Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Smothered Honey Red Onion With Chicken and Peas

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I tried this recipe at a friend’s house and loved it. It’s easy to make and the honey adds a nice sweet taste that traps the succulent juices in the chicken. This recipe makes plenty for 4 people.

1/3 cup red wine vinegar
3 Tbs. honey
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme crushed
1 large red onion, sliced thin
2 Tbs. fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste ( optional)
4 chicken breast
1 package frozen peas

Directions:

In a bowl stir together the vinegar, honey, and thyme.
Separate the onion slices, add to the vinegar mixture let stand.
In a large skillet cook chicken with small amount of olive oil.
Salt and pepper to taste remove from skillet.
Add onion mixture to remaining drippings in skillet, cook over medium heat 3-4 minutes until onions are crisp tender.
In separate pot, cook peas, until tender, season accordingly.
Stir onion mixture in skillet and add parsley.
Add chicken breast and allow chicken to marinate over heat 2-5 minutes.
To serve, transfer chicken breast to plate and top with onion mixture.
Serve with peas.

Health Benefits:
A great source of protein, chicken is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and makes a great choice for a healthy meal. The onions, parsley and peas provide vitamins and nutrients along with antioxidants that protect against free radicals. This is a satisfying meal that is low in calories.

Scallops, A Healthy Treasure From The Sea

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Women’s health is important not only in terms of weight but your overall fitness and health. That’s why I stress eating healthy meals that are rich in vitamins and nutrients. That’s why today’s discussion is about one of my favorite healthy seafood delicacies, scallops.

The next time you have a chance to eat fresh seafood, try ordering scallops if they are available. Scallops are marine bivalves that live in shells. A white fleshy meat with a mild sweet flavor scallops are found in all the oceans and bay waters. However, the bay scallop is smaller in size than the scallops found in the sea, which can be as large as two inches in diameter. Scallops have a very high nutrient content, with rich quantities of potassium, selenium and magnesium.

Depending on where you live, you can purchase fresh scallops from a fishery or grocery store. Your fishmonger can tell you about the availability in your area, and suggest the best time to purchase scallops.

Not only do scallops taste good, they provide many health benefits too.

• If you have hypertension, scallops can provide relief. The magnesium found in this tasty treat helps to relax blood vessels and lower the risk of hypertension.
• A good source of vitamin B12, eating scallops is a great way to promote cardiovascular health. A woman’s body needs vitamin B12 to convert homocysteine (a chemical that can be hazardous to blood vessel walls) into other benign chemicals.
• Omega-3 fatty polyunsaturated fatty acids present in scallops help to control high blood pressure. These essential fatty acids keep blood pressure levels low and prevent other health problems that are commonly associated with high blood pressure.
• Including scallops in your diet can also protect you from abnormal heart rhythms that could be fatal. This benefit goes for all fish that are rich in omega-3 because they improve the electrical functions of the heart’s cells.
• Eating scallops at least twice a month may protect against ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke is caused by the lack of blood supply to the brain, as with a clot.
• Provides significant protection against the risks of coronary heart disease. Nutrients present in this fish reduce platelet accumulation and decrease the production of pro-inflammatory compounds called leukotrienes.
• High levels of the nutrient selenium boost the immune system by neutralizing the effect of free radicals.
Before cooking scallops, you’ll want to remove the connective tissue, which is tough and chewy. Pay special attention to your scallops as you cook them. You want them to be tender. Never overcook scallops or any other seafood; this will ruin the texture and the taste.
For delicious recipes that include scallops, seafood, meat, chicken or pork, see the Healthy Cooking section of Fitness4Her.com. I’ve included recipes and meal plans the whole family will enjoy. Best of all, each meal is healthy with low levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar. Easy to prepare selections for all five meals of the day. There are even party snacks and smoothie treats to choose from. A Members Only privilege, all you have to do is sign up to join. It’s free, fun and informative, so join us now.

Ten Point Tuna Pita Sandwich

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This sandwich deserves a 10 or whatever the highest rating is. It tastes good and it’s easy to make. Don’t settle for any old sandwich when you can get a high scoring tuna pita like this one. A great way to satisfy the appetites of even the most active of athletes. Serves 4.

8 dried tomatoes (not oil packed)
1 1/2 cup packed shredded cabbage with carrot(coleslaw mix)
3 Tbs. fat-free mayo dressing or salad dressing
1 teaspoon horseradish mustard
6 ounces plain all white tuna packed in water
2 whole wheat pita pockets cut in half
( I love them toasted)

Directions:

In a small bowl cover tomatoes with boiling water, let stand about 10 min or until softened
Drain tomatoes and cut into small strips, toss tomato strips with shredded cabbage and carrot mixture.
Combine mayo fat-free dressing or fat-free salad dressing, horseradish mustard.
Add to cabbage – tomato mixture toss to coat
To fix sandwiches divide tuna and cabbage mixture and spread onto toasted pita bread and cut into halves.

Health Benefits:
High in protein, tuna is low in saturated fat and a good choice because it tastes so good. Tomatoes provide Vitamin C, potassium, fiber and antioxidants. Carrots and cabbage are both wonderful sources of Beta Carotene and Vitamin K.

10 Reasons You Must Include Aerobics To Your Women’s Fitness Program

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If fitness is your ultimate goal or even if you just want to lose weight, aerobics is a key ingredient to help you achieve it. Aerobics or cardiovascular exercises, raise your heart rate for at least 20 minutes and help to improve the way your heart functions. These activities help to build endurance and strength too.

Because I thoroughly believe that exercise is an important part of everyday, I’ve put together 10 really good reasons that you should include aerobics to your women’s fitness program.

1. Improves heart function. By raising your heartbeat for at least 20 minutes, you increase its endurance and strength.
2. Increases lung performance. Your lungs like other parts of your body, need to work every now and then in order to function at its optimum. Aerobics helps to expand the lungs and improve stamina and strength.
3. Keeping the heart and lungs working well are paramount to being able to master certain strenuous exercises. Once your endurance is built up, it’s easier to complete your workout in a relatively short amount of time.
4. Helps you to lose weight. Aerobics allows your body to burn fat by increasing your heart rate. As your body signals stress, it begins to burn the stored fat deposits which helps you to lose weight.
5. Aerobics makes you look sexy. As you burn fat and lose weight, you’ll notice that your body is looking sexier than ever.
6. Keeps you from getting sick as often. Aerobics is a great way to stay healthy. That’s because it activates your immune system.
7. Improves health-related issues. Aerobics has been known to improve blood pressure, cholesterol as well as sugar levels, helping to ward off diabetes.
8. Fight off depression. Regular aerobic activities have been known to improve a person’s mood and help to stem the effects of depression. Not only does the increase in your heart rate improve your mood, aerobic activities can be lots of fun and sociable too.
9. Aerobic exercises improve your coordination. Especially as we age, coordination is important to a healthy lifestyle. Aerobic activities are a great way to make the mind, body spirit connection.
10. Help you live longer. With all the benefits that aerobics offers, living longer should top the chart. However, since it encompasses all of the benefits I have noted thus far, I figured it was fitting to have it at the end as a sort of summary to the blessed effects that aerobics offers to our health and well being. Not only today but well into our future.

Hopefully with the above ten benefits I’ve done a good job of convincing you to add aerobics to your workout routine. If you will engage in at least 30 minutes of aerobics for three days a week, you’ll get some dynamic results. Alternate these cardiovascular moves with strength training exercises for the most effective exercise program.

Motivation Is Simply Mind Over Matter

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If you are truly searching for a way to get motivated to lose weight and get in shape, you need to look no further than Fitness4Her.com. An online diet, exercise program and women’s fitness blog, fully dedicated to women, I provide daily inspirational messages to help you stay motivated for fitness.

Everyone talks about finding and harnessing the motivation to make changes in their lives. However, it can be argued that motivation itself is simply mind over matter. Motivation is the psychological trigger that causes us to spring into action. Therefore it begins in the mind and becomes so important and vital to us that it causes us to do something dramatic to bring this idea into fruition.

Motivation acts as a driving force. It takes over our thought process and becomes an overwhelming desire that requires attention. When this takes place, we feel inclined to take advantage of this compelling energy and work to make positive changes in our lives.

For example, when you want to lose weight through either diet and or exercise, motivation can be the underlying factor that determines whether or not you succeed with your efforts. If you can’t stay motivated to stick to a diet and exercise program, then chances are your results will be less than desired.

Motivation can be harnessed and you can control it to work for you. If your desire for women’s fitness is something that you are ready to achieve, then all it takes is a commitment on your part that you will not stop until you have reached your goal. No matter if you reach a plateau, you must continue to work towards a fit physique.

If you are looking for support from like-minded women who believe in a healthy lifestyle, I urge you to join Fitness4Her. As a member you get special access to recipes, step-by-step exercise routines and hundreds of articles on fitness and health.

Best of all, membership to Fitness4Her is free. All you have to do is sign up to join. Come be part of the fun and excitement, with challenges, contests and prizes. It’s a great way to lose weight and get in shape right in the comfort of your own home. Get a jump on swimsuit season by starting your fitness program today.