Toxins

Hello everyone,
Toxins: What are they, how do I avoid them, how bad are they, and how do I get rid of them are some basic questions everyone would have by the name. Now to start off not all "Toxins" kill you but they do have some bad side effects and long term effects on your body. Toxins may kill you later in life but the primary concern with body toxins is that they cause harm to your body and are not needed to function. There a lot of different varieties of toxins found in the food we eat, the water we drink, and even in the air. The ones we can control are the ones in our foods and water.
So toxins in your food can range from pesticides to preservatives and many others. I figure pesticides are pretty simple as to why there bad for you so I won't go into detail. So how do I make my fruits and veggies healthier? Well on top of the normal wash your fruits and veggies before cooking your can "detoxify" them when your purchase them from the store. This process is simple and easy to do and as a bonus helps your fruits to stay fresher longer. You simply take one part vinegar and ten parts water in a bowl and let the fruits or veggies sit for 10 minutes. This cleans all extra unneeded stuff from the food and doesn't make them taste weird of vinegar. Then you wash them off with cold water thoroughly to clean off any extra dirt or other things that may be on them. The next step then is to properly store your food so it doesn't go bad quickly or absorb chemicals in the air surrounding it. See a simple and easy process without taking a lot of time out of your day.
Another easy thing to do to prevent any extra intake of these unneeded toxins is trying to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats. By buying fresh foods you eliminate your body from ingesting preservatives and excess sugars. You may also want to try buying organic foods since there usually grown without pesticides. There a many different things that you can do to flush your body of toxins that have a range of benefits. By flushing out these toxins you can have healthier skin, a healthy colon, and help keep your blood healthy delivering nutrients your body needs quickly and efficiently. The easiest way to help flush out toxins is simply drinking water. Now I know many people are use to having flavored drinks and like the way they taste but when drinking your water don't add flavored packets of stuff into your bottle of water. This will defeat the purpose of what your trying to accomplish. What I do is add some fruit to my water bottle. The night before I'll cut up strawberries, oranges, or even and apple and freeze them. Then before work I take the fruit from the freezer and put them in my water bottle adding a splash of flavor.
So now onto saunas. Saunas will help your body sweat and get rid of toxins without taking a lot of time out of your day. Now you don't want to stay in a sauna for to long as not to push your body. Simply staying in a sauna 20-40 minutes is good. As we know there are wet saunas and dry saunas and many people wonder what the difference between the 2 are. I've read articles from mayo clinic, harvard.edu, mens health, and many other places and will summarize my interpretation. There really is no difference between the 2 types. The difference come down to wet saunas being a steam room at a lower temperature and dry saunas being at a higher temperature. In the dry sauna it's hotter but evaporates the sweat from your skin and wet saunas still make you sweat but it doesn't evaporate as quickly. But other than that I haven't found an article saying any more on the differences but will update if I discover more.
One other way to get rid of toxins that I will cover is with the aid of dietary flushes. These little drugs help your body dispose of toxins quickly and clean your colon to help aide in proper digestive health. Now these are the claims of the companies that make them and will say that I have used some in previous years. From my experience with these they do help. The have helped me feel more energetic and make me more conscious of other things I put in my body. With the feeling more energetic I can not successfully say if this was from these "magic pills" or if it was only a "placebo" effect. What I can tell you is they did help me lose weight in the past but you have to stick with a proper diet and exercise routine or you threw $20-$60 away. As with any drug you need to be cautious and do research on these before using any of them.
So this wraps up this blog and I will be updating my blogs more frequently as I am pushing harder to reach my goal.
Jeffrey 

The Start

Hello everyone,

So I know its been over a week since my last post but I promise not to go into a long rant of a blog like last time. As most parts of recording weight lose and tracking progress I am finally putting up my before pictures. Warning they are not good looking pictures so be warned.
I know there is a long ways to go but I have been making pretty good progress with my life changes.
One thing that I noticed from the picture is my posture. As crazy as it may sound posture plays a major role in how your body handles the weight and can exaggerate in appearance. From the application 101 Easy Ways to Lose weight one of the tips is by using good posture and pulling your stomach towards your back at all times throughout the day can help you lose 1 inch off of your waist in 1-2 weeks. The reason this happens is because it works your ab muscles. This working of the ab muscles helps tighten your stomach and giving you a leaner look. It may not actually make you lose weight but it will help in appearance and give you more confidence in what your working towards. With this added confidence it makes you want to work more and stick to your goals making long term effects.
The main key that I have found just from these photos is by looking at them daily makes me want to work harder because I don't like what I see in these photos. I'm sure you can all agree looking at this is not a pleasant sight. But I'm am going to wrap up this blog with a preview of tomorrows blog. Tomorrow I'm branching off of my last post by talking about toxins in your body. The post will talk about what the definition of body toxins are and how to get rid of those toxins and what they are found in.
Talk to you soon,
                        Jeff

Homemade Chips

I love chips, whether it be potato chips or tortilla chips. The problem is, they are not so healthy, and lead too, well, a big gut. So, with my wife's keen observing eyes, we have started to make our own homemade chips.

First, homemade potato chips. These are really easy. You peel a potato, then slice it super thin.  You season one side and place in the oven at 450 degrees for minutes. You then take them out of the oven, flip, coat with olive oil, season and throw back in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes.  Super yummy and quick and easy.

Now on to homemade tortilla chips. These aren't super easy like the potato chips. For these,  you take tortillas and bake them. What I am trying right now, is using homemade tortillas. That's right, I said homemade tortillas. To do that is very simple.  You put flour, oil, water and salt in a bowl, mix it all up like bread, separate into little balls, and then flatten into tortilla shape. Then you fry it for 1 minute or so on each side. Once you have the tortillas done, you make the chips.  To do that, I simply am going to cut the tortillas into smaller triangles, place them on a cookie sheet, season and throw them in an oven at 400 degrees, and cook for 5-7 minutes. You want the tortilla chips to be slightly curled and lightly brown.

Since I know what is going into the food, I know there are no fatty oils, preservatives  and other stuff I can't pronounce. It's great to know that about my food. Plus, they taste great too.

Jeff

Check-in and catchup

Hello everyone,

 Since I haven't had some new posts for a while, due to how busy I've been this week, this will be a bit of a longer post and  will introduce some of the topics I will expand on in my next post.

To start, my check in. I now weigh 313 pounds and have lost 2 inches off of my waist! Sad part is I lost a half inch off of my neck too so body fat wise no progress to the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) standards. Meaning, more work to be made.

Second, some of the information I will be putting is this blog is from 101 Easy Ways to Lose Weight and Weight Loss for Men. Those are 2 applications I found in the android play store.

Now, some important details about water in your daily routine. In the morning a nice glass of cold water will help wake you up and alert your body to start motor functions throughout the day. As we all know, water takes up space in your stomach, so it is a good idea to drink a full glass of water before each meal to fill up space without stuffing your face. Also to help fill you up without filling you out is to drink a glass of water during your meal. I like the idea of taking a sip after each bit so its equal portions of food and water giving you a nice full feeling. Another things that I figure is true (sorry no proof to my theory) is that most people add salt and other seasoning to their food so drinking water during your meal will help your body flush out all the extra, unneeded seasonings your body has troubles digesting. More on water will follow in my next post.

Now onto the importance of your meal timing. We all live busy lives and rarely think of how important it can be to eat around the same time each day. If you develop a routine eating schedule it will help you keep bodily regularity that helps from a bold up junk in your digestive track. This build up prevents your body from absorbing the good nutrients through the digestive process. This can prevent your body from delivering very important nutrients to your blood stream and to the other organs in your body. The biggest thing with all of this is starting your day off on the right track.The best thing you can do for your body is to eat within 1 hour of waking up. The reason this is so important is because it will energize your body by replenishing what has been burnt throughout your night of sleeping. Starting off your day with an energized body will keep you going for your long day and if all goes well, you will get home from work and have ambition to workout. An important note about breakfast, don't wake up and grab a sugar filled donut , pop tart, or any other sugary filled food.  I will elaborate  why in my next post.

Leading off of breakfast, I want to take about coffee. Most people grab a nice cup of coffee in the morning for that caffeine jolt or because it is routine. I read some troubling details about coffee I never thought of and makes me worried about my coffee habit.  To start, the beginning of the coffee making process. When coffee is a plant it is treated with pesticides and other chemicals much like the other foods we eat, depending on where it is from and how it is processed. Those pesticides and chemicals can interfere with your body in many different ways that we may not even realize is happening. The next part is the preparation of your coffee in the morning. Are you adding creamer and sugar? If so; you're setting up your body for failure later in the day. You're leading your body to a sugar crash and messing with your  brain receptors. In the process of interfering with your brain receptors you're causing your adrenal glands to either slow down- leading to weight gain later on, or causing them( the adrenal glands) to go into over drive. Over drive can lead to adrenal failure (so can slowing them down) and other side effects. The adrenal gland is essential in our bodies to keep your body going at a consistent pace throughout our days. The last thing I'll mention with coffee, is that it can lead to ritual eating. When you have coffee there's usually a certain food your grab for. Whats yours? For most people it's a donut, danish, or some other sugary goodie and we all know where that leads. It is easy for little things like that become bad habits and don't realize it until someone points it out to us.

To conclude this blog I'll here are the links to 2 of my Pinterest boards:( Click on the titles below and they will send you there)

Food

Fitness

There are some really good things I have found and repined, and would like to share them with you. I update on pinterest pretty frequently and am usually amazed on some of the things I find on there.

Til next time,
Jeffrey

A little goes a long ways

I'm sure you've all heard a little goes a long ways for many things and the same applies here. Little changes in eating or drinking habits can have a big impact on your body and mind. Those little changes add up quickly when it comes to losing weight and living healthier. I use to put a lot of creamer and sugar in my coffee but in the past 2 weeks have stopped adding anything to my coffee. It took a while to get use to but now that I'm past the taste its great. I also drank a lot of soda and energy drinks so I could stay awake at work. I sit at a desk and talk on the phone all day at work so being inactive helped me gain a lot of weight. Now,I don't go to the vending machine at work get a fancy flavored coffee, soda, or an energy drink, I have 1 mug of coffee in the morning and feel alert and energetic all day. What I have replaced those sugary drinks with? Ice water,  it helps you stay awake and alert. Some of the other changes I came across came on Pinterest. I found a Detox recipe on pinterest but it has acted like a natural energy drink and requires very little to make and enjoy. You just need a pitcher, apples, cinnamon stick, ice and water. You slice the apples into thin slices and combine them with 1 cinnamon stick at the bottom of the pitcher. Then fill the pitcher to the  halfway mark with ice and then fill with water. Sit 10-20 minutes and enjoy! Its quick, simple, cheap, and gives you a great natural  energy boost. So by  doing this I have cut about 700-1300 calories from my daily diet and that leads to weight lose. 

Some other things to try instead of soda is taking tea bags to work and making tea. It's all natural when not adding sugar and is great for your health. The even bigger plus is the money you're saving on all those calories, can converted to a gym membership if you don't have one, or home exercise equipment. 

Another little thing you can do is little exercises. We all live busy hectic lives and don't always have time to dedicate 30 minutes to 1 hour for a good workout session, but we all get 5 minutes here and there that can be great opportunities to burn some extra calories. The one that I'm starting is on my 15 minute break at work is take that time to walk around the building outside. This is a great opportunity for those that work in the office. You are getting fresh air, some sun, the heart rate moving a little, and burning some extra calories. Some other good times to sneak an an exercise it on those commercial breaks. During commercials don't channel surf, get up walk around, do some sit ups, push ups or even some jumping jacks. Just think of all those 5 minutes here and there that can add up though out the day to help become a healthier you. I hope this blog has allowed you to see how a little goes a long way and how all those little things in a day can very easily change you.

Jeffrey

Homemade Food

Hello,
 I am the other author of this blog. I will not post everyday like Jeff, just once in a while. Today I wanted to post about the benefits of making your own food. If you grab an item in your kitchen, such as a college kid classic of Frozen Chicken nuggets, and read through the ingredient list, I'm pretty sure there will be ingredients that  you don't know how to pronounce or what they even are. Since that is common,  I have started making my own food to the best of my ability. Not only does it give your kitchen more use, but if you make it with someone it can be a fun bonding experience.

Some foods that I have found to be easy to make your own versions of are:

• Chicken Nuggets
• Butter
• Whipped Cream
• Any type of dessert
• Bread (and if you don't have a bread oven- there is a way to use a crock-pot)
• Pasta sauce (Which technically is gravy, not easy, and can be messed up very fast if you don't know what you are doing. But let's face it, it tastes much better than the jarred stuff and is better for you too)
• Jams
• French Fries

I know, that is an expansive list. Which is why I have decided to provide recipes for my list when I post, so look for those. That's all for now, good luck on your journey.

Apps part I

In today's blog I will be going over ways that I have used my smartphone to adjust my daily habits and how it has helped change my life. There are many different apps that you can choose from the app store or play store on your phone. Ones that keep track of your excercise routine, ones that count calories, ones for tips to live a healthy life or lose weight and others that give you exercises to use to achieve goals from toning and just losing weight. For me, my favorite one that I have been using is Noom. This app keeps track of your exercises, food you eat; to count your calories, reminders to excercise, and a pedometer to track how many steps you take, also counting calories burned. It also gives you tips and daily goals to help you lose weight. It is an overall amazing application and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to lose weight. 

Some other applications I have used are Endomondo. This application uses GPS to track the distance and calories burned during that excercise session. Another useful application I came across is 101 ways to lose weight. This application's name is pretty self explanatory. I will admit some of the tips are pretty crazy but seem like they would be good to use. The last application I will talk about in this blog is Lose It! and it is very similar to Noom but doesn't have the reminders for your daily goals or have the tips for the day. 

So those are just four of the many apps you can get for your smartphone to help you along the way. In  one of next weeks blogs, I will discuss some of the other apps I have used and some others that I am still using on my way to my fitness goals.

Food shopping part I

So the journey started last month and so far I have lost 12 pounds. The beginning was a very easy part.   I knew that to start I had to change my lifestyle and that meant less fast food and take out nights. So my wife and I began cooking at home more but making healthy food.

Now the biggest thing to know about shopping in a grocery store to eat healthy is knowing what to stay away from. After seeing how grocery stores are set up, I realized that the healthiest way to shop is by shopping on the outer walls of the grocery store. All the good, healthy, and nutritious food to live a healthy life style is all on the outer walls of the store (plus these areas are less crowded and easy to get in and out of). The stuff in the aisles is full of preservatives and fillers but don't get me wrong you will still have to venture into these aisles but you need to be wary. One big thing we shop for is pasta since my wife LOVES pasta but to be healthier we pick up whole grain pasta and not the bleached pasta. We also pick up tomato sauce but try as much as possible to stay away from Prego and Ragu type of sauces  We pick up cans of sauce and season them ourselves with most times fresh vegetables to maintain healthiness and put the extra in tub a ware and freeze them until the next time making pasta. The other aisle is the baking aisle so we can pick up items to make our own breakfast bar items and healthier desserts than those already made.

Now to list some of the amazing benefits of shopping this way. The major thing I have noticed is that I feel more energetic than before and that's with cutting out a lot of caffeine such as soda and energy drinks. The other much appreciated benefit is how well I have been sleeping. Without all the extra sugar and caffeine I am able to get to bed easier and sleep more soundly. I bring up sleep because if getting the proper amount of sleep can help lose weight because it will align your metabolism with your daily routine. So my idea of losing weight is not by doing some crash diet to fail shortly after stopping or giving up part way through because I'm miserable with what I'm putting in my body. With this shopping, you can still eat good tasting food and work towards your goal.

My Journey

I am starting this blog to mark my weight loss journey.  I will post about what has worked for me and what hasn't as well as talk about the outside support I've been given from friends and family. I will post different work out routines I have tried as well as different recipes that either I have made or my lovely beautiful wife has made for me. Furthermore, I will share the benefit of having a work out buddy, whether it is a friend or just a cute four legged dog. I will be using noom and other smart phone applications to help me and will talk about how they are beneficial to my weight loss goal.  So let the weight loss journey begin.

Jeffrey