CPT JACK'S BASIC TRAINING
Take Control of Your Lifestyle
www.CPTJackFitness.com

Below is a synopsis of the finer points of “clean eating”…the way I’ve been doing it for almost 11 years now.

CLEAN EATING

1.       Keep your metabolism on “high alert” by eating often:  4-6 “meals” per day is generally sufficient.  Let’s say “5” for ease of discussion

2.       Each “meal” should be ‘balanced’ by containing a single “portion” each of:

a.       High quality protein 

                                                               i.      Necessary for muscle synthesis (adding lean body mass)

                                                             ii.      Choose sources with high protein and low saturated fat (10:1 ratio minimum)

b.      Complex Carbohydrate 

                                                               i.      Necessary for sustainable energy

                                                             ii.      Stay away from “enriched” products

                                                            iii.      Sugars are the enemy, bottom line. 

1.       The so-called “sweet tooth” is essentially the body’s reaction to an energy deficit cycle typical of diets high in ‘simple’ carbohydrates and low in ‘complex’ carbohydrates.

2.       Remember that fruit, even fresh fruit, is high in sugar.  Even though it’s not refined sugar, it has the same effect on the body.  Limit fruit intake to mornings.

3.       Like sweet foods?  Choose sugar-free foods sweetened with Sucralose (yeah, look in the ingredients section) rather than aspartame or saccharin, which have been shown to be detrimental to your health and normal function.  The most popular brand is “Splenda”, but there are generic brands on the market.

3.       A “portion” size matches that of your own hand, either flat or balled, depending on what you’re eating.  Note that  filet mignon is about the size of your fist and a piece of chicken breast is about the size of your outstretched hand.

4.       Vegetables are fair game; they provide extra fiber (carbohydrate) and plenty of vitamins/minerals can be added to any meal or for snacking between meals without fear of consuming worthless calories.  Just don’t hose yourself by saturating them with toppings high in saturated or trans fatty acids (i.e. butter).

5.       Got chapped lips this week?  If so, you’re dehydrated. Water is absolutely essential for survival, as you know.  But do you know that the average American stays dehydrated nearly all the time?  If you get thirsty, you’re already in a state of dehydration.  Drink LOTS of water, which will:

a.       Help carry nutrients throughout the body

b.      Help flush toxins out of the body

c.       Mitigate health problems such as hypertension

d.      Prevent heat injuries in hot/humid environments

e.      Enhance your immune system

f.        Dude…diet sodas don’t count; they are counterproductive

6.       Prior planning prevents…. Well you know the rest.  Having a plan and preparing for your day, if not your week, shows your commitment to proper nutrition and will prevent self-sabotage.  Here are some tips:

a.       Ready-to-drink protein shakes take care of ½ a meal.

b.      Carbohydrate bars (low-sugar granola, for example) resolve the other half.

c.       Take your mid-morning, lunch, and mid-afternoon meals with you.  Yes you can.  Trust me. 

d.      Leftovers are always easy.  Yeah, you can take those with you too if you have a microwave at work.

e.      Pre-cook the good stuff.  For example, take a day on the weekend and cook a whole bag of chicken.  Separate it into portion size (see above) amounts and package them in Ziplocs or storage containers for easy packing in the morning.  Refrigerate half and freeze the other half.  Portion sized amounts defrost very quickly in the microwave.  

f.        Don’t have bad stuff at your disposal.  When you’re in a hurry, the temptation is too great.  We all fall short of the glory….  Again, trust me. 

7.       Supplement your diet.  Think they are only for gym-rats?  Think again.  Because so many of our foods are stripped of quality nutrients, it’s practically required to be healthy.  Your doctor will tell you the same thing (and will probably try to sell you some).  It’s a multi-billion dollar industry over the last 10-15 years for good reason.  See me for details on how to obtain the right stuff, because there are plenty of scam products out there.  I’ve outlined what I think are the big six… 

a.       Here’s what I deem “A” list  essential:

                                                               i.      Multi-vitamins (mitigate nutrient deficiencies).

1.       Can you get vitamins from food?  Yes, but are you REALLY eating 4-5 portions of various fresh vegetables every day??  Yeah, I don’t either…

2.       Make sure your MV choice is non-synthetic.  See me for suitable varieties…

3.       The manufacturer should have variations that are gender-specific.  Women need a different MV than men.

                                                             ii.      Omega-3 / Omega-6 (these polyunsaturated fatty acids promote excess fat loss, improve immune system function, and reduce internal inflammation)

1.       Necessary because when we cut out bad fats, we tend to cut out the good ones too.

2.       For your own comfort, get a variety that doesn’t have the awful fish-burp side-effect.  See me for suitable varieties…

                                                            iii.      Calcium (mitigates bone loss and helps to reduce the risk of osteoporosis)

1.       Our bodies stop producing bone mass between the ages of 30-35, after which they begin to deteriorate.  Nothing can stop that, but adding calcium in the diet slows that degeneration.

2.       Make sure your choice contains all nine calcium salt types.  See me for suitable varieties…

3.       Don’t make the mistake of thinking your MV with Calcium is sufficient.  1000mg of Calcium (what you need) would make your MV double in size. 

b.      Supplementing can be expensive.  Here are some important selections that might make your ‘B’ list if budget is a concern.  It’s not that these are expensive, but adding them to the “A” list above can put you in triple digits.  If money is not a factor, these must be on your list:

                                                               i.      Antioxidants (reduces superficial and physiological effects of aging while simultaneously reducing the risk of deadly diseases such as cancer).

1.       Yeah, blueberries have them, but do you really want all the sugar that goes with the amount of blueberries you would need to eat to make a significant difference?

2.       Don’t think you’re at risk?  Here are three major risk factors that proper consumption of antioxidants can mitigate:

a.       Stress (job, home environment, hurricanes… just to name a few many of us have experienced recently)....

b.      Air pollution (cigarette smoke, smog, etc.  Dude, how many refineries are in our vicinity??)

c.       The bad food we eat; even processed foods that are relatively nutrient-rich are a factor... and, you know, we all cheat too.

                                                             ii.      Chondroitin & Glucosamine (reduces or prevents joint pain)

1.       Almost all of my clients either have joint issues or, at a minimum, have joints that grind or creak.  Mine do… 

2.       Anti-inflammatory meds such as ibuprofen have been shown to break down cartilage between joints, exacerbating the problem instead of alleviating it.  If you take these for your bad knees, you’re doing more harm than good over time.

                                                            iii.      Glutamine (enhances recovery from resistance training)

1.       Okay, maybe this isn’t AS important, but we don’t do R.T. for the burn.  We do it for the recovery, during which we rebuild muscle tissue above and beyond what we had before.  The quicker we recover the better we can train next time.  And who likes to work out when we’re sore??

Think about our culture and how we, as a society, have warped our own minds to put us on the path to unhealthy living.  So much so that people look at me, and the way I eat, as strange.  The sad truth is that I actually eat the way we are naturally engineered to.  Because we are not as active as our ancestors (think how 1800s farm families must have lived) and because most of our foods are no longer nutrient-dense, we are doomed to be unhealthy unless we TAKE CONTROL OF OUR LIFESTYLE.  I encourage you to pass this on to whom you love…....

Yours in health,

“CPT Jack”

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NASB)

"If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere."
            -- Frank A. Clark

This is absolutely true for all those "fat loss" pills and quick-fix diets.  There's no substitution for proper nutrition and moderate physical activity balanced with our everyday lives.  If it has taken you 12 years to gain 12-24 excess pounds, don't you think that 12 minutes isn't going to cut it when it comes to shedding that weight?  How about 12 days?  Try making a lifestyle change and be impressed with what 12 weeks will do for you!  Don't know how?  That's what I'm here for....

CPT JACK'S BASIC TRAINING
Take Control of Your Lifestyle
www.CPTJackFitness.com

"Happiness depends upon ourselves."
            -- Aristotle

Even the classical philosopher, Aristotle, could have told us that achieving our dreams requires effort from within.  Trying to shed a few pounds of fat for the holidays?  No temporary diet craze or super pill is going to do it for you. It's time to get off your rear-end and get busy.  Take Control of Your Lifestyle!!

CPT JACK'S BASIC TRAINING
www.CPTJackFitness.com

"Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense."
            -- Arnold Bennett

CPT JACK'S BASIC TRAINING
Take Control of Your Lifestyle
www.CPTJackFitness.com

The Gravy

Pan drippings from Roasted Turkey (See previous BLOG article)

2 16 oz.  chicken broth

After carving the turkey, retain pan drippings, place pan on stove top and add chicken broth.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Boil until mixture is reduced 25 percent.  Strain gravy.  Allow to cool and remove any remaining fat. 

The Stuffing

1 yellow onion chopped small

 4 stalks of celery, veined and chopped small

Pam Butter Spray

2 bags Whole Wheat Croutons

2 16 oz. cans fat free chicken broth

1 tbs. poultry seasoning

Spray pot with Pam butter Spray.  Heat pan to medium heat and add chopped onion and celery, sauté until onions are almost clear, add croutons and chicken broth, mix until blended, then add poultry seasoning and mix.   Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

The Potatoes

4 medium sized yellow potatoes

4 large fresh garlic pods, peeled

Water to cover potatoes

1 tsp salt

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray

Peel potatoes and cut into slices not thicker than ½ inches.  Peel garlic pods.  Place potatoes and garlic in pot with water to cover.  Add salt.  Boil until potatoes are soft when poked with a fork.  Boiling the potatoes with the garlic will give the potatoes a nutty roasted garlic flavor.  When potatoes are soft, drain water and reserve it for later use.  Mash potatoes and garlic, then add skim milk or the reserved water until fluffy.  Keep warm in oven until ready to serve.  Prior to serving, spray with I Can't Believe It's Butter Spray!

The Green Beans

1 lb. Fresh Green Beans, veined and ends cut

2 16 oz. cans chicken broth

Pam Olive Oil Spray

1 egg white, cooked hard and chopped

¼ cup whole wheat croutons, crushed

½ tsp garlic powder

Place green beans in chicken broth and boil until almost tender about 7 minutes.  Spray sauté pan with Pam Olive Oil Spray, add drained green beans and sauté until tender.  Mix in separate small bowl, egg whites, crushed croutons, and garlic.  Remove beans from heat and cover with crumble mixture.   Keep warm in oven until ready to serve.

Submitted by Laurie Hafely

The Turkey

9 lb whole turkey, w/o legs and wings

1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into four quarters

4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

¼ cup soy sauce

1/8 cup Worcestershire Sauce

1 tbs Splenda Blended Brown Sugar

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 tsp dry mustard

Pam Butter Spray

2 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp dry tarragon

1 tsp dry basil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Trim excess fat and skin from turkey, leaving only enough skin to cover the top portion of the turkey.  Stuff the turkey with onion and rosemary.  In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and mustard.  Place turkey in a roasting pan, spray turkey with Pam Butter Spray, then brush mixture over all of turkey.  Sprinkle entire turkey with poultry seasoning, tarragon, and basil.  Retain remaining mixture to periodically brush on roasting turkey one or two times.  Roast turkey according to instructions for weight, probably 2 ½ hours and golden brown.  

When turkey is done, allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Submitted by Laurie Hafely

"Fitness is a journey, not a destination.  It must be continued for the rest of your life."
- Dr. Kenneth Cooper

CPT JACK'S BASIC TRAINING
Take Control of Your Lifestyle
www.CPTJackFitness.com

"To be always intending to make a new and better life but never to find time to set about it is as to put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to the next until you're dead."
            -- Og Mandino

CPT JACK'S BASIC TRAINING
Take Control of Your Lifestyle
www.CPTJackFitness.com

"Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!"
            -- Og Mandino

CPT JACK'S BASIC TRAINING
Take Control of Your Lifestyle
www.CPTJackFitness.com

Cardiovascular exercise is designed to strengthen the endurance of your heart and way your body pumps blood and transports oxygen through it.  I like to define proper "cardio" as 'that exercise which elevates the heart rate to a target zone and maintaining it for a minimum of 20 minutes'.  In CPT Jack's Boot Camp, the second phase of each session is an aerobic, or cardio, phase.  It is timed to be 20-22 minutes long, which fits that definition PROVIDED that each person can attain their own Target Heart Rate.  Below is the simple formula for determining your Target Heart Rate (THR):..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

1.        Subtract your age from 220 to find your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR)

2.       Find your Resting Heart Rate (RHR) by examining your pulse for 15 seconds and multiplying by 4.

3.       Subtract MHR-RHR. 

4.       Multiply by your specific intensity level.  (generally 55-75%, depending on your experience with aerobic exercise). 

5.       Add your RHR back in.

6.       This new number is your THR (Target Heart Rate).

EXAMPLE:

I am 35, so my MHR is 185.  My RHR is 64.  185-64=121.  I put my intensity level at 75% since I consider myself well adjusted to aerobic exercise, so 121 times .75 is 90.75.  I add my RHR back in to get 154.75.  my THR is 155 bpm.

"He that climbs the tall tree has won right to the fruit."
            -- Sir Walter Scott

This is very true; the harder you work, the more results you stand to achieve.  Hitting the gym, but still eating terribly?  An example, then, of a small tree you've been climbing.  How tall is your tree?

CPT JACK'S BASIC TRAINING
Take Control of Your Lifestyle!

Part of the Nutrition aspect of my fitness business involves taking clients to their grocery store for an eye-opening experience and education in basic nutrition - essentially, I show them how they can maximize their metabolism (not simply eat healthier) in order to reach their fitness objectives. 

One common question I get when discussing carbohydrates and the effect sugars have on the body is, "well, what are sugar alcohols?"  And in answering that question, it often begs the question, "do they have a caloric content such as sugar?" 

Here is a brief response to those questions.  I hope you can benefit from it when making your selections at the grocery store:

Sugar Alcohols are neither sugar, nor alcohol.  They are a group of food additives used to counter the aftertaste of artificial sweeteners (such as aspartame or saccharin) and to raise the sweetness value of foods without adding common table sugar (sucrose).  Sugar alcohols are usually incompletely absorbed into the blood stream from the small intestines.  This typically results in a smaller change in blood glucose (blood sugar) than sucrose (table sugar).  Thus, sugar alcohols become a popular sweetener for diabetics who must closely monitor their blood glucose levels. 

Here are some facts about sugar alcholos:

- Sugar alcohols are not metabolized by oral bacteria, and so they do not contribute to tooth decay.

- They do not brown or caramelize when heated.

- Overconsumption of sugar alcohols can lead to bloating, diarrhea, and flatulence because they are not absorbed in the small intestine (much like dietary fiber).

- Of the 10 various sugar alcohols, the sweetness level (compared to sugar) ranges from 40% (lactitol) to 100% (xylitol). 

- The caloric content ranges from 0.2 kcal/gram (arabitol) to 4.3 kcal/gram (glycerol).  NOTE: Sucrose is 4 kcal/gram.

So, is the presence of sugar alcohols in your food a good thing or a bad thing?  I imagine that largely depends on the type of sugar alcohol your food contains, but most sugar alcohols carry a lesser caloric content than sucrose (sugar), so you're probably in the green! 

CPT JACK'S BASIC TRAINING
Take Control of Your Lifestyle
www.CPTJackFitness.com