For a limited time and to give everyone out there a reason to branch out from their normal monthly orders and try something different, I am offering a BUY 1 GET 1 FREE special on my Tri-O-Plex Skinny Dipped USA bar.
If you have never tried this bar, your mind is going to be blown because functional nutritious protein bars ARE NOT supposed to TASTE THIS GOOD! The Skinny Dipped USA bar is a high protein peanut butter bar that has been filled with creamy caramel and then dipped in a delicious chocolate coating. Who says eating healthy can’t taste incredibly decadent!
To remind you, we still have our FLAT RATE SHIPPING special going. Ship any amount of product to anywhere in the continental United States for $6.99.
You have no more excuses now. Get to my site and place an order. I can’t do this forever because our supplies are limited and it takes awhile to get a new batch of these bars produced, so go to www.ChefJays.com and take advantage of these savings.
According to recent studies, scientists have found that those who take the proverbial “day of rest” enjoy some very real health benefits. Not only does the research connect obesity rates to less sleep, but also, “have found similar associations with other illnesses, including several reports from the Harvard-run Nurses' Health Study that has linked insufficient or irregular sleep to increased risk for colon cancer, breast cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Other research groups scattered around the country have subsequently found clues that might explain the associations, indications that sleep disruption affects crucial hormones and proteins that play roles in these diseases,” according to the Washington Post.
The truth of the matter is that sleep is vital to every function of our bodies. Neurologically, our brains need to rest in order to repair and function properly. Physiologically, our muscles, tendons and bones need rest to rebuild and strengthen themselves. Chemically, our hormone producing organs must have time to recover in order maintain balanced levels of production of crucial chemicals in our system. In fact, if you’ve ever been up for a couple days in a row because that baby was crying all night or you had to work 2 jobs or you had to study for that massive exam, you know how your mind, body and soul (it feels like your soul anyway) can feel extremely taxed and sometimes start responding in very odd ways (or not responding at all).
So, I just want to tell everyone that sometimes just turning off that Blackberry and closing that laptop and just plain relaxing is the best thing you can possible do for your health.
I heard recently that California is going to start requiring food retailers to post on big signs on their walls the full nutritional information of everything that they sell so that the consumer, before choosing what they want to order, can not only decide based on the big colorful images on the wall menu but also based on what they are actually putting into their bodies. What an amazing concept to actually remove the veil of secrecy so that consumers can use their better judgment rather than simply their sense of hunger.
But does anyone think that this will affect the sales of Big Macs, Whoppers or chili cheese nachos? I have a feeling that the effect will be fairly small if at all on these types of meals since it is probably no secret that these foods are not wasting much time pretending to be healthy.
It will affect, however, the sales of the apparently healthier choices on the menu. What I mean is many of the salads at your local chain burger shop can have as many calories and fat grams as the adjacent burger. Funny how this works, but my theory is that more people will start justifying switching to the burger over the ranch chicken salad because the burger tastes better and they are only taking in an extra 150 calories.
I also wouldn’t be surprised to see more people begin to migrate away from the convenience of the drive-thru and start packing lunch. Not only is the calorie sticker shock going to be too painful for some, packing your meals saves thousands of dollars annually.
Sandwich shops, too, are sure to see a few more customers who are looking for a healthier alternative on the go.
Although this isn’t going to happen until sometime next year, you can check out many of your favorite fast food joint’s nutritional info online at their websites. Before you look, be sure that you are ready to know the truth. Some of these places are really scary!
“May cause drowsiness, stomach ulcers, night sweats, night terrors, increased appetite, decreased appetite, decreased sex drive, discharge, diarrhea, migraines, heart attack, stroke, even death.” I don’t know about you but the pharmaceutical industry makes me a little nervous as more and more drugs hit the television and almost ¼ of the commercial is about how their product can negatively affect me or even kill me. With all the news these days about class action lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies because of such side effects, it is no surprise that an increasing number of health-conscious consumers are seeking alternative and natural ways to stay healthy and cure ailments. But are these naturopathic and herbal remedies safe?
I wish it were black and white, but the answer is that some are and some “may not be”. If you think that I sound a lot like the pharmaceutical ads when giving such and ambiguous response, you are right on the money.
The reason neither any pharmaceutical companies, herbal medicines companies, nor any vitamin companies can definitively tell you that it’s neither safe or dangerous is that everyone’s bodies work differently under the effects of certain herbs and/or pharmaceuticals. Of course trial studies are done on animals and eventually humans (if the drugs get that far) but even then the results are done as “percentages that may experience” rather than firm “yes’s” and “no’s”. These companies are not trying to mislead the public by claiming that “you may experience decreased sleep” as opposed to “product causes insomnia”.
So what does this mean for herbal remedies? The challenge with herbal supplements is that there is no governing body (like the FDA for food and drugs) that must pass the product before releasing it to the market and no real governance of the claims that companies make about their products effectiveness.
What can we do? Collect as much information as you can on the herb or herbal blend from multiple independent sources. There are a number of very valuable books out there that list side effects of herbal supplements along with the true effects that it has on the body. Consult a physician if you don’t trust your own research. If you bought the product, take ½ the recommended dosage to measure your reactions.
There are a lot of great herbs out there and there a many that are either useless or harmful to your bodies. Be careful and think for yourself rather than listen to the marketing claims.
If “exercise” is a dirty word for you, then listen up. There are many activities you can do that burn calories that you might actually enjoy, believe it or not. The concept that everyone fails to grasp when determining how to lean down is that you absolutely MUST find some kind of enjoyment in the activities you choose to do to burn fat and calories or else it will be next to impossible to remain dedicated to your plan to lose weight. Now, some of people I speak with get their enjoyment in the stress release of pumping heavy weights in the gym, while others play basketball a few times a week with some friends. You may be one of those who opt for yoga because it “centers” and grounds you amongst all the chaos. Or, you might be one who enjoys an early session on the golf course.
The point is that burning calories doesn’t necessarily have to consist of hardcore exercise. As long as you are doing activities that you truly can stick to 3-5 times per week for about 30 mins each time (or longer), you can lean down over time. Sure, the more rigorous, frequent and longer you work at your activity, the more calories and fat you stand to burn. All this will be for naught, however, if you choose activities or a pace that you dread or cannot sustain consistency with. My recommendation is to use the following resource (http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc) to find activities that suit you and calculate how many minutes/hours monthly you need to do these activities to burn 7000 calories each month. Then divide your days up doing these activities. Easy as that, right?
Here are some popular activities that might look good to you. Your current weight and estimated duration doing the activity will dictate how many calories you can burn. These numbers are based on a 175 pound male doing these for 20 minutes.
Activity | Calories burned |
Basketball 1/2 court | 217 |
Bicycling - leisure | 105 |
Bikram / hot yoga | 186 |
Golf - carry clubs | 161 |
Jogging | 186 |
Lifting weights - general | 91 |
Mowing - push | 116 |
Pilates Intermediate | 136 |
Swimming - moderate | 161 |
Walking 4 mph | 136 |
It’s a touchy subject, this aging thing. It’s one of those things that you absolutely hate talking about and even thinking about because it is one of “inevitables” in life that won’t work out in your favor no matter what. You will get older, your body will begin to sag and your joints will start (or in some cases continue) to show signs of wear and tear. It sucks but since it happens to every single one of us AND there is nothing we can do to PREVENT it, it isn’t worth worrying about. If you think about it, it doesn’t really matter our age or the fact that we are getting older, it is the EFFECTS that aging has on our appearance. Seems obvious, right? Well then, instead of getting all worked up preventing aging, why not start getting worked up about preventing the effects aging has on our bodies?
Now you are thinking, “Of course, Capt. Obvious. That’s what we try to do every day with all the pills, creams, lotions, tummy tucks, face lifts, laser surgeries, etc.!” Okay, fair enough, but walk through my logic real quick with me. We are not trying to prevent aging (because I cannot control the rising and setting of the sun or the coming and going of Summer and Winter) but instead preventing the EFFECTS that aging has on our body.
What if I told you I had THE solution and this solution was proven effective in clinical studies and in real life scenarios? What if I said to you that you will LOOK YOUNGER and FEEL YOUNGER as you age if you follow some simple instructions? What if I told you that it wasn’t a pill, cream or secret formula, but instead something that you have ready access to almost on a daily basis? If all this were true would you do what needed to be done to beat the effects of aging?
Those who said “YES” don’t let me down. The biggest issue in today’s society isn’t our ability to prevent the effects of aging, it is our willingness to prevent it. Instead of prevention, we’d rather take a reactionary stance and “fix it” after we notice something is broken. The key to this is to always be thinking about preventing the obvious rather than knowing what is occurring when we smoke, drink too much, sit in front of the TV for hours on end, never exercise, hit the drive-thru, order that pizza with extra sausage, etc, etc.
Those who want to look and feel younger and live longer, pledge prevention. You will be so grateful that you did when you are inducted into the senior citizen group and those who didn’t will be regretting it daily.
Here’s some easy, cheap and VERY EFFECTIVE ways you too can look and feel young into your latter years:
I read an article the other day about obesity rates in the United States and how our future as a nation is threatened—at least in part—by the yearly rises in the majority of the states of our union. The article is entitled “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2010” and you can still find it online if you want to read it or check out the statistical data of some of the findings.
A couple things bother me about the state of health in our great nation and our analysis of it. First off, the obvious: we keep getting fatter. Although we’ve been tracking the health of the nation for decades and the data continues to point at the ugly truth that we get fatter year after year, this “getting fatter” is killing more and more people every year, and those who do not die get diabetes, heart conditions, strokes, blah blah blah… Even though this is no longer a mystery that our health, our family’s health, our friend’s health and our neighbors’/acquaintances’ health is declining at a steady rate and directly in proportion to our eating habits, we do nothing to stop and/or reverse this. It is pure insanity that we know EXACTLY the problem but instead of changing the cause (our food intake and lack of exercise output) we instead spend billions looking for better pharmaceuticals to keep us from dying so that we can continue our old unhealthy habits. When I say we need to do something about it, I'm not saying that we need new government programs or funding or subsidies for gyms or anything else outside of YOUR HOUSEHOLD. You need to do something about right in your life, your family's life, and your friends' lives.
The second thing that gets me fired up is the way we’ve simplified the calculations to measure obesity. I wrote a couple weeks back about my disgust over the BMI (body mass index) and how it improperly categorizes individuals’ health based on a ratio of height to weight. When I wrote about this, I thought how ridiculously lazy our scientists have gotten if they actually think that they can judge someone’s health based on a BMI calculation b/c using this formula categorizes nearly all athletes (both amateur and pro), nearly all body builders and weight lifters (both amateur and pro) and many others who are phenomenal shape as either grossly overweight or obese. Now that I am looking at the majority of the United States, I understand where our scientists are coming from b/c such a tiny fraction of the country actually sees the inside of a gym (different from those who have a gym membership) that the BMI may be very accurate in nearly all the cases it is used! This is amazing to me b/c being 6 foot, 210 lbs and a body fat of 5.25% makes one OBESE, although this person is in the best shape of his life.
Lastly, and maybe the scariest part of this study, is seeing how this is affecting our youth. The youth that is supposed to be our future. The numbers are shocking. I don’t want to get into the data but you can look for yourself. Here’s my rant: Our youth look up to their parents and do as their parents (not as their parents say), both good and bad. You as a parent, regardless of whether or not you give a crap about your own health, owe it to your children to MAKE them consumer nutritious food and be active, otherwise you are contributing to their health issues and pushing them closer to the grave. Activity isn’t Playstation or even Wii. Activity is getting their heart rate up, sweating, playing, etc. Nutritious food isn’t chicken nuggets at McDonald’s drivethru instead of the cheeseburger. Nutrition is homemade meals with lean proteins and greens. Get serious and think about it.
Introduction:
Good nutrition, portion size and regular activity are all key components to our weight loss program. The Chef Jay's Cookie & Protein Snacks Transformation Diet provides a varied well balanced diet which is vital to healthy weight loss as well as the cornerstone of good health. Maintaining adequate but not excessive meal portions is essential to meeting your nutritional requirements while still losing weight. Staying active on a daily basis, even if just for 20 minutes, will boost your metabolism, give you more energy and accelerate the rate at which you are losing weight.
Chef Jay's Cookie & Protein Snacks Transformation Diet has been developed under the supervision of a Registered Dietitian using cutting edge nutritional studies and the most up-to-date weight loss and nutritional strategies. The plan you are about to undertake is so comprehensive and sound that you will not only feel confident that it is safe and effective, but you will also notice how incredibly easy it can be to lose weight without diet pills, starving yourself or exercising countless hours every week.
Chef Jay's Cookie & Protein Snacks Transformation Diet is designed to be used as a guide that will allow you to incorporate foods from Chef Jay's full product line as a component of a healthy well balanced diet. Our unique approach will help you meet your weight loss goals in the most healthful manner, all without feeling hungry or even cutting out your favorite foods!
Think of this plan as a guide that will train you how to provide your body with proper nutrition at the right times so that you can feel satisfied while losing weight. You will also begin to understand how staying active can dramatically affect all aspects of your life in a positive way. We have worked hard to ensure that you can enjoy your favorite foods while supplementing with our full line of Chef Jay's delicious Tri-O-Plex Protein Bars, Cookies and Gourmet Brownies.
Our philosophy is that restoring yourself to a healthy weight is not about denial and restriction, but instead about education and training. Most people simply do not know how to properly fuel their bodies with the nutrition it needs to function optimally. Now you don’t have to be in the dark anymore. Welcome to Chef Jay's Cookie & Protein Snacks Transformation Diet!
Probably one the most envied muscle group and certainly the most difficult to attain, the “six-pack” abdominal muscles are in season. Most, however, have no idea how to build and lean down their midsection and even worse, many are armed with only misinformation. I’m here to give you 2 strategies that I use that when followed should solve your issues. I am not a doctor or trainer so I can’t advise you to do this. What I can do, though, is tell you my experience and opinions and do with it what you will.
First, the abs muscles are made up of muscle fibers just like your chest, arms and legs. Why then does everyone think that they should be trained differently? Reps of 200? Doing them daily? Using little to no resistance? Maybe it’s the late night infomercials that have muddied the waters but I am here to clarify my opinion on the subject: train your abs like you train all your muscle groups. I use moderate resistance so you can squeeze out 12-18 reps. I do 3-5 sets per movement. I do 3-5 movements. I make sure my movements vary so I can hit lower abs, sides (obliques), upper, and mids.
Second, it’s essential that I lean down. As a man, my body fat settles in my belly rather than butt, legs or arms. What I’ve learned is that you won’t ever see your buffed-up abs if they are hiding under a layer of blubber. This doesn’t mean you have do your abs more often or do more weight. What it means is that I feel it is crucial to do cardio and watch the diet. I do cardio 4-5 days per week for at least 45 mins. I make sure that at least 4-5 days per week I am walking, jogging, running or anything that will get my heart rate above 75% max, usually above 145 beats per minute.
Everyone’s different and you should check with your doctor and/or trainer if you want to specialized advice. Best thing I can say is stay active and use logic and your best judgment.
If you’ve ever used a trainer, researched state of the art diet plans or even looked into getting a life insurance policy, you are probably familiar with the acronym “BMI” and for what it stands. For those who haven’t come across the term BMI, it stands for Body Mass Index and it is used to get a general picture of health of a person by comparing that particular person’s height and weight.
The World Health Organization (just about every other organization in the US that relies on such calculations) has adopted the BMI as the general formula for calculating obesity rates without actually “looking at people” or taking caliper tests of each individual. The BMI is calculated by multiplying your weight in pounds by 703 then dividing that number by the square of your height in inches. This looks like:
BMI = (weight in pounds x 703)
height in inches²
The scale to measure “fitness” according to the BMI formula is below:
Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
Overweight = 25-29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater
This is (roughly) accurate for the masses and saves on hours and hours of poring over data to find a more tailored opinion of someone’s health. The problem I have with this BMI formula, however, is that it breaks down when using it to determine obesity when measuring weight lifters and athletes.
According to the BMI calculations, all of our Mr. Olympia contenders and many pro athletes are “obese”. Here are a few examples:
Ladanian Tomlinson: 5’10” and 221 lbs., BMI= 31.7 (obese)
Labron James: 6’5” and 250 lbs., BMI= 29.6 (nearly obese)
Manny Ramirez: 6’ and 210 lbs., BMI= 28.5 (nearly obese)
Jay Cutler (Mr. Olympia): 5’9” and 275 lbs., BMI= 40.6 (grossly obese)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (as Mr. Olympia): 6’2” and 245 lbs., BMI= 31.5 (obese)
No one can argue that these men are out of shape, let alone obese. You might be thinking, “Come on. These guys aren’t your average guys” and I would agree with you. But I would also challenge you to talk to some of your friends at the gym. I guarantee you that they are not within the “healthy” weight range that the BMI and WHO recommend. I believe that these athletes and those at your gym are healthier than those who invented the BMI formula and this needs to be revised to be a universal calculation for obesity that truly accounts for different body types. Muscle naturally weighs more than fat and we simply cannot rely on the affect that gravity has on someone to be the biggest factor of health. We are much more advanced than this.
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