Arin Lindauer

We have finally arrived, it is summer time!

When you think of summer you probably think of barbecues, swimming pools, longer days, and vacation.  Summer is the busiest time of the season for travel and family vacations.  I know we always take a summer vacation to relax, recharged and just get away for a while.

When traveling your health and fitness goals may not always be top of mind. 😊  I understand and it is challenging!  Trust me you will have a ton of temptations on vacations but, you do not have to let it destroy your goals.

It seems like people return from vacation a few pounds heavier with tastes buds programmed to pursue that sweet, salty, unhealthy food with uncontrollable desire.  That harmless vacation that was intended to recharge and rejuvenate the body, but in reality, it can set your fitness goals back a few months.  As a result, now you are not sleeping, craving unhealthy foods, and your energy levels are nonexistent.  You see, just by splurging on meals and skipping your workouts you often get out of your routine.  Once you return home from vacation it can be challenging to get back into your groove.

However, it does not have to be this way if you incorporate a few simple strategies.  You can avoid the vacation hangover and still enjoy a relaxing time!

Try to incorporate these simple strategies to help keep your health and wellness goals on track while on vacation:

• Try to keep your workout routines going in some format while traveling. You might not have access to a weight room, but you have plenty of options with bodyweight workouts or you can purchase some jump stretch bands to pack with you.  Here is a quick video that will explain a simple workout and how to use some jump stretch bands while on vacation.  If you can keep some type of workout routine while on vacation it will help keep your metabolism up and help with your energy levels as well as keep you in your routine.
• Pack healthy foods and snacks while you’re traveling. We all know it can be very challenging to find healthy food options in the Airport or in a Gas station and minimizing your temptation of unhealthy foods will help you stay on track.  We like to pack AdvoCare Snack Bars along with beef jerky and some trail mix.
• Try to drink plenty of water when you travel so you do not become dehydrated. If is very easy to become dehydrated while traveling because we are out of our normal routine.  Typically the travel schedule becomes the priority and our typical habits go to the waist side.  If you can stay hydrated it will help keep your energy levels up and keep your digestion functioning on its normal schedule.
• When you’re booking your accommodations try to get a room with a small kitchen if possible, if this is not feasible at least try to get the room with a refrigeration and a microwave. If you have access to this type of room it will allow you to stop by the local grocery or convenient store to stock up on some healthy food options.  We always try to get a cooktop with our accommodations so we can cook a few meals in.  This helps save some money and gives us some control over the types of foods we are consuming.

Moderation is key when it comes to food consumption and alcohol while visiting your favorite tropical island.  You will want to keep your food portions under control and try not to overindulge. It is okay to have a little desert if you do not overconsume with your dinner.  While enjoying your favorite alcoholic beverage try to keep some water nearby and consume a few drinks of the good old H2O in-between that favorite alcoholic beverage.

Keep some activity in your daily routine while you’re on vacation.  Try to take a long walk or jog down that beautiful beach to get your endorphins going and heart rate up.  This will help with your circulation and metabolism while you’re on vacation.  If you’re like most people your vacation will consist of becoming best friends with the local beach chair.

The final strategy to keep in mind while on vacation is sleep.  I know a lot of people come back from vacation exhausted.  I know it can be a challenge to sleep in a new environment.  However, you can do a few simple things to help you get a better sleep while on vacation.  One simple trick is to download a white noise app on your phone to use at night to cancel out the unfamiliar noise you are likely to encounter.  We personally use the sound of rain on our app to keep our noise environment under control.

Let me know some of your tips and tricks to keep you on track while on vacation.

Have a great day,

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Yield: About 9 – 10 kebabs

Ingredients

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup pineapple juice

4 Tbsp olive oil, divided, plus more for brushing grill

1 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar

4 garlic cloves, minced (4 tsp)

1 Tbsp minced ginger

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 3/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped into 1 1/4-inch cubes

3 cups (heaping) fresh cubed pineapple (about 3/4 of 3 lb pineapple)

1 1/2 large green peppers, diced into 1 1/4-inch pieces

1 large red onion, diced into 1 1/4-inch pieces

Directions

In a mixing bowl whisk together ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, 2 Tbsp olive oil, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil. Stir in 3/4 tsp pepper and season with salt if desired. Place chicken in a gallon size resealable bag. Reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade in refrigerator then pour remaining marinade over chicken. Seal bag and refrigerate 1 – 2 hours (meanwhile soak 10 wooden skewer sticks in water for 1 hour).

Preheat a grill over medium heat to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, drizzle remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil over red onion, bell pepper and pineapple and toss. Season red onion and bell pepper with salt and pepper, then thread red onion, bell pepper, pineapple and chicken onto skewers until all of the chicken has been used. Brush grill grates with olive oil then place skewers on grill. Grill 5 minutes then brush along tops with 1/4 cup of remaining marinade. Rotate to opposite side and brush remaining 1/4 cup of marinade on opposite side and allow to grill about 4 minutes longer, or until chicken registers 165 degrees in center on an instant read thermometer. Serve warm.

Calories:          203 kcal

Fat:                  4.2 g

Carbs:              17.1g

Protein:            23.6 g

Cholesterol:     61 mg

Sodium:           413 mg

One major nutritional strategy we use with our clients at Transformation Fitness and Wellness is meal prepping and planning.  We try to keep this strategy simple for clients to perform and when you think about healthy foods you should not have to sacrifice taste!

I have had the opportunity to work with thousands of clients and organizations to teach them proper simple nutritional strategies that get true results.  One of the major factors I talk about during a nutritional seminar is the concepts of planning.  If you do not have a plan in place your success rate at anything you do in life is not going to be very high!  A phrase you may be familiar with is “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail”.

When you look at areas of your life you have experienced success, my bet is you have put some time and effort in planning for that success to happen.  You cannot just show up to life and expect success to fall into your lap.  Also, you have to be very specific in planning your life for success and put some time and effort into that planning to see the proper outcome.

Nutrition is no different.

 A few years ago Tony and I started to meal prep, plan, and cook all our meal for the week on Sundays.  We decided to do this to take some stress off of us worrying about getting a healthy meal in during a busy day of work.  When you run your own business, it can be very challenging to carve out time to even think about eating let alone making a nutritional dense meal at the end of a long day!

Also add a child into the mix and it gets even more interesting, right?!

We all have the same amount of time in one day, but we must be very specific in using that time.  To get the health and wellness result you want you must put some time in planning the nutritional component of your plan.  You see, once we started meal prepping and planning we were able to consistently see our body fat drop, our recovery and energy levels was great while still putting in long hours running Transformation Fitness and Wellness.

I have heard it is “expensive to eat healthy.”

Remember we tend to spend most of our time and finances on things that are important to us personally.

If you’re spending time and money in the areas that are not moving you closer to your goals then it may be time to reflect and understand were your spending time and money.  Also consider is your goal important to you right now.

The other day we were putting together a challenge for our private Facebook group about limiting the amount of TV they watch.  Our goal was to get them more productive in the evening and not get stuck in front of a TV for hours wasting crucial time that they could be productive and active.  When I was putting this challenge together I found some research stating that the average American watches 5 hours of TV a day.  WOW!  This is a lot of time unproductive and wasted that could be used in more productive areas.  I am not saying completely remove TV, but you might want to minimize this activity if your struggling hitting your personal goals.

Now, I know we are all busy, and we all have priorities pulling us in multiple directions and we may not have the luxury to simple rearrange our leisure time set up planning and prepping our food for the week.  But, if you can carve about 2-3 hours per week it will allow you the time to plan, prep and prepare your food for the week.

Trust me you can grocery shop and prep your food in 2-3 hours!

Here are some simple tips and tricks I use when prepping and planning our meals for the week:

• Schedule a time to review recipes and plan the types of meals you want for the week.
• Keep the recipes simple and always think lean and green when you’re building the meal.  You should have a lean portion of protein and a green fibrous carbohydrate.  Also a potato never hurt anyone so depending on your goals you can add these in too!
• Decide which grocery store or stores you want to buy from and try to go at a less busy time. If your budget allows try and have your groceries delivered to your home, this can save some time and some headache.
• Try different spices on your food to help with flavor, you do not have to eat bland food for it to be healthy!
• Make sure you have Tupperware that will allow for appropriate portion size for your meals.  We purchased our Tupperware form Costco for a minimal investment and we have been using them over 4 years now. Amazon has some great options as well.
• Cook all your food at the same time if feasible, or cook the food in stages.  Once you start the process try to finish cooking all the meals so kitchen clean-up will be a bit simpler.
• This time of year, is great for eating lean and green, get the grill out and cook everything at the same time.
• Bagged Microwavable Veggies are huge time savors.
• Hit the local farmers markets and eat what is in season!

I understand many of these tips and tricks seem simple, remember to set aside this time weekly.

It can be easy to do and easy not to do, so putting this on your schedule and holding yourself accountable to the process will save you stress and headaches when you get into your busy week.

Once you start this process you will wonder why you did not implement it earlier in your life.

There are a lot of benefits to meal planning, not only will you be less stressed, healthier, you will also save money from not dining out.

Try to start the meal planning process next weekend and let me know how it goes.

If you are struggling putting this all together, shoot me a message.  I would love to help!

Get organized this weekend and Sunday get those meals cooked!  Even if it is only your lunches for the week, you will thank me later!  Start small and continue to build to your personal preference.

I never thought this many years later we would still prep for the whole week, but it just works for us.  Even with our son now eating 3 meals a day I plan his food too, which is pretty much what we eat!

Again, if you need help just reply to this message.

Have a wonderful day,

Arin

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INGREDIENTS

STUFFING

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 jar (7 ounces) artichoke hearts

2 teaspoons minced garlic cloves

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

3 tablespoons minced oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves

4 boneless chicken breasts halves (with skin), each about 8 ounces

Extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

In a medium sauté pan combine the oil, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Set the pan over medium-high heat to warm the oil mixture for 1 to 2 minutes. Drain, rinse, and coarsely chop the artichokes and add to the pan along with the garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Add the goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil. Mix to evenly distribute the ingredients. Set aside to cool.

Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium heat (350° to 450°F).

Place each chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap and, with a meat mallet or the back of small pan, pound to flatten to an even thickness of about ¼-inch. Place the breasts, skin side down, and spread each one with a quarter of the stuffing. Fold the breasts in half over the stuffing and use toothpicks to skewer the sides closed. Brush both sides with oil and season with salt and pepper.

Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the chicken breasts over direct medium heat, with the lid closed as much as possible, until the juices run clear and the cheese is melted, 8 to 12 minutes, turning once (if flare-ups occur, finish grilling the breasts over indirect medium heat). Remove from the grill and carefully remove the toothpicks. Serve warm.

Total Calories: 137

Have you ever actually stopped before eating to check in with your body to see if you are actually hungry? Chances are if you practice some mindfulness around your eating, you would discover that often we reach for food out of boredom, loneliness, anxiety, sadness, or a feeling of being under stress and overwhelmed. This is referred to as “emotional eating.” Because we “feel” with our gut as well as the rest of us, it can be easy to confuse emotions or other physical sensations with hunger.

We really need to understand wanting to eat vs. needing to eat.  True hunger is general and non-specific. It can be an empty, growling stomach, lightheadedness, or irritability. Hunger comes and goes, often gradually. Cravings, on the other hand, are VERY particular, usually for a certain kind of food. There are few signs of physical hunger, including a strong urge that is sometimes felt in the back of the throat. A craving will come on suddenly and feels like an immediate compulsion.

Where Do Cravings Come from?

Our brains have to coordinate input from multiple sources: our body fat, gastrointestinal tract, sensory organs, and other body systems. Emotions or physical sensations can feel like hunger because our brains also have to deal with our emotions, our physical feelings, our beliefs, and our thoughts.

Understanding the Feel-Good Neurotransmitters will help you understand were some of our cravings come from.  Serotonin and dopamine are neurotransmitters. Serotonin makes us feel groovy and relaxed. It also tells us to stop eating. Dopamine, in contrast, is our “reward” neurotransmitter. It gives us a “high.” About 90% of our body’s serotonin is actually in our GI tract. When we eat, we release serotonin and dopamine.

Individuals who struggle with over eating are often just trying to boost their levels of serotonin and dopamine. Eating carbohydrates (particularly simple sugars and starches) can help release serotonin, which soothes and relaxes us.

Dopamine is released in response to the “reward” of good-tasting food. Dopamine is involved in addictions such as gambling, compulsive shopping, and alcoholism. Dopamine is the chemical that encourages us to seek out the “hit” of a brief and intense thrill.

When you start to understand the Neurotransmitters and how the body reacts it really indicates how we can self-medicate with foods.  Eating can be a kind of “self-medication” that helps calm us or boost our mood, and it’s a natural reaction. The movement of our jaw stimulates a nerve that helps release serotonin, as well. Food manufacturers understand the neurobiology and psychology and know that we are more likely to crave sugary, creamy, fatty, and salty foods. Such foods can become our “drugs” of choice because (just like other drugs) they make us feel better, at least for the short term. Unlike true hunger, it’s hard to satisfy psychological hunger.

Here are some tips that can help deal with cravings:

• Understand that cravings are normal.
• They come and go.
• If the craving is minor, ignore it.
• If the craving is moderate, distract yourself.
• Keep a “craving diary.” Write down the craving, when it happens, and what you are thinking. Over time, look for patterns. Once you identify the pattern, you can disrupt it.
• Substitute something that gives you the same feeling. For example, take a detox bath when you are craving warmth and comfort. Go for a walk in nature when you crave a distraction. Drink water or herbal tea when you just want something to do with your mouth.

The good news is we can reduce cravings with supportive, smart food choices. Whole foods nourish us but don’t give us the intense “hit” of processed foods. Serotonin and dopamine also depend to some degree on protein, fat, and micronutrient levels. If we eat plenty of protein and healthy fats along with a wide range of vitamins and minerals from whole foods, our brains will be happy.

We all fight cravings and sometimes you do need help.  If you are not sure what to do or want help please respond to this email.  We are real people at Transformation Fitness and Wellness and we want you to succeed, just reach out and we will help you!

Have an awesome day and remember to be mindful with your nutrition!

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