Thyme Toasted Nuts

Thyme Toasted Nuts

Prep Time: 10 min. Cook Time: 14 min or until brown

Ingredients:

• 1 lb unsalted mixed nuts (pecan halves, almonds, add others such as walnuts & cashews if you want more variety)
• 2 tbsp dried thyme leaves (or use finely chopped fresh rosemary, the dried herb is too splintery and isn't pleasant to eat)
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar & 1 tbsp of brown sugar (or 3 tbsp. brown sugar)
• 1 tbsp. sugar (i used succanate baking sugar - it's organic)
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Preparation:

prehead oven to 375 degrees F. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven till they are light golden brown and fragrant, about 10 minutes.

In a large saucepan, combine the rosemary, cayenne, sugars, salt, white pepper and melted butter; cook and stir over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the toasted nuts; cook and stir constantly over medium heat for another few minutes to coat and glaze the nuts (or just pour the sauce over the nuts that have been placed in a large bowl & stir until all are coated. Spread over a baking sheet. Serve warm or cool.

Make Your Feet Feel Better With Reflexology

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Here is the video we promised in our clients' Christmas gifts. We hope the wooden foot roller will come in handy after a tough work out!

St. Jude Marathon This Saturday

This is a great health-related event, and it's 3 races in one! This Saturday, thousands will compete in the marathon, half-marathon, and a 5k to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

If you want to participate, well it's too late to sign up for the race. All the spaces available have been filled which means that 14,000 people have signed up!

Not only is St. Jude in an incredibly worthy cause, but signing up for a race like this (you might want to start with the 5K rather than the marathon!) is really great motivation for getting in shape.

For more information on the race, you can check out the following websites.

St. Jude Marathon
Memphis Runners Track Club

“How To Get Maximum Weight Loss & Fitness Results In Minimum Time”. 10 Tips To Looking And Feeling 10 Years Younger.

1. Set realistically attainable goals. Track your progress to keep you motivated when times are tough and you don’t feel like exercising. Keeping a journal of your cardio and resistance training workouts, as well as tracking what you eat is truly a fitness success “secret”.
2. In the beginning your fitness plan should not be overly aggressive. If you try to do too much too fast, you may end up quitting altogether. If you’ve tried and failed doing it alone then I suggest you get a training partner or personal trainer who will help you sustain your motivation and accountability.
3. Eat regularly throughout the day. When you restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks it’s being starved and shifts into a protective mode by storing fat. Your body’s energy expenditures will be fueled by your lean muscles causing your body fat to remain essentially the same while you lose vital fluids and muscle. Here’s a good rule of thumb: make sure that you are consistently “grazing” on health foods about every three hours. This includes at least half a gallon of fresh water every day.
4. Avoid Doing Cardio for more than 28 minutes or more at the same level of intensity. If your trying to store fat then do your long distance cardio, but if your trying to turn your body into a fat burning machine then you must do all out effort repeats of cardiovascular exercise. All out bouts should last anywhere from 10 seconds to 60 seconds with a total exercise time of 10 to 28 minute. Try this: 10 minutes of 20 seconds all out bouts with a recovery of only 10 seconds. It’s intense and so is the afterburn effect you that speeds up fat loss!
5. Don’t waste your time working small muscles with isolated movements. If you don’t enjoy doing resistance training, or are pressed for time, concentrate on working the largest muscle groups with compound resistance movements. Men should be concentrating on legs, chest and back. Women should concentrate more on their legs and back. Get a personal trainer to show you the best exercises including proper form, how many reps and sets to do.
6. Stretch or not stretch – this is debated and you must listen to your body to know how much is right for you. In general hold a stretch for 10-60 seconds and Never bounce, or aggressively push and pull a muscle beyond its natural range.

7. For a flatter mid-section of days gone by be sure to breathe properly while doing abdominal exercises. Pull your belly button in towards your spine during the exertion phase of executing an abdominal repetition.
8. Schedule exercise into your daily planner – and then stick to them. You wouldn’t miss a business meeting or client appointment, would you? So don’t miss your exercise appointment with yourself. Nothing is more important than your health. Nothing. Everything else will crumble around you if your health goes south.
9. Resistance Training reshapes your body – do 2 to 3 times per week, every week: Do you want shapelier legs, firm tummy, defined arms and strong back? Resistance training will give it to you. How about a firm perfectly shaped rear? Being physically fit affects every single aspect of your life: you sleep better, eat better, love better, overcome stress better, work better, communicate better and definitely look better!
10. Never Ever skip breakfast. Your breakfast should contain complete proteins and complex carbohydrates (if you’re trying to lose weight, you should eat the bulk of your complex carbohydrates at breakfast and lunch, and only have vegetable carbohydrates at dinner). A great breakfast is oatmeal (not the pre-packaged, pre-sweetened kind) with a little honey and banana and a protein drink. Or try scrambled egg whites with Healthy Choice turkey sausage.

Yours in good health,

Tonya Tittle, M.S. ACSM

A Couple of Good Links for All Our Clients

Hey Everyone!

Here are a couple of good nutrition links. We are always telling our clients to get enough protein and that protein is especially important after their work out. That's why we carry the Prograde Post Work out Recovery Shake, and why we were very picky about what brand we would recommend to people. Several of our clients have seen really good results from using the shake consistently, and now we think one of the reasons is the type of protein that's in the shake: whey. So here's a couple of links through the National Dairy Council website about whey. Now, of course, the National Dairy Council has a vested interest in people using whey since it is a dairy product, however we have seen the effectiveness of whey protein ourselves, so there's some science behind the self-interest.

A Good Overview
An in-depth article

For a more practical everyday link, here's a great website for finding the nutritional information about whatever you're about to eat.

Calorie Counter

Party Video

We had a great time at the Client Appreciation Party, and hopefully the video below will show that everyone else did to.

Oatmeal Choco-Chip Squares

Wheat Free & Dairy Free Oatmeal & Choco-Chip Squares/Cookies

• 3/4 cup all purpose gluten-free flour blend

(to make 9.5 cups of the above blend you will need 3.5 cups super-fine brown rice flour, 2 cups cornstarch, 1 cup chickpea or garbanzo bean flour, 1 cup tapioca or potato starch, 2 cups sorghum flour - mix all ingredients together & refrigerate in an air-tight container when not in use)

• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda (aluminum free)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup earth balance butter, softened
• 3/4 cup succanate (it's a baking sugar)
• 3/4 cup packed organic brown sugar
• 1 egg (I like Eggland's Best)
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp vanilla, divided
• 3 cups uncooked thick oats (try to get from grain bins at whole foods or other fresh market)
• 1 cup sunspire or other dairy-free chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon of rice, soy, or almond milk
• 1 tbsp of xanthan gum (for binding properties)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookies sheets or baking pans; set aside. Combine flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Beat butter, succanate, and brown sugar in large bowel with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg, water and 2 teaspoons vanilla; beat well. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until blended. Stir in oats with spoon. Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets OR Spread out in a baking pan (pat down using your hands occasionally dipping yours hands in water to avoid getting stuck to the mix)

For cookies: bake 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cookies stand 2 minutes on cookie sheets; transfer to wire racks or a plate to cool completely. Makes about 48 cookies.

For Squares: mix the choco-chips into the batter and bake at 375 for about 15 -20 minutes. Let squares cool for 10 to 20 minutes in baking pans; cut into squares and eat or store in freezer and thaw later for more moist oatmeal square.