Tips To Alleviate Heartburn

An estimated 60 million America adults suffer from heartburn. So don't feel like your alone if your one of the millions.  $13 billion was spent on acid stopping medications in 2006. I'm sure the numbers are higher now. Despite the name heartburn really has nothing to do with the heart. Some of the symptoms are similar to a heart attack though. Heartburn is an irritation to the esophagus that is caused by stomach acid.

  The basic cause of heartburn is a lower esophageal sphincter (LES), that doesn't tighten as it should. There are lots of things that can cause heartburn like overeating or too much pressure on the stomach (frequently from obesity or pregnancy). Certain foods commonly relax the LES, including tomatoes, citrus fruits, garlic, onions, chocolate, coffee, alcohol, caffeinated products, and peppermint. Dishes high in fats and oils (animal or vegetable) often lead to heartburn, as do certain medications. Stress and lack of sleep can increase acid production and can cause heartburn. And smoking, which relaxes the LES and stimulates stomach acid, is a major contributor.

Here are a couple easy ways to alleviate heartburn:

• Raise the head of your bed. Elevate the entire head of your bed a minimum of 30 degrees, like a hospital bed. have a firm foam rubber wedge made or put a brick under the legs on each side of the head of your bed.
• Eat less and eat more often. This will help you cut down on the amount of food in your stomach. 60% of
  heartburn is caused by stretching of the stomach.
• Drink before or after meals. When you drink liquids with your meal it helps in filling up the stomach. It also
   interacts with the food causing the food to expand in your stomach.
• Chew your food well.
• Loosen your belt.
• Sit up straight.
• Eat slowly.
• Remeber gravity..don't bend over or lie down right after you eat. If you get the "itis"(get sleepy after you eat) take a little walk. It will help with digestion.
• Don't eat within 3hrs of bedtime.
• Move it or lose it. The CDC recommends adults age 21-81 do some kind of exercise 2 1/2 of moderate or 1 1/2 vigorous exercise sessions a week. I recommend 10 min trainer. Everyone has 10 mins. The older you are the more you benefit.
• Reduce stress.
• Quit smoking and cut back on alcohol.
• Nicotine is a major reflux trigger.

Here are some foods to avoid:

• Mint
• Chocolate(I know..sorry)
• Saturated fat
• Processed meats like bacon and bologna
• Deep fried food
• Carbonated beverages
• Caffeine
• Coffee

Kale Chips

 Here's a simple kale chips recipe brought to you by the folks at Tony Horton Kitchen




1) Slice kale into bite size pieces



2) Remove the Ribs/Stem

...

3) Hand rub with a bit of olive oil (or if your lazy like me just use a misto sprayer)



4) Bake at low temp 275 degrees for about 20 minutes/turn them at 10 minutes



5) Sprinkle with salt



Chow down, yum!   This is for you Misheru (-;

My Chest/Biceps Workout

• Smith Machine Bench Press +274 pts
  
  • 150 lb x 15 reps (+51 pts)
  • 250 lb x 6 reps (+85 pts)
  • 200 lb x 12 reps (+69 pts)
  • 200 lb x 12 reps (+69 pts)
• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press +190 pts
  
  • 50 lb x 12 reps (+64 pts)
  • 50 lb x 10 reps (+63 pts)
  • 50 lb x 10 reps (+63 pts)
  • 15 second rest in between sets
• Machine Chest Fly (Pec Deck) +62 pts
  
  • 100 lb x 15 reps (+16 pts)
  • 100 lb x 12 reps (+15 pts)
  • 100 lb x 12 reps (+15 pts)
  • 100 lb x 15 reps (+16 pts)
• Barbell Curl +54 pts
  
  • 75 lb x 8 reps (+18 pts)
  • 75 lb x 8 reps (+18 pts)
  • 75 lb x 8 reps (+18 pts)
• Incline Dumbbell Hammer Curl +140 pts
  
  • 20 lb x 15 reps (+28 pts)
  • 30 lb x 9 reps (+28 pts)
  • 30 lb x 9 reps (+28 pts)
  • 30 lb x 9 reps (+28 pts)
  • 30 lb x 9 reps (+28 pts)
• Reverse Cable Curl +46 pts
  
  • 20 lb x 15 reps (+14 pts)
  • 40 lb x 12 reps (+15 pts)
  • 60 lb x 8 reps (+17 pts)
• Dips - Triceps Version +105 pts
  
  • 20 reps (+105 pts)
  • Bonus (-:
• Stair Machine +49 pts
  
  • 0:10:00 (+49 pts)
  • Warm up

Sore, Hungry, and Slow: 3 Signs That Show Your Program Is Working

Exercise makes us feel great. It makes us less hungry. It helps us perform everyday tasks better. Besides our health and the way we look, feeling great, being less hungry, and performing better are exactly the reasons we put ourselves through exercise. However, en route to ultimate fitness, there are some hurdles we all need to clear. Mainly, they include being faced with the opposite of our intended goals. Enter the trilogy of grumpiness: getting sore, slow, and hungry. We tend to look at these as negatives, but how about a little New Year's spin? You want these feelings because they're clear signs your program is working.




Sore, Slow, and Hungry

Before we analyze why you need to embrace "going backward," let's answer the obvious question: why would we design this type of program? Certainly, there are exercise programs that don't put you through torture. Could we have chosen such a path with P90X®?



The answer is that programs lacking this trilogy don't provide you an incentive to get in top shape. In the early stages of any exercise program, it's possible to structure the schedule and diet around making small improvements. I call this the Curves® template. You push your body above its normal output, though just barely, and you keep it there. If you are greatly deconditioned, it will yield improvements. This approach doesn't hurt, and frankly, it helps people who've never exercised—mainly due to the mental boost they get from feeling they can exercise. It's a nice alternative for some people. But let's be realistic. None of them would sit through a P90X infomercial, much less be inspired by it.



The Curves template is what we would call a foundation phase of training for someone who has never exercised. The next step would be one of our programs, like P90X or Slim in 6® (these programs also work on the Curves template because you can choose modified variations). The upside with this method is that each day you leave the gym feeling better than when you walked in. The downside is that you'll never have the body of a fitness model. To achieve a higher level of fitness, you need to periodize your training and eventually stare into your Nietzschean abyss. That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger is more than a cliché with P90X—it's your life.

Click here for the rest of the article by Steve Edwards.

Shock Plyo HIIT 2 Workout

Are You Eating The Right Foods to Fuel Your Workout?

Whether your goal is to get lean for the summer or bulk up to play a sport what you eat and when you eat is very important.


If your goal is Weight Loss you want to be at a calorie deficit by the end of each week while still maintaining your hard earned muscle. Timing your protein intake around your workout is a good way to do that while still losing fat.

Calorie Deficit: Write down the total amount of calories your eating in a day. Then cut that by 250 calories. If (when lol) your weight loss plateau, lower your calorie intake by another 250 calories.


If your goal is Muscle Gain your body needs to be at a calorie surplus as to get enough nutrients for growth. Eating a meal rich in protein and carbs before and after training will speed up that muscle growth.

Muscle Gain: Eat, Eat, Eat lol. If your goal is to be at 160 pounds, eat 40 grams of proteins and 40 grams of carbs about 90 mins pre - and post - workout. While the protein is more important for gaining muscle keeping the carbs in your meals will help you hit your daily calorie gain easier. You should be eating a little over 2300 calories a day. If your on a fairly aggressive resistance training program and burn calories really fast like I do add 250 to 500 cals a day to that.

If your goal is to bulk up I suggest trying out the BodyBeast program. It has instructions for just getting bigger and just getting leaner while gaining muscle.

This former college athlete lost 30 pounds and eased his back pain in just 10 minutes a day with the help of 10-Minute Trainer®

Meet Walker M.! He participated in The Beachbody Challenge and won the $500 Daily Prize for December 11th!



At 35, I was nowhere near being seriously overweight, but I was tired of seeing my spare tire grow. I’d avoid the pool, or anywhere that I had to take my shirt off, and I couldn’t stand to look in the mirror and see the elastic band on my shorts fold over because my belly was so big! But with a demanding job and 2 young children, life was busy. Too busy, I thought, for exercise.



Then, a friend who’d lost a ton of weight with P90X told me about 10-Minute Trainer. So after having spent a few years contemplating a fitness routine, I figured that this was one I could commit to since it only took ten minutes a day.  After the first workout, I was hooked. The workouts were short, but intense, and the fat just melted away. I couldn't believe how quickly I was transforming!



Now my stomach is flatter, my core is stronger, my arms are toned, my back pain is gone, and my posture is so much better. I sleep more soundly, have tons more energy, and am no longer ashamed to have my shirt off. Most of all, I love hearing people who haven't seen me in a while say, "You look great. You’ve lost a lot of weight. What are you doing?" When I tell them, they can’t believe that I’ve built this physique in as little as 10 minutes a day.



If it weren’t for 10-Minute Trainer, I’d still be 30 pounds overweight and out of shape. Now I’m a “Lean TMT Machine”. And the best part is, none of my pants fit anymore!



You can change your life, too. Take The Beachbody Challenge™, for the ultimate motivation to get fit! Select any Beachbody® program and once you complete it, share your results for your chance to win cash and prizes.