I just learned of a great new product called a Thermos!

What?
You’ve heard of this gadget before? Are you using it for lunch?

The only thermos I remember is my dad taking one in his lunch or fishing and filling it with coffee. Thanks to my great friend (and nutrition tip expert), Vonda, I now have a better way to pack lunch for my daughter.

To say the least I am neither Betty Crocker, (stop laughing or saying a big “You got that right!” nor I am creative with meals.

For the past many years my daughter has pretty much had the same thing over and over. Turkey or ham sandwich, string cheese, fruit, chips and juice box. Throw in some left over pizza once in a while to mix it up.

The upside of this, she can pack it on her own and does so daily. The downside, I know it’s not the best lunch, I would assume she has to get bored with this and being in the fitness industry I am the mom who should be sending the Gold Star lunches to school!

Vonda told me about packing her kid’s lunch in a thermos. What a brilliant idea! Warm, healthy meals they can take to school. Meals just as good as any they can eat at home.

I told my daughter about this and she was VERY excited! She loves her new gadget and it even has a pop-out spoon to use, which is of course BEYOND!

Here are a few ideas to start with and I am sure you can come up with a few more on your own. If not, use the internet for everything or ask a creative fried like I do:)

Rice Dishes:

Protein Packed Rice: Rice, chopped chicken breast, shelled Edamame.

**I made this for Tay this morning, here are some quick tips.

Boil in a bag or microwave rice, pre-cooked chicken breast from the meat section, steam-able bag of shelled Edamame. It was ready and packed in minutes with leftovers for later.

Fried rice: whole grain rice, salad shrimp (tiny size), scrambled egg, scallions (if they like it) and soy sauce.

**Place cooked rice in a pan, mix in egg and tiny shrimp. The egg will cook as you scramble the rice around. Cook long enough to warm shrimp and cook egg. Add in soy sauce or put in a container on the side so they can add at lunch.

Meatballs and Sauce:

**Cook meatballs from the freezer section or meat counter according to directions. Warm sauce on stove or in microwave. Place meatballs in thermos, top with sauce. If you’d like to add some cooked pasta to this, rotini or bow ties would work great.

Soup: Pick your favorite.

I guess you could put anything left over that needs to stay warm and will fit?? I’m new at this so try it out and see if you can make the Gold Star lunch for your child this week.

Best part….You can do this for yourself and take a great lunch on the go too! Enjoy your lunch!

Motivation comes in many forms. Why do you work, why do you clean, why do you sign up to be on a committee, why do you exercise???

I believe you have to be very honest in why you are doing anything you do. Is it to get ahead in the world, to one-up your neighbor, to be a better parent?? It’s hard to stick with anything if you cannot be true to yourself about why you are doing it.

I honestly have never sat down with someone in the Fitness Biz and heard them say, “I’m tracking my cholesterol and my goal is to drop it 10 points.” Or, “My bone density test came back low so my goal is to do more resistance training and see if I can improve it over the next six months.” Trainers, just like majority of my clients, have a goal to look good…bottom line.

So, why do you exercise or want to start exercising? Maybe for better health, maybe because heart disease runs in your family or maybe to fit into an old pair of jeans. Whatever it is OWN IT! You have to really want something and be honest about why to reach that goal and get it.

I’ll focus on exercise (obviously). It is not easy to stay or get into shape. It takes planning, commitment and hard work on a daily basis.

I believe it can be one of the hardest things to stick with and get the results you want. Not because you can’t, because it takes consistency and honesty to get there. Too many people stop before they even start to see a change.

If you are in this place right now of wanting to be fit or change your diet and you keep “failing” it’s time to be real with yourself. Be honest and figure out why you want it. It can’t be because your neighbor works out or you’re “supposed to” workout. There has to be an end result that you want badly and will commit to get it.

Here’s your starting tips: 1. Figure out why you want to change and DON’T FORGET IT! 2. PLAN! Not for a day or a week but plan out a month of times you can exercise, meals you can prepare and grocery lists. 3. You CANNOT let excuses get in your way. There’s a ton of them and I hear them all.

If you can stick to something for a month and really stick to it, you will start to feel the change and that will become even more motivating than any picture on your refrigerator or any pair of jeans in your closet. Once you feel lean, energized, healthy you will want that feeling forever and you will know you can do it!

Our bodies are funny little machines. If you’ve had 2 good days you cannot celebrate with a meal at your favorite Mexican place. Even a good week can be wrecked by that and then back to square one, disappointment and frustration. Once you FEEL the difference you will learn your time line for you body.

For me, I have to be perfectly on my workouts and diets for at least 7-10 days and then one morning I’ll wake up and WHAM! There are the results. From there on it becomes way easier to turn down pizza for dinner or at least eat 1 slice compared to 3!!

Get motivated, get to the point where you feel the WHAM and you will get it 

What do you do on a morning when boot camp has been nixed due to lightening? Well, I think of other things I can share with my camp to help them reach their fitness goals. Today I wanted to find a recipe for the grill because it’s summer…right? Well, it’s June so maybe it will feel like summer soon.

I love scallops and never think of grilling them but this sounds great! Try it for a new twist in your weekly menu insted of your usual fish options:

Soy-Lime Scallops with Leeks

Makes: 4 servings Prep: 10 minutes Marinate: 30 minutes Grill: 8 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound fresh or frozen sea scallops

1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup rice vinegar

4 baby leeks, rinsed well and trimmed

8 medium scallions

1 medium lime, halved

Directions

1. Thaw scallops, if frozen. Rinse and pat dry. For marinade, combine soy sauce and rice vinegar in a small bowl; set aside.

2. Place scallops, leeks, and scallions in a resealable plastic bag set in a shallow dish. Add marinade. Seal bag; turn to coat. Marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3. Discard marinade. Place leeks, scallops, scallions, and lime halves (cut sides down) on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium coals. Grill 8 to 10 minutes, turning scallops and vegetables occasionally. *Tip: Place your Scallops on skewers to keep them from falling through grill.

4. To serve, top veggies with scallops. Squeeze limes over the top.

Nutrition facts per serving: 130 calories, 20g protein, 9g carbohydrate, 1g fat (0g saturated), 1g fiber

Taken From: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/healthy-summer-barbecue/grilling-recipes/?page=2

“If you don’t like something, change it, if you can’t change it, change your attitude - don’t complain” ~ Dr. Maya Angelou.

A Complaint Free World….is it possible?

I added the picture above because I think it represents a fun day at the park with my family and how we should want majority of our days to be.

I’ve decided to try this out and see if I cam make a change in my own little space. I can remember when I was younger, college and shortly after, how easy going everything seemed and things always seemed to work out. I think I was in a pretty good mood most of the time. Now that I am grown up with more responsibility of a “real” life days seem to be more filled with stress and non-fun stuff which is draining and a waste of time.

Who wants to spend their days being cranky and in a bad mood, not me!! I want to enjoy everything so I am going to try to make that happen with this little purple bracelet given to me by one of my boot campers.

It’s a simple idea but I believe it can have big results. You wear a rubber purple bracelet (just like any other bracelet you see out there for different causes) that says, ‘A Complaint Free World.org’ on it.

If you complain, get angry at someone, say something nasty… you have to move the bracelet to the other arm. If you keep complaining during your day you have to keep moving the bracelet arm to arm. Obviously moving a bracelet isn’t going to curb your complaining but it will make you realize just how many times you had to change arms that day and just how much of your day is filled with negative words and outbursts.

I’ve already felt the effects on how conscience I will be of my negative thoughts. Just getting the grocery shopping done this morning could have at least brought on 3 or 4 things that would normally irritate me. Instead I thought about how that would normally tick me off but why should it?? So, I didn’t let little things change my good state of mind. I had a great run with my boot camp this morning, it’s an amazing sunny day in Chicago and I should be in a good mood and hope to stay this way all day.

The goal is to hit 21 days of not complaining. Yep, 21!! But, I’m not complaining ;)

If you end up saying something that makes you switch your bracelet to the other arm you have to start ALL OEVR again. If you were 5 days in and you slip, BOOM, back to day 1.

I don’t expect this experiment to make me in to a mushy push over, everyone has the right to speak their mind and have feelings, and I am looking to be able to redirect how I relay those feelings and thoughts to other people. More constructive instead of deconstructive. If you know me and my mouth…I could use this.

So, here we go. Wish me luck! I’ve had it on for 5 hours and 8 minutes and it’s on the same arm, so far, so good.

Interested in trying this yourself? Check it out. Here is a video on the website of Dr. Maya Angelou receiving the 6 millionth bracelet and her stories about learning not to complain. http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/maya-angelou-video

What’s most amazing about this video is that I shot it wearing shorts after a beautiful warm run on the lake. I’m now sitting here typing this in long pants and a sweatshirt. If you are in Chicago (or anywhere in the Midwest) you feel my pain! C’mon already with some sun and nice weather.

Anyway… I have a hard time getting myself to do yoga on a regular basis. I enjoy the poses, the stretch it gives me and how it’s made my body feel better in the past. Still, even with the benefits I have a hard time committing to a 90 or even 60 minute class where I am supposed to be quiet and centered. I’d much rather run, punch, kick, lunge and burpee my way through an hour.

I’ve started incorporating some basic yoga into my stretching routine after my runs. I think it really helps relieve my tight muscles more than a traditional sitting on the ground stretch and really helps the hips and lower back.

Use the moves here for a post-run or post-workout stretch. If you would like to do a little more yoga on your own you can also use this series as a workout. Instead of flowing pose to pose do a flow from downward dog-plank-crocodile-upward dog-downward dog between each pose for a longer and more intense yoga session.

Example: Flow - Runner’s lunge - Flow - Runner’s lunge/Warrior I - Flow - Runner’s lunge/Warrior I/Warrior II - Flow….

You build on the series by repeating the move you did before and adding a new one on each time after you move through your flow of down dog to up dog and back to down dog.

Hope this all makes sense.

Have a great week and I hope we get some more sun and warmer days ASAP! Diana

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

Big plans for tonight? Cinco de Mayo needs to always fall on a weekend, I know for many of us a night of margarita drinking at the bar during the week is not happening.

So, if you are like me and you are at home tonight but still want to celebrate with some m Mexican food and a margarita… **go for it! **

I actually love eating Mexican food at home, it’s more exciting than the usual chicken and veggies and it can be a very healthy dish.

Here’s a couple suggestions for dinner tonight. These are super simple and probably don’t even need me to list them for you but who knows.

Ditch the tortillas and go with lettuce wraps!

Romaine Lettuce

Lean ground beef (or lean ground turkey)

taco seasoning (look for the 50% less sodium pack)

shredded low fat cheese (whatever you like, Mexican 4 cheese blend, cheddar, provolone…)

Chopped tomatoes or Salsa

Avocado

Greek Yogurt - plain

Black Beans

Heat black beans on low in a pot (Whew, that was a tough one! Glad we got that out of the way!)

Brown ground beef and mix in seasoning according to packet directions.

**Tip: ** Even with the lower sodium pack I still only add 1/2 the packet. It cuts down even more on sodium and I find I get the same flavor with 1/2 the pack.

Chop tomato (or you can use salsa for extra flavor)

Slice & peel Avocado

Tip: Cut Avocado in half around the big seed. Grab both ends of Avocado gently and twist in opposite directions to pull apart. I take the side without the seed and slice lines in it down to the peel. Turn that half inside out and pull out the slices. Remove seed by sticking knife in and popping it out and slice other side same way.

Pull apart Romaine lettuce leaves for your wraps. Sometimes I will double a smaller leaf into a larger one for better support and less dripping.

Fill your lettuce wrap with beef, shredded cheese, tomoatoes or salsa, avocado slices and a spoonful of Greek yogurt.

Serve black beans on the side.

Tip: To watch your calories don’t over due it on the cheese or avocado. Even though they both have benefits too many calories are too many calories. Many times I’ll even skip the cheese and with all the other flavors I don’t even miss it!

Margaritas!!! The best part!

Skip the big frozen Ritas from the restaurant. Make them at home or order them on the rocks with NO salt if you are out. Check out www.bethenny.com for her skinny girl margarita recipes on her drink page. My Favorite!

Tip: Drinking a “clean” margarita means you are pretty much drinking pure alcohol with no filler. You’ll want to watch your consumption or suffer the hang over!!

Have a FUN Cinco de Mayo!

You want to start working out but you are not sure how. Before you even pick up your fist weight or head out for your first jog there are a couple of things to do to put you on the success track.

Fitting it in: First, figure out when your workout will fit into your day. If you know you always have plans at night then don’t schedule your workout there. If your evenings for the past 3 years have been filled up with meeting friends for dinner, attending networking events or getting the kids off to activities don’t think you’re going to drop all that to hit the gym. If you try to drop a whole part of your life to add in something new you may be setting your self up to fail. Is a lunchtime workout better for you, can you sneak out for an hour in the morning before your day hits full speed or maybe those after hours workouts are for you. Whatever the time, think about it and pick the time that will most easily fit your schedule so you can commit.

Excuses or Successes: Another key point to get down before you get started is getting rid of excuses. Anyone can come up with an excuse to get out of anything…that’s the easy part. Re-label your excuses as failures or let downs. Do you want to fail or let yourself down? Of course you don’t you want to SUCCEED! Every time you can overcome your excuse and get that workout in remind yourself you have been successful that day. Be ready for these to wonder in to you head; I’m tired, I’m sore, I’ll double up tomorrow or I’ll get it in later. No you won’t, just do it now! You WILL feel better once it’s done.

Give it a try: If you are not in the mood to exercise that day just try doing it for 15 minutes. Get those workout clothes on and hop on the bike or start with a 15 minute circuit of weights. By then you will most likely be ready to get it done and in 15 minutes if you are really not in the mood you can hang up your sneakers for that day and get back at it the next. Knowing you have that 15 minute out clause may be all you need to get started and then end up doing 60 minutes that you were ready to give up on.

Get mentally ready then hit the ground running!

If there wasn’t still 2 feet of snow on my patio all this sun and warmer weather makes me want to fire up the grill…actually have my husband fire it up!

A friend of mine gave me a great recipe that is EASY, YUMMY and is great for any season!
I’m craving it just typing this up for you.

This recipe uses the oven but I’m sure you can grill all this up when Spring finally hits :) Enjoy!

**Amounts vary depending on how many people you are cooking for or just use the left-overs.

8-10 Turkey Bratwursts

2 gala apples (cut into large chunks)

2 red onions (cut into large chunks)

1 butternut squash (peeled and cut into large chunks or buy a package already done for you)

Mix the following in a bowl and stir in the apples, onions and squash to coat;

Lemon Juice (1/2 squeezed lemon)

3 tbsp. olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Nutmeg to taste

Caraway Seeds (1.5 tbsp or teaspoon, can’t remember so add as much as you like)

After you stir up the veggies and coat with above mixture, lay them out in a single layer on baking sheet (may need 2 baking sheets). Arrange turkey brats on baking sheets with veggies. Bake at 425 degrees for 1 hour. Stir it up and flip brats about 1/2 way through cook time.

Serve as is or add a side salad. This is such a good dish and it makes your house smell great too. Enjoy!

_Happy Holidays! _I’m so excited, I love this time of year and this is the only time I have 2 weeks straight off from teaching any classes at 5:30am. With my chance to sleep in I still found myself at the gym taking a 5:30am spin class today! I will have to make myself sleep in a few times and enjoy :)

I thought I would share my Top 10 of 2010. This is a list of my favorite things that help & motivate me stay fit all year from a favorite pair of workout pants to my cocktail of choice when I head out but don’t want to totally blow it! This week I’ll also be making a video of my Top 10 Favorite Exercises so stay tuned, you’ll be able to use them at home over the holidays.

Check out my 10 and maybe it will give you a few new things to check out in 2011: 10. Shows: Survivor & Jackie Warner’s Thinervention. I love Survivor, the competition and what they have to endure for 39 days can be crazy. I think its fun and has to be the experience of a life time. I need to submit a video and try to get on some day. Loved Thinervention, it motivated me in my own workouts and to keep stepping it up for my clients. After each week’s show I felt energized to bring my A game to camp and see what we could get done.

9. Fitness Magazine: hers magazine. This magazine is put out by Muscle & Fitness but its dedicated to women. I find that most fitness mags don’t show me anything new or new ideas since I’ve been doing this for so long. hers is a great magazine to check out if you are really looking to amp up your workout in the gym with out much fluff.

8. Cocktail: First let me explain, my main source of liquid is water :) When heading out on the town I like to have a drink that is not filling or will make me feel bloated! Have been totally loving the Skinny Girl Margarita this year. Patron, fresh limes and splash of triple sec and you are all set with out all the calories from a normal margarita. It only takes one hangover from these to learn your limits!

7. Songs: I try to fill my ipod with songs that I can’t help but move fast too. I look for songs that make me want to increase my speed on the treadmill or lift with more intensity and take fewer breaks. Songs that keep me totally focused on my own intensity and nothing else around me in the gym. Here are 3 of my current favorites; Animal by Neon Trees, The Only Girl (In the world) by Rihanna and Holding out For a Hero by Bonnie Tyler (yes, this one is a little cheezy & it is in Shrek 2 but ladies, you have to listen to the lyrics and try to stick with the beat. Guys, probably not for you).

6. Food: Yum! Anyone can tell you I like to eat, that’s probably 80% of the reason I workout so hard. Here are a few faves on that are staples in my diet; Oatmeal-plain (every morning at 4:30am you can find me eating this before boot camp.), Arugula-Pesto pizza (pita topped with pesto, argugula, pine nuts and chopped chicken); for eating out my favorite local spot is Uncommon Ground on Clark & Grace. They are organic and have a roof top garden at their other location as well as infuse many of their own liquors.

5. Neck Wrap: This is one of those products you can put in the microwave (or freezer if you need to ice the neck), wrap it around the back of your neck and over shoulders to relax tight muscles or just warm up over the winter. Love these and mine has a great scent, like its stuffed with tea bags. If you are local, I got mine at Wrigleyville Chiropractic & Massage (see info lower down on the list) or I’m sure you can order them on line.

4. BioFreeze: Another therapeutic product I use for sore muscles. If I have an area that I’ve over done it on, I’ll rub some of this on in the morning and before bed and it really helps relieve the pain. I also get this at Wrigleyville Chiropractic.

3. Clothing: I have 2 pairs of pants that I could workout in every day; Lululemon (I believe it’s their classic pant, their staple) and Nike capri running pant. Pants need to have a zipper pocket for a car key, great fit so you don’t feel like you are dragging weight around and a snug fit so your body feels supported and sleek.

2. Shoes: My favorite running shoes are Saucony. I have tried others and I always go back to this shoe. There are many different styles and levels so see what works best for you. I am a neutral runner so I haven’t had any issues with these and usually stick to types in the $80-$100 range. If you’ve never been fitted for a shoe it’s a good idea to go do it. Then you know what works for you and can buy them easily.

1. Rehab: This is super important! If you workout…really workout 5-6 days per week then something is probably bothering you! I hold lots of tension in my neck and traps as well as a shoulder issue. I have had knee, hip and ankle issues come and go. My “go to” spot to get fixed up is with Dr. Rosenkrantz, owner of Wrigleyville Chiropractic & Massage. She also has a background in Sports Medicine before going into Chiropractic Medicine so she’s a pro in all areas and her massage therapists are also great to have work on those muscles and joints. Wrigleyville Chiropractic; 911. N. Clark St, Chicago; 773.360.3320

Find the things that you love and help motivate you to keep working hard in 2011. Check out my Top 10 Favorite Exercises later this week :) Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Hi all, I’m so excited about a new class I will be offering; TACTIX. You may have seen some info on it already, its being listed as one of the top workouts for 2011. Think of taking your cardio kickboxing class and adding in some intensity of a boot camp, put those kicks and punches to use on an actual pad and wrapping it up with some dynamic flexibility training. This is a major total body workout! So much so that it will be offered on M-W-F in January, giving your body a day of recovery in between. For now check out my schedule for Drop-In classes to give it a try.