What is a Detox Program and Do You Need One?

High-quality herbs and botanicals help the detoxification process

Evolutionarily speaking, we’re way behind. Technology and our living environment may have changed drastically over the last few million years but on the inside, the human organism and how it functions, hasn’t changed very much at all. But in the last 50 years in particular, the amount and types of toxins and chemicals in our environment have changed…they’ve multiplied-and this has become a real burden on our bodies. Mankind has created chemicals and toxins that have been released into our environment that our bodies don’t even recognize or know what to do with.  Our bodies haven’t adapted to these toxins and pollutants that we are ingesting every day-that’s just the way it is.
 
It may seem as though the human body

Cookie Dough Fudge

It’s tough to be a foodie, a chocoholic, and an athlete at the same time!  So yes, I need to stay fit, wanna stay healthy, and I have to indulge! (especially during the holidays.) So what’s a girl to do when faced with this kind of dilemma?  As I always say, it’s all about choices. So I’m always on the lookout for healthy options or, makeovers of my favorite not-so-healthy foods.  I stumbled upon this website recently (thank you John Romaniello), and I will be back!! It’s called www.tgipaleo.com (clever!) There are some fabulous recipes there-most of which you could make a case for being healthier versions of some of your favorites.  But this one….oh…this one stole my heart :) …. 

www.tgipaleo.com  rescued this fudge

The Virgin Diet: Drop 7 Foods, Lose7 Pounds, in Just 7 Days

Why food intolerance is the real cause of weight gain.

“It isn’t fat. It isn’t protein. It isn’t even carbs.  Sure, these things can be important.  But you can count them, cut them, skinny and swap them all you want, and you won’t lose weight if you’re eating foods your body can’t handle.  The key to weight loss is avoiding and overcoming food intolerance.” This is the premise of JJ Virgin’s new book 
The Virgin Diet: Drop 7 Foods, Lose7 Pounds, in Just 7 Days -and it is correct!

Years ago, I believed that a food allergy was a reaction to something like shrimp that closed up your esophagus, left you gasping for air-grabbing your red, welted, throat with one hand and dialing 911 with the other.  But once I was tested for food intolerances myself, I learned that the type of food allergy that could send you to the ER in anaphylactic shock from that shrimp was not the same type of food

One Arm, One Leg Cable Row

1 arm, 1 leg cable row-starting position

As often as possible, I like to include exercises in my programming that target multiple muscle groups at one time.  I like the one arm, one leg cable row because it incorporates the Latissimus Dorsi muscles, the biceps, rectus abdominus, glutes and several other back and core muscles that act as stabilizers-all in one exercise.  There's a lot going on here and as usual, good form is critical to getting the most out of it.

Begin by placing a small handle at about the height of your knee or slightly lower on a cable stack.  Choose a weight that is light to moderate (not too heavy.)

1 arm, 1 leg cable row-finishing position

Grab the handle with the arm closest to the weight stack and take a step or two backward

Using Multiple Modalities to Become a Better Athlete (and feel better)

                                                                          

          ”…Every day I made a point of doing something to aid my [workout] recovery.  Some days I’d visit a chiropractor who worked his bald head into a frothy sweat as he buried his hand under my shoulder blade. On other days I’d book a massage….”

This was in addition to daily sessions with the professional “stretchers” she hired to keep her muscles and connective tissue healthy and to maximize her mobility and range of motion.  Her trainers actually used their feet to knead her flesh because they could apply more force this way.

”…they’d do this for 45 minutes, kneading lactic acid and small bits of scar tissue out of my muscles and the fascia that surrounds them.  Muscle fibers, as we all know, loosen up fairly readily, but the fascia around muscles is denser and far more difficult to break down…” 

-Swimmer Dara Torres, then 41 years old, training for the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing on the importance of soft tissue work to her success as an athlete, specifically, an “older” athlete in her book Age is Just a Number.

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I have advocated cross-training and massage therapy for years and while I’ve known that engaging in difference forms of exercise and investing in soft tissue work were beneficial from many standpoints, it wasn’t until I started working with Kerry O’Brien that I understood just how deep the benefits of many of these modalities could go.