Breakfast of Champions?

Here is a great article I just read...Thought I would share it with all of you! I know this weekend is a holiday weekend, that means cook outs with all sorts of "bad" for you food. I'm not saying you can't enjoy the cook out...just be smart...like mom always says, "make good choices!"
Those good choices, start with breakfast, the MOST important meal of the day!

Have a great holiday weekend...be safe...be fit and MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Linda and Rachel

Breakfast: It really is for champions?
By Alan Courtenay

We have been told time and time again that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet nearly one-fifth of all adults choose to pass on the Wheaties. What is the big deal about breakfast? Can a solid breakfast really make or break your fitness goals? Read on as I answer your most pressing questions on this popular subject.

Why eat Breakfast?
Let's dissect the word 'breakfast'. When you take it apart you find two words with an all-important hidden message. Breakfast. I can hear your wheels spinning on this one! That's right, breakfast is the meal that breaks the fast that your body goes into each and every night when you sleep.
When breakfast is skipped, your body continues to fast until you eat later in the day.

This is a problem for two reasons.
Problem #1: Your brain needs fuel to function at its peak. This fuel comes in the form of glucose derived from food and is needed to walk, talk and perform all other activities. When you skip breakfast your brain is forced to work extra hard in breaking down stored carbohydrates or to turn fats and proteins into usable forms of glucose. Eating breakfast has been proven to improve concentration, increase your problem solving capabilities, enhance overall mental performance and even boosts your memory and mood.

Problem #2: Your metabolism will go into 'famine' mode. Three to four hours after you eat, your metabolism shuts down and acts as if it needs to store food. This is a great function to have if a famine were to break out, leaving you without food for days. Since this is likely not the case for you, it is pretty annoying when your body starts packing on the pounds in an attempt to protect you from starvation! Eating breakfast communicates with your body the fact that you are healthy, well fed and not in need of extra fat storage.

What about the cut calories? 'Skipping breakfast is how I cut calories out of my diet.' I can't tell you how often I hear this response when I encourage people to eat breakfast. What these 'calorie cutters' don't realize is that they are the ones who turn to snacking later in the day in an attempt to ward off low energy levels. Allowing your body to become over-hungry leads to distorted satiety signals, and leaves the door wide open for overeating later in the day.

Start your day with breakfast and then continue to eat smaller meals and snacks throughout the day for optimal calorie burning.

What's for Breakfast? Now that you are convinced that breakfast is worth your time, it's time to decide what to have! A recent study done by FoodWatch, a Minnesota-based consulting firm that watches food trends, revealed that most people are basically eating dessert for breakfast, due to the high quantities of on-the-go breakfast foods that are processed, packaged and pumped full of refined carbohydrates. Another study recently proved that high fiber, low fat breakfasts promote healthy weight control much more effectively than highly refined breakfast foods.

Try the following On-The-Go Breakfast Selections for a blend of hearty carbohydrates, protein and fat and experience optimal morning energy.
• Low Fat Yogurt with Fresh Fruit
• Low Fat Cottage Cheese and a Cherry Oatmeal Muffin
• Hard Boiled Egg and Whole Wheat Toast
• Scrambled Egg White on Half a Bagel
• Whole Wheat Tortilla rolled with Scrambled Egg Beaters and Salsa
• Soy Milk with Whole Grain Cereal and Fresh Fruit

Sleep It Off
Did you know that sleep is a vital component for weight loss? A study done at the University of Chicago concluded that people who got less than four hours of sleep actually had increased levels of the hormone cortisol and insulin which are linked to a difficulty in processing carbohydrates. Tonight go to bed early, aim for 8 hours of sleep, and wake up fitter.

10 minute fat burning workout HIGH IQ

This week's workout is a quick 10 minute fat burning workout!
Try this HIGH IQ workout- high intensity quick total body workout.
You ALWAYS have time for a workout!



Let me know what you think about this workout...please leave a comment below!

Linda and Rachel

Legs and Glutes WORKOUT of the WEEK

New WORKOUT of the WEEK...get ready for summer! With the hot weather already here, most of us have pulled out our shorts...time to get thoses legs toned up!

This workout is a superset ladder! Work hard and let me know what you think of this week's workout...

Linda and Rachel

Three Mother's Day Fat Fighting Tips

This Sunday is Mother's Day, so I thought I'd share with you some really simple tips that do a great job of fighting fat. But before I even get to them I want to let you know that while moms have a real tough job, it's not nearly as hard to burn off the belly fat.

In fact, just a few simple changes in lifestyle can make a dramatic difference in your belly, butt, hips and thighs. So be sure to put these tips to good use:

Mother's Day Fat Fighting Tip #1 - Avoid soft drinks, juices and any other liquids loaded with sugar. All these drinks are very high in useless calories. A 12 oz. can of cola typically packs 150 calories worth of sugar! Drink a couple of those a day and you're packing on the belly fat!

Mother's Day Fat Figthing Tip #2 - Record what you eat and drink. Most moms - and people in general - are shocked at the amount of food and calories that they are REALLY consuming when they track it. And be honest, many times when people do this exercise they "forget" to write down the foods they nibble on here and there. It ALL adds up.

Mother's Day Fat Fighting Tip #3 - Eat 5 to 10 servings of fruits and veggies each day. This will help you meet your micronutrient needs for the day. And that is critical to your body's ability to burn fat off your belly, butt, hips and thighs.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yours in health,

Linda and Rachel

and the winner is.......

Our grand prize winner of the night was....




thank you all for coming to our cocktail fundraiser party!

Linda and Rachel

SHOW ME THE MONEY! $$$$$$$

For those of you who promised to add to your donation if I wore a dress, heels and make-up.....SHOW ME THE MONEY! My end of the bet was honored, so now it's your turn.

The POWER of the PUSH UP CHALLENGE was a great success!
Thank you to all who participated.

Our push up challenge winner was...
Kim Downing for the most push ups...192

The challengers performed over 1500 push ups all together!
Delores Poe and Kim were both big money raisers. For the morning
session during the push up challenge we raised almost $2000!
After the evening cocktail party, we raised our total to over $4000, with more donations come in. If you are interested in donating to our Komen fund please go to our website... http://www.oxygenandiron.com/

Thank you again for all who participated in the Power of the Push Up Challenge and for
those of you who attended our cocktail party!

Linda and Rachel