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.

Popcorn: Yes,You Can Still Eat It

With all the fear (duly warranted) surrounding GMO foods, there is growing hesitation out there about eating that favorite of comfort foods: popcorn.  Well that’s just…anti-American.  But corn is the most common GMO food known to man-and it’s in everything.  So while many of us will eschew our old childhood friend, even at the movies-in order to avoid eating Frankenfood, others like me, will create their own brand of “Smartpop.” 

If you’re old enough to remember the days of stove-top Jiffy Pop where your Dad (or Mom) would swirl that coiled foil package with the wire handle endlessly over the burner flame while you waited at their elbow to watch the foil puff up, slowly at first, listening for that first kernel to pop…and then another…and then a few more, and then all at once, in rapid succession, even more-giving way to a flurry of popping, then you’re about to relive your childhood over the stovetop.

Making stove-top popcorn is really easy, but first I want to assure you that this recipe uses only certified organic popping corn which by definition, means it is NON-GMO.  Pair it with a healthy fat like coconut oil (with a high flash point that is not prone to oxidation) and all you have to worry about is the ensuing carb orgy.

Here’s how to make perfect popcorn - crisp, tasty and light, every time. 


                                                Stove Top Popcorn

Certified organic-NON-GMO popcorn

The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga, Volume I

A terrific tool that teaches anatomy and body awareness

With all the anatomy I’ve studied and the continuing education I participate in, you would think I’d have had about enough of anatomy and kinesiology or that I would already “know it all.” Wrong on both counts!  I am a firm believer in continuing education no matter what your field (I wrote a blog post about this) and there really is so much to learn in my field that I will never stop studying.  I spend at least one hour every day learning about new exercises, methodology, nutrition and psychology (as it pertains to behavior, motivation and compliance.)  Even though I think of myself as an “expert,” the more I know, as they say, the more I know I don’t know.

Renegade Rows

Renegade Rows

What constitutes a total body core exercise?  Sounds like something you should be doing, doesn’t it?  And you should.  Thousands of “bad backs” later, the days of 500 crunches per workout are over! The way to get a truly integrated, functional, workout that properly challenges the core musculature is to, whenever possible, involve several large muscle groups in combination with that core movement.

Large muscle group, multi-joint movements tax the central nervous system, create a large energy expenditure and raise your heart rate resulting in more calories burned than when muscles work separately. Thus, giving you the maximum bang for your buck.

Renegade rows are a perfect example of such an exercise. Here’s how you do it:

Jini’s Hot Chocolate

Nothing better than hot chocolate on a chilly fall night

1 Heaping tablespoon of Valrhona imported cocoa powder (available at most Whole Foods-do not substitute brand)

 ½ cup unsweetened almond milk

½ cup purified water

Pinch of powdered, unflavored Stevia (do not use liquid or flavored Stevia)*

Cinnamon or star anise to taste

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Place cocoa powder in a large mug.  In a small saucepan, heat almond milk and water until it is hot but not boiling.  Pour over cocoa powder until mug is half full.  Mix until cocoa powder is fully dissolved in the hot milk.  Add pinch of Stevia* and remaining hot milk/water, stir until blended.

*Note: Amount of Stevia may take some experimentation.  Add more or less to taste.

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Fitness expert and integrative performance coach Jini Cicero, CSCS, teaches intermediate exercisers how to blast through plateaus to create incredible transformations. Are you ready to take your fitness to a whole new level?  Find out now!  Take Jini's "Are you Ready?" Quiz at www.Jinifit.com. © 2011 Jinifit, Inc.

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