Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Get Nutty About Your Diet

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Almonds, cashews, pecans, pine nuts and walnuts are just a few of the nuts that should be part of your daily diet. It is suggested that a couple of handfuls each day will help to lower cholesterol and attribute to your longevity. Nuts are tasty and a fantastic way to satisfy the need to munch without adding a load of empty calories. Remember to pack a sack of nuts to take with you as you go on errands, family outings or even for a pedicure. Add nuts to salads, cereal, desserts and main dishes. Crushed nuts are wonderful on fish and chicken or used as the crust for your favorite pie. There are numerous ways to include nuts in your diet and with the benefits they provide you will want to make them a staple in your diet.

Almonds are high in fiber and rich in vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant. Almonds help to lower blood sugar and reduce weight. Studies have shown almonds raise levels of good bacteria in the gut that boosts the body’s immune system.

Cashews can make you smarter. Cashews are rich in magnesium, which helps improve memory function. These nuts also contain high amounts of zinc and iron essential to the body’s immune system. Eating cashews can also improve eyesight.

Pecans are high in oleic acid, antioxidants, dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals. They are great crushed, halved or whole. Pecans promote digestive health, improve heart functions and build healthy bones and teeth. High in calcium, magnesium, copper and iron and helps to reduce inflammation and reduce blood pressure.

Pine Nuts give you energy. Pine nuts are a very good source of vitamins, minerals and nutrients. They are a heart healthy snack that helps to reduce cholesterol and help you lose weight when combined with a healthy diet and exercise. They are higher in calories than many nuts but are high in vitamin E and are gluten free. Pine nuts are an excellent source of vitamin B-complex, which helps to improve the body’s metabolism.

Walnuts contain a large amount of antioxidants and rich in Omega-3s, which fight inflammation. Eating walnuts may help to reduce the risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer. The skin in particular is high in phenolic acids, tannins and flavonoids. Add these to your fruit salad, chicken salad or munch on a handful as a snack. Nuts are high in calories but the benefits make them a must for a healthy, well-balanced diet.

Veal Chops Italiano

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A great Italian dish, my Grandmother used to make a variation of it, but I’ve made some changes to keep it healthy and reduce the calories.

3/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp pine nuts, toasted
1 garlic glove, minced
1/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt
(4) 6 oz. lean veal chops
Pam Spray
4 thin tomato slices
4 slices Fontina cheese

Directions:

1. Add first 4 ingredients together.
2. Transfer basil mixture in small bowl.
3. Trim fat on chops and broil 5 minutes each side.
4. Spread 2 Tbsp basil mixture over each chop and broil an additional 5 minutes..
5. Top each chops with 1 slice of tomato and one slice of cheese.

Health Benefits:
A healthy source of protein and amino acids, veal is a delicious delicacy that is iron rich. Combined with tomatoes for their antioxidant benefits and pine nuts, high in protein and pinoleic acid, which stimulates hormones and helps curb your appetite. You can always sprinkle these on salads, too.

Burn More Calories With These Workout Tips

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Fitness is fun, but learning to get the most from your workout will help you to slim down faster. The following tips will help you get noticeable results from your exercise program.

A combination of resistance and cardio exercises will give you the best results. The more muscle your body has the faster it burns calories during cardio exercises. The great thing about muscles they burn fat even at rest, so you can burn calories even when you are sitting around. Be sure to alternate from light to moderate and moderate to heavy intensity during your workout. Light intensity burns more calories while heavy intensity builds muscle.

Do jumping jacks every day. An old school-time favorite, jumping jacks are an excellent cardio exercise to burn calories and improve heart health. Easy to do, this exercise requires a small amount of space and doesn’t require any extra equipment. Do a few sets in the morning, at noon and some in the evening. Do 20 jumping jacks between sets of resistance exercises. You’ll see a difference in the scale in no time.

Next time at the gym, split some time between resistance and cardio exercises. One of my favorites is pedaling the stationary bike. You can burn from 400 to 500 calories per hour all while sitting down. Take a power cycling class for kicks and watch the fat melt away. If you prefer riding outdoors, grab your bike and start pedaling, it’s an enjoyable activity that the whole family can take part in.

Get on a jet ski and have some real fitness fun. Hit the water and burn about 398 calories per hour while sitting on the jet ski. A real balancing act, this water sport keeps your core engaged while working your quads, hamstrings and upper body.

Bust a move and try some burpees. This is a full body exercise that requires you to move swiftly from standing to squatting to a push-up position. Stand with your feet hip width apart with your arms down by your side. Lower into a squat position with your hands flat on the floor in front of you. Kick your legs backwards into a push up position and lower your chest to the floor. Push your chest up bringing both feet forward so that you are back in the squat position. Jump up and raise both hands over your head.

Bluer Than Velvet Pudding

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Just like that romantic song by Bobby Vinton, this pudding will put a smile on your face. That’s because it is a tasty dessert treat that’s low in calories and saturated fat. It is so pretty that you will want to make enough to share with family or friends.

1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup blueberries, divided
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp honey
2 tsp walnuts for topping

Directions:

1. Set aside ½ cup of blueberries
2. Blend rest of ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
3. Spoon into individual bowls and top with whole blueberries and walnuts.

Health Benefits:
Yogurt provides healthy live cultures that aid the digestive system and it is a good source of calcium. Low in calories, low in saturated fat, low in cholesterol and low in sodium. Blueberries are packed with phytonutrient antioxidants and rich in Vitamin C. Cinnamon helps to regulate blood sugar and is high in calcium, iron and fiber.

Start A Cool Kid’s Exercise Club

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Start your own exercise club and keep your friends close by your side. If you are looking for a sure fire method to keep you committed to your exercise plan, all you need to do is enlist some of your friends to workout too. Start an exercise group with neighbors or coworkers and make everyone else envious. When exercise looks like a fun outing, everyone wants to join in. Before you know it, your group gets bigger and everyone wants to be a part of it.

Members of your Cool Kid’s Exercise Club can gently coerce you into exercising even when you don’t feel like going. You will be less likely to complain of being too tired or too busy to exercise. If you’ve ever talked yourself out of exercising or going to the gym, then you know how easily you can persuade yourself to give in. However, when a group of your peers is all-in for exercise, you will be less likely to whine and complain about having too much to do.

Social support encourages physical activity. An exercise group of your friends makes such support even more personal. Being part of an exercise group, comprised of people you know, may help you achieve and maintain your fitness goals. You will feel more comfortable discussing your achievements. Your friends will know how far you have come and will be able to appreciate your accomplishments. The same goes for their achievements, too. Remember to congratulate your workout buddies as they work towards their goals. Everyone needs recognition and appreciation for a job well done.

We all need a bit of motivation every now and then. Especially for exercise, motivation is the powering force that drives us to do things even when we don’t feel like it. Staying motivated is an important component to any workout program. A positive attitude that is easily motivated is the basis for a successful fitness plan. Having a group of friends who are committed to working out with you is one of the most powerful forms of motivation there is.

Having a small group instead of just one workout buddy will ensure you always have someone to work out with. Many times, if you have just one exercise friend, you will forego your workout if they don’t want to go. It’s less likely that the whole group will stand you up.

Having friends to exercise with keeps your workout from getting too boring. The time goes by quickly and makes exercising much more fun.