you are ready to serve just arrange your romaine lettuce on a plate and top with the turkey, tomato, cheddar cheese, Swiss cheese, turkey bacon and croutons. This makes approximately 4 servings each having about 15 g of carbohydrates and 310 calories.

Sweet Potato and Yukon Gold Salad

Ingredients:

• Yukon gold potatoes – 8 ounces, scrubbed and cut into  ½ inch slices
• Sweet potatoes – peeled and cut into ½ inch slices
• Smoked turkey sausage – 7 ounces cut into ½ inch slices
• 1 small red onion cut into very thin wedges
• ½ cup of thinly sliced celery
• Olive oil – 2 tablespoons
• Cider vinegar – 2 tablespoons
• Spicy brown mustard – 1 teaspoon
• Dried sage – 1 teaspoon
• Black pepper – ¼ teaspoon
• Celery seeds – ⅛ teaspoon
• Baby spinach – 5 – 6 ounces

In a saucepan cook your potatoes and sweet potatoes make sure that you use enough boiling  water with a bit of salt added to keep the potatoes covered for approximately 10 minutes or until it takes for the potatoes to become soft and tender. Then drain. While your potatoes are boiling in another skill cook your sausage, onion and celery in the hot olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the I mean is tender and the sausage is cooked, browned. Then stir in the mustard, vinegar, pepper sage and celery seeds. When you are ready to serve place the spinach on a serving platter and top of your potatoes and sweet potatoes and spoon the sausage mixture over top. This makes approximately 4 servings each having about 26 g of carbohydrates and 253 calories.

Chilled Salmon and Tabouli

Ingredients:

• Fresh skinless salmon fillets – 1 pound
• 1 cup of water
• Salt – ½ teaspoon
• Black pepper – ¼ teaspoon
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Finely shredded lemon peel – 1 teaspoon
• 1 ½ cups of water
• Bulgar – ½ cup
• Lemon juice – ⅓ cup
• Olive oil – 2 tablespoons
• Great or cherry tomatoes cut in half – 1 cup
• Artichoke hearts – 1 cup drained and coarsely chopped
• Cucumber, seated – 1 cup chopped
• ½ cup of fresh parsley
• Fresh mint – ¼ cup
• 2 green onions sliced thinly

First clean your salmon and then place  poor the one cup of water into a large skillet bring it to a boil and then add the salmon in one single layer. Cover this and let it simmer for approximately 8 – 10 minutes or until your fish is cooked. When the salmon is finished cooking be sure to use  a spatula and move it onto a plate. And then sprinkle both sides of the salmon with the salt and black pepper.  In a bowl combine your  garlic and lemon peel and sprinkle this over one side of each of your fish fillets. Cover this and then chill the salmon. In another bowl combine the 1 ½ cups of water and the Bulgar and let this sit for one hour. Then drain the Bulgars through a fine mesh sieve and press out any of the excess water with a large spoon. In the same bowl whisk together the lemon juice, oil your remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt and the remaining ⅛ teaspoon of pepper. Add your drained bulbar, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, parsley, mint, cucumber and green onion and toss everything to combine nicely. Then break your salmon up into large chunks and toss the salmon into the bowl guard mixture. Cover this in a container and let it show for at least 2 hours and as much as 24 hours. This makes 4 servings. When you’re ready to serve all you have to do is divide this delicious mixture onto your plate and enjoy. This makes 4 servings each having approximately 22 g of carbohydrates and 393 calories.

How Can Yoga Help With Weight Loss by Philadelphia's Top Weight Loss Trainer

It has been over social media, lately, that people are practicing different types of yoga for help with improving overall health and wellness, mental and psychological wellness but also for losing weight..

Now I don’t know about you but personally I have always thought that yoga is more for mental relaxation and it does help increase the body’s flexibility and also tone muscles off at the same time.

So in my opinion it’s an excellent form of exercise for improving overall health and wellness. But I never really thought of yoga being performed specifically for weight loss. However, after doing much research I discovered that studies have been done that prove that yoga is good for weight loss.

The reason is that performing yoga regularly helps decrease certain chemicals in your body that are produced and you are stressed out. And of course these stress chemicals also increase your body’s  sensitivity to insulin and will cause your body to store more calories as body fat. But when you perform yoga it helps lower the stress hormones and also increases your body’s sensitivity to insulin which is a good thing because this allows your body to burn its own fat for fuel, instead of storing everything that you eat as fat. Now the type of yoga is called Sarundah Yoga.

And this is basically a series of specific yoga poses that should be performed at least 3 times a week. I’m going to do some research for you and in one of my next posts I will list the poses here for you, for Sarundah Yoga otherwise known as Morning Salutations Poses.

For now I am going to give you a list of yoga poses that will help you tone your muscles and assist with burning extra calories and body fat.  I have several personal training clients doing these poses and they all love them. So give them a try and let me know what you think.

*But please Remember to talk with your medical doctor and get their approval before starting any type of exercise program.

Here are the yoga poses:

Crescent pose – this helps tighten your of dollar muscles, hips and your leg muscles. You start by standing with both feet together and your arms at your side. Take a deep breath and and slowly raise your arms over top of your head and reach towards the sky. Then below the air and out and slowly then forward from the hips wringing your hands to the floor. I personally have to bend my knees when I do this but  That’s fine. Take another deep breath and and then exhale and while you are breathing out technique a step back with her right leg putting you into a lunge position. So now you are in the lunge position with her arms pointing upwards your head towards the sky and take a deep breath in and just hold position. I try to hold this position for about 5 deep breaths and of course breathing nice and slowly. If I feel like giving myself a challenge I will actually try to extend my left back a little bit creating a little bit of an arch in my back. Depending on the morning and how I am feeling I am not always able to do this added addition of a back extension arch.

The next pose is called the Willow pose – in this cleans up the side of your stomach. As with most poses you’re going to stand with both of your feet together in your arms hanging loosely and relaxed at your sides. Mentally focus and relax and after a few breaths in the standing position you’re going to place the bottom of your foot let’s say the soul of your right foot on the inside of your right leg. Try to go up as high as you can  bringing your heel of your foot all the way into the upper thigh of the opposite leg. Then just bring your hands together, any prayer position and take a few breaths and tried to stabilize and stay balanced. When you are stabilized raise your arms upwards towards the ceiling take a few breaths in and out slowly and then bend to the side, laterally to your raised leg. Hold this position for 4 – 5 deep breaths and then switch sides. Perform this pose 5 – 6 times if you can.

Rocking boat pose – this tunes your stomach muscles in your back. We are going to sit on the floor with your feet on the floor, having your knees bent and just place your hands when your upper legs. Try to keep your upper body straight and slowly leaned back about 45° and raise your feet so that they are an inch or 2 off of the floor. Try to keep your toes pointing straight out. Breathe in and out a few times slowly and then stretch out your arms in front of your body and trying to keep your legs close together and trying to lift your  legs of a few more inches so that your body forms the V. Now try to hold this position and breathe in and out slowly. Try to hold this pose for 4 – 5 deep breaths in and of course you’re going to breathe out slowly.

Hover pose  – this poses great for turning your back, arms, stomach and shoulders all at the same time. Read going to start this pose by getting into the push-up position. You want to have your toes on the floor and your arms straight out with your hands below your shoulders and then lower yourself down until your upper  torso is a few inches off of the ground. And hold this position for 4 – 5 deep  breaths in while slowly exhaling each time.

Chair pose – this is great for toning your tush and legs. You know it, we’re going to start by standing with her feet together and arms nice and relaxed by our side. We will then inhale and slowly lift our arms over our head pointing towards the ceiling. We want to keep our hands facing each other when we do this. Slow you breathe out and lower your tush so that your lower legs and upper legs form approximately 45° angle. You should try to hold this position for 4 – 5 slow deep breaths in and of course exhaling slowly.

Give them a try and post your results here.

Best Weight Loss Plan Recipes in Philadelphia PA

Hello everyone in this article I am going to be giving you some really good recipes that I found from going to local restaurants and bakeries in the Philadelphia region. 

These recipes are delicious and we're going to also go over some of the smoothies that I enjoyed at some of our local Philadelphia smoothie shops and we're also going to be giving you recipes for some awesome breakfast omelets that I loved from some of the diners in the Philadelphia region. 

So just sit back relax and take note of all these fantastic recipes.  I hope you enjoy them because I certainly did. 

The whole thing is with these recipes when I had them at these restaurants and diners and bakeries they were loaded with lots of calories so I tried to make them into nice delicious low-calorie version of these meals. 

Some of them are going to be 200 calories or even a little bit less than 200 calories and then others are going to be upwards of 200 calories maybe going up to 400 calories or a little bit over or under 400 calories. 

The ones that are a little bit higher in calories have a little bit of an extra punch to them as far as flavor and things like that. The breakfast omelet recipes are very low in calories because eggs are probably one of the best foods for us to be eating as far as nutrition, staying fit and even if you want to lose weight. 

Eggs are loaded with lots of good healthy protein, good healthy fats and the calorie level is very low. A large eggs has maybe about 70 calories or something like that. As you know normally I will just enjoy a nice cup of coffee for breakfast with some grass-fed butter and a tablespoon or two tablespoons of coconut oil. 

I always found this to be very satisfying but I noticed that recently my blood sugar levels have not been as good as they have been in the past. So I started adding a couple eggs to my breakfast in the morning and I actually stopped doing the coconut oil and butter in my coffee first thing in the morning. 

So I'm doing a little bit of an experiment on myself seeing which menu which foods will help maintain my body weight below 170 pounds and will also keep my blood sugar levels within normal limits.  If you are one of my subscribers and read this blog every week or so you know that throughout the week my body weight might fluctuate anywhere from one hundred and sixty-three pounds all the way up to 170 pounds. 

Now I consider this normal because most of the week I follow a very strict diet I follow a diet that is high in fat good health and low in carbohydrates but my willpower is not really big a strong as it has been in the past. So for 5 days I follow a very tight diet and then 2 days of the week I am more loose with my diet by eating a little more starchy carbohydrates. 

But of late, I have been munching on French fries, popcorn even some bread if we go out to dinner or go to a friends for dinner or something like that. So I know that my willpower has been slacking, in that has been a reason for my sugar increase probably especially at night. I mean the Mrs. and I went out yesterday and for lunch and for dinner I had a double bacon cheeseburger with an order of french fries. 

Now this is definitely not a healthy way to eat. Maybe having one of these a week is fine but I actually had two of these carb and sodium loaded meals in one day. Suffice to say I was 6 pounds heavier than next day. I was the heaviest that I have ever been in quite some time. I actually was 174 pounds so I really have to start getting my stuff together again. So for today I am going to keep a really clean diet. 

My lovely wife just made me 2 large eggs and of course I had a cup of coffee with that but I just mixed it with half and half and a little bit of heavy whipping cream. I would have used just the heavy whipping cream but I only had about a teaspoon of that and I really like my coffee extra light. 

It's funny I like the dark roast and Columbian roast coffee and even the espresso coffee but I do like to mix my creamer in there. In my mind it's okay because if I'm using the heavy whipping cream it has lots of good healthy fat and that should hopefully help keep my sugar and insulin levels lower.

So for me today my breakfast is going to be these two eggs and for my lunch I'm actually going to try to skip lunch today I'm going to try to do a little bit of intermittent fasting where for today I'm just going to do two full meals. 

I'm just going to eat these two eggs for breakfast, and I am going to have coffee throughout the day of course with half and half and some Splenda or Stevia and I'm going to drink lots of water during the entire day it's going to be my goal to drink 100 ounces of water today. 

I did some reading and I read that we should be drinking half of our body weight in ounces of water and then if you're drinking something like coffee or soda or something other than water that we should actually drink that same amount in water so because I usually drink at least 20 ounces of coffee every day I'm going to be trying to drink an additional 20 ounces of water in addition to the 80 ounces of water that I try to drink every day normally. 

So I hope this works and hopefully and if it does I will be several pounds lighter tomorrow morning when I wake up. Now because I ate my meals at restaurants yesterday and because they were probably loaded with salt, (the french fries definitely had lots of salt in them and when you get hamburgers at at the restaurant they usually have lots of salt and then even when you eat chicken out at the restaurants and diners if they are usually loaded with sodium as well; it makes them look plump and juicy and it makes it look like you're getting a whole lot more for your money than  you really are) and I know this and I should not have eaten both of these meals yesterday but sometimes stuff happens and you just don't follow the diet plan 100% perfectly. 

But I know that even though I messed up yesterday and I over-indulged with my food intake and not eating the right types of food that if I follow my usual recipe plan for today like I have just laid out for you, a few sentences ago, that I should hopefully be anywhere from three or even four pounds lighter tomorrow. 

Again I'm sure a lot of the weight I've gained has been from water weight from the salty food that I ate yesterday. And because of this I'm going to make sure that I'm drinking extra water today in order to flush that extra water out of me. In my personal experience when I feel that I'm over bloated and that I'm retaining too much water from having too much sodium in my diet that by drinking a whole lot of extra water and following a very clean diet for a few days this helps get rid of that water weight very nicely. 

I know some people do exactly the opposite they stop drinking water and this is the worst thing to do because your body needs water. In fact some of our weight loss clients the only thing that I did with their diet plan is I had them increase their water intake and then they lost five or six pounds immediately without even changing their regular eating habits. 

They were following a pretty good diet but they were drinking soda, but I will say that were drinking diet soda so that's not as bad but you still need to drink regular water in order for your body to get all the benefits of it.

Okay, I know you are saying enough stop talking give us the recipes. I am sorry for going on but I feel really guilty for what I did yesterday with my eating and the weight that I have gained today so I just had to get it off my chest. 

But in addition to me just venting and trying to get rid of some of the guilt that I have from not eating properly and gaining so much weight; I put all of this on this blog so that you my faithful subscribers realize that everyone slips up when it comes to diet. 

Even though my job is to help people achieve Wellness, Health and more often than not that includes losing weight, even though it's what I do for a living, that I still have bad days. I call these days hiccups. 

So every once in awhile it's normal for everyone to get a case of the eating hiccups and eat foods that are not so good for them and gain some extra weight. The only problem is that it's really easy to pack on these extra pounds. You can do it in the course of just one day or possibly even two but it usually takes double the amount of time to get those extra pounds off of your body. 

For me I try to keep these hiccup days to a minimum but like I said it's been a little bit difficult for me lately and I do know better but I guess it's just a mental thing. I've been eating so perfectly and so clean for such a long time that I guess I am just letting down my hair so to speak and not being so perfect. 

The good thing is that even though my sugar level has been increasing a little bit it's not totally out of control. My sugar levels are still good but they are not as good as when I was following a perfect diet. I do admit I have been indulging a little bit more on the weekends with some food that I have not eaten in quite some time and I know that I should definitely stop this if I want to maintain my goal sugar levels and my goal body weight. 

And this just reinforces what I tell all of my weight loss and health clients; that losing weight and being healthy is not about just a diet. It's not about following a nutrition or a weight loss plan for 30 days and getting some phenomenal results and then blowing it all up by eating and drinking whatever you want. 

If you do that you'll just go back to the same body weight and same level of health and fitness as you did before you started the weight loss plan. So it's truly about making a change of Lifestyle. 

So once in awhile you're going to take a little vacation from this healthy lifestyle and that's not such a big deal it's not a problem just as long as you know what you're doing and after a little bit of not doing things exactly as your weight loss plan calls for that you realize what you are doing; that you understand what you are doing and hopefully you know why you are doing it and you get it under control and you get back into doing everything you need to do to maintain the healthier lifestyle. 

And now here we go, here are the great recipes that I told you about.

Veggie and Bacon Omelet

Starting your day with a delicious omelet loaded with lots of good healthy veggies extra protein and your good healthy fats is a fantastic way to start today and get you into fat burning mode.

Ingredients:  

Chopped asparagus - 10 stalks

One quarter cup of water

Bacon - 4 slices chopped up

extra-virgin olive oil - one tspn

3 eggs

Shredded cheese - one quarter cup

Salt - 1/8 tsp

Ground pepper - 1/8 teaspoon

Cover and cook the bunch of asparagus with the water until it’s a bit soft. Start by having the water and asparagus boil and then once it is boiling cover the pan and let it cook for approx 2 min or so or until the asparagus is a little soft. Once it starts to boil it will probably take another 2 minutes or so until it’s soft. Then take the cover off and just let it cook until the water evaporates. This normally takes 1-2 min more. Then we add the oil and bacon to the pan and mix nicely. You can also add 1 tsp of butter to the pan to help prevent sticking. Once the butter has melted add the eggs and let it cook. You want to stir occasionally until the egg is firm and then add the cheese, pepper and salt. You can add the remaining water if needed if it dries out to quickly. You can then cover the pan and allow everything, cheese, etc… to melt and blend nicely. Cook until it’s all cooked thoroughly all the way through. This has approx 200 calories.

Herbal Omelet

This omelet reminds me of the delicious Sunday morning breakfast that my grand-mom Sophia would make.

Onion - one cup diced

Water - one quarter cup

extra-virgin olive oil - one tsp

large eggs - 3

One teaspoon of dried oregano

salt - ⅛ tsp

cheese - 2 tbsp

Let's start by sauteing the  onion in the ¼ cup of water until the onion is soft and cook until the water has evaporated, then add the olive oil and continue to cook until the onion is browned a bit and next we add the eggs and stir occasionally, mixing everything together nicely. Finally add the cheese and other ingredients - cover and let it melt together nicely. This has about 200 calories.

Banana Cocoa Smoothie

Coconut milk - one whole cup

unsweetened cocoa powder - two tbsps

Stevia or any sugar substitute - to taste

1 small banana

Combine all the ingredients into the blender and enjoy.

Fruit and Yogurt Parfait

full fat organic greek yogurt  - one cup

1/2 cup of  blueberries or any other fruit that you choose   

cinnamon - one tsp

Put the yogurt in a glass then put the fruit on top of the yogurt and sprinkle the cinnamon over everything.

Morning Good Taco

Warm and soften two whole wheat tortillas topped with with one tbsp of salsa and two tbsps of shredded cheese until the cheese is melted. At the same time you should be cooking (scrambling) two to three eggs and then divide the eggs over top of the tortillas. Then enjoy these delicious tacos.

Give these recipes a try and let me know how you like them and come back next week for more weight loss tips.