You wake up each morning with every intention of eating “good” today.

You’ll skip the drive thru line on your way to work then you’ll refuse to get fast food with co-workers at lunch. You’ll boycott the vending machine in the mid-afternoon and you won’t even think about having dessert after dinner.

But then your cravings kick in…

Your friend drops by with a big fluffy muffin and a latte for breakfast. A group of co-workers invite you to that greasy spoon down the street for lunch. Cake is passed around at the mid-afternoon staff meeting. And after dinner your honey surprises you with a bowl of your favorite ice cream.

You tell yourself that tomorrow will be different.

Tomorrow you won’t give in to food cravings.

But then tomorrow comes with its own special circumstances, and cravings get the best of you once again.

Why Do Food Cravings Always Win?

Let’s face it, we live in a world where food temptations are everywhere…which leads to cravings, which leads to eating things that you shouldn’t, until it leads to pounds gained. Again. And again. And again. Until you’re so fed up with your body that you don’t even know where to begin to get yourself back on track.

Stores display the most tantalizing junk food items right where you could easily reach them. TV commercials for greasy, fattening foods portray them so scrumptiously that you literally salivate. Sugary snack items have full-page, glossy pictures in your favorite magazines. And as if all of these weren’t enough, the people in your daily life are another (constant) source of food temptation.

To make matters worse, you’ve been conditioned since childhood to have a positive association with the act of indulging in your cravings. So you use food as a reward. You use food as a source of emotional comfort. You use food as a way to relieve stress. And quickly these associations and uses of food become habit. Thus, a habit that’s not easily broken.

New Technique to End Food Cravings

Food cravings don’t need to have the upper hand on you anymore. So here’s how you can fight back using your most powerful asset: your brain.

Remember that your mind is an amazing thing. Once your mind is made up about something it’s nearly impossible to change it.

Try This Powerful Mind Exercise: Imagine that you are once peacefully floating down a river on a raft. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and you are having a fun, relaxing time. You feel wonderful about the river because it’s making you feel happy.

Now change perspectives for a moment. You are now in a plane flying over the river and the raft. Instantly our eye is drawn to an enormous rocky waterfall. Then you look back to the person floating on the raft, having a wonderful time, headed straight for the treacherous falls.

With this new perspective of the river, do you think that you’d agree to get on a raft and take your chances floating toward the falls? Laughable, right? You’ve seen the hidden danger of the river. You know it leads to pain and suffering.

Now your negative association (watery death) with the river has replaced your initial positive association (relaxing fun).

This is the key to overcoming food temptations and putting an end to food cravings: building negative associations in place of existing positive ones. I’ll also break this process down for you in two steps:

Step One: Create a STRONG Negative Association with Unhealthy Food

You may not have realized it, but up until this point you’ve placed unhealthy, fattening foods on a pedestal in your mind. As long as the wrong foods are on that pedestal you’ll continue to give into your cravings and will continue to gain fat.

Take the wrong food off that pedestal by listing off everything negative about them…

These foods make you unhealthy.
These foods cause weight gain.
These foods drain your energy.
These foods kill your confidence.
These foods lessen your quality of life.
These foods damage your love life.

Every time that you feel tempted to eat an unhealthy food, focus on your list of negatives. Kick the junk off the pedestal and put something healthy in its place.

Step Two: Create a STRONG Positive Association with Wholesome Foods

Now that your mental food pedestal has been cleared, put truly wholesome food items on it. Juicy fresh fruit, crispy vegetables and savory lean meats are the place to start.

List off the things that you love about healthy food…
These foods make you healthy.
These foods promote fat loss.
These foods boost your energy.
These foods build your confidence.
These foods improve your quality of life.
These foods enhance your love life.

I encourage you to immerse yourself into the world of healthy, wholesome foods. Browse the aisles of your local natural foods store. Stroll through a farmer’s market. Pack healthy snacks to bring to work. Clear your kitchen of junk.

Use the technique above consistently and you will soon find that healthy, wholesome foods are your favorite. And craving the wrong foods will be a thing of your past.

So call or email me today and I’ll get you started on a fitness program that will change your life and your body forever!

Focus on the New Additions

So you’ve decided to ditch your old eating habits and to embrace a new diet of lean proteins and lots of veggies. You surely know that your new eating strategy will lead to many pounds lost…but you can’t get your old favorite foods out of your mind.

Watch out!

When you spend time dwelling on the burgers and pizzas that you loved, you’re surely setting yourself up for a relapse.

Thus, the best way to stick with your new healthy eating habits is to focus on all the new foods that you now enjoy. And so, get a new cookbook or visit websites that present new and tasty ways for preparing healthy food.

Find new favorite foods to love-foods that are certainly healthy and guilt free.

White Bean Hummus

Use this white bean hummus instead of creamy dressings or cheese in your sandwich. Since hummus is filled with healthy protein and fiber.

Servings: 8

Here’s what you need…
2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed

1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
dash of salt

Throw everything into the food processor then blend until smooth and creamy.

Then spread onto bread or use as a dip for cut veggies.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 124 calories, 1.6g fat, 20g carbohydrate, 5.5g fiber, and 7g protein.

Check out this link to find the 2 healthiest sweeteners to replace sugar and aspartame: https://www.healthambition.com/healthiest-sweeteners/

If you’re like most people then reading this subject line was a little uncomfortable and you may have even experienced a bit of anxiety.

Make a decision? Do I have to?

We are forced to make decisions every day, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

When you stop to think about it, your life is the sum total of all the decisions that you’ve ever made up to this point. Your health, your mindset, your finances are all an outcome of your decisions.

Some decisions are so small that they seem insignificant…

…and other decisions weigh on you for days because you know that the outcome will change the course of your life.

You’ll wade through a myriad of trivial decisions today – ranging from the flavor of your coffee, to the gas you put into your car, to the food you put into your body. It’s easy to be fooled into believing that these have no real impact on the big picture – – but they do.

You’ll shift over to automatic while making your habitual decisions today – these ones no longer require a second thought since your preferences are defaulted.

The time you wake up each morning, the way you take your eggs, the frequency in which you exercise. Your habitual decisions play a huge part in determining major factors in your life, and these ones aren’t always easy to modify once the habit is in place.

We’re always making decisions…

Big ones like “should you marry him/her”, “should you have another child”, “Should you stick it out another year at that job”? Life changing decisions are certainly forks in the road that demand your full attention and analysis.

There’s a famous quote from General Norman Schwartzkopf: “A bad decision is better than no decision” which makes sense when you realize that indecision is a decision. It’s best to simply bite the bullet, choose a side, and stick with it (unless you realize you made the wrong decision lol).

You make a life changing decision when you chose to become fit.

So I want to help you with that…

I want to help you reach your goal in a big way.

And the fastest way I know for reaching a fitness goal is to begin a challenging and consistent exercise program, like the ones that I offer to my clients.

And that leads us to the decision that I want you to make today…

Will you reply to this email, call, or come in to sign up for my life-changing fitness program?

Spots are filling up quickly – decide now!

Only The Back Label Counts
Never, ever trust the claims on the front of a food package. Claims like: heart healthy, whole grains, or fiber-filled are often smoke and mirrors to prevent you from reading the actual ingredient list.

The real truth about a packaged food item is hidden in the ingredient list on the BACK label, not in the bold claims on the front.

Scan that ingredient list for high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils – if the food contains these items then put it back and choose something healthier.

Easy Turkey Kebabs
Here’s a great recipe for a busy weeknight dinner. Ground turkey breast is mixed Mediterranean spices to create flavorful, protein-packed kebabs. Serve with salad and vegetables and a side of plain Greek yogurt.

Servings: 4

Here’s what you need:

• 1 1/2 pounds turkey breast, de-boned, trimmed of skin and cut into thin strips
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup almond meal (more if needed)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• dash of salt (optional)
• 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 Tablespoon fresh mint, finely chopped

1. In a food processor, blend the turkey strips until ground. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until well blended.
2. Pre-heat your grill or grill pan.
3. Lightly grease your hands, then press the meat into the wooden skewers until it covers about 3-4 inches in an elongated meatball shape. If the meat is not sticking then add some more almond meal.
4. Grill for about 8 minutes per side.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 254 calories, 8g fat, 156mg sodium, 2g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, and 47g protein

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3 Healthy Summer Smoothies | Easy Recipes

It’s time to turn your healthy smoothie game up to 11. These fruit smoothie recipes will certainly tickle your taste buds and keep you cool this summer. In addition, making your own smoothie at home brings a certain satisfaction. When done right, they’re way healthier than ice cream, and when you take the first sip of divine nectar that you’ve concocted, you won’t be able to help but do a celebratory shoulder shake.

So, you’re going to need a blender. If you only have a food processor then that works too. Any time a smoothie recipe calls for bananas, using frozen ones you’ve stored into a sealed bag in the freezer will really add an element of cold, icy, deliciousness that unripe room temperature bananas CAN’T TOUCH. So yes, the next time you have a bunch of bananas that are brown and soft and frankly kind of ugly looking, peel those suckers and throw them in a bag in the freezer for your next smoothie. You’re welcome.

A note about sweetness: A lot of smoothie recipes call for adding brown sugar or another sweetener. News flash: FRUIT IS FULL OF NATURAL SUGARS and the USDA notes that bananas can contain anywhere from 9.91g to 18.59g of sugar. Remember the recommended amounts of sugar per day? [link to simple sugars article] The sugars in these smoothies count toward that number, so enjoy, but don’t go buck wild, sweets are treats, not staples.

So here are three solid smoothie recipes worth incorporating into your smoothie game:

Blueberry, green tea, banana

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 green tea bag
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 medium banana
• 3/4 cup milk (almond, soy, rice—whatever you like)

Instructions:

1. MICROWAVE water on high until steaming hot in a small bowl then add tea bag and allow to brew 3 minutes. Remove tea bag and stir honey into tea until it dissolves.
   2. COMBINE milk, banana, then berries in a blender.
   3. ADD tea then blend ingredients on highest setting until smooth. Stop then add some more milk or water. Stir with spoon and start again for a more liquified smoothie. Pour into glass and serve.

This recipe adapted from:

http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-recipes/20-super-healthy-smoothie-recipes/green-tea-blueberry-and-banana

Banana ginger

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk (almond, soy, rice, coconut—whatever you prefer)
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated

Instructions:

1. COMBINE all the ingredients in a blender, blend on high until smooth.
2. ENJOY and shoulder shake until your heart’s content.

This recipe adapted from:

http://www.doctoroz.com/recipe/banana-ginger-smoothie

Pineapple and banana with kale

Serves 1:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 3/4 cup frozen pineapple
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup stemmed and chopped kale

Instructions:

1. COMBINE all the ingredients in a blender then puree until smooth and add small amounts of water if it’s too thick for your liking. Continue to blend until the consistency looks right for you.

This recipe adapted from:

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/kale-smoothie-recipe

So now you’re ready to throw down like a healthy smoothie BOSS. After all, you might as well spread the love, school your friends and family on how to make a healthy smoothie so they don’t have to settle for subpar fruit mush.