Fitness Link Blog

Everyone knows you’re supposed to eat your vegetables.  Vegetables contain valuable nutrients essential to your health such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, live enzymes, antioxidants and phytonutrients.

While eating raw and lightly cooked vegetables is great and should be part of your daily diet, there’s another fantastic way to use them.  Vegetable juicing!  Using a juicer, you can create a quick and tasty beverage that’s packed full of life-giving nutrients.  These fresh vegetable juices are often referred to as greens drinks.

The juicer will breakdown the vegetables and/or fruit and separate the juice from the pulp.  The juice, which contains the majority of the nutrients, is now in a form that’s very bio-available; meaning your body can easily absorb it.  So it’s one of the best ways for your body to get super nutrition quickly.  And it tastes good too!

Why should you juice?

Most people do not consume enough vegetables on a daily basis.  And so juicing your vegetables is a wonderful way to load up on them without having to chew your way through an entire bag of carrots or spinach.

In my experience, one of the main reasons people are over-weight, sick, lethargic and depressed is because they are extremely malnourished.  Every one of our trillions of cells needs nutrients in order to function properly.  If a cell does not receive enough nutrients, it becomes dysfunctional.  And when dysfunctional cells build dysfunctional blood, tissue, organs and glands, then your whole body suffers.

We are, quite literally, what we eat!  And if we want to build strong cells that make us feel alive and well, then we need to maximize our nutrition.  And a greens drink is one of the best ways to do that.

The Benefits of juicing

~ High levels of vitamins and minerals ~ These vitamins and minerals work in synergy to promote healing and function in your body.

~ Live enzymes ~ Enzymes promote digestion and metabolism.  Most cooked foods are severely lacking in enzymes and therefor many of us have a hard time assimilating and absorbing nutrients.  These enzymes will improve your digestion and ultimately boost the nutrients that your body actually receives.

~ An alkalizing effect ~ Many people are highly acidic due to the foods they eat and the stress that they are exposed to.  A greens drink helps balance your pH levels.

Drinking freshly juiced vegetables and fruit will also:

• Cleanse the liver, kidney and bowels – Detoxifying the body
• Boost your immune system
• Enhance your brain function
• Slow the aging process
• Cool, soothe and heal inflammation
• Give you lots of energy
• Help you lose weight
• Prevent and reverse chronic disease
• Make you feel alive and well
• And so much more…

In addition to these benefits, juicing allows you to try vegetables that you might otherwise not ever eat.   And therefore exposing yourself to a greater variety of nutrients.  You also might find that you really enjoy your new discoveries.

Juicing is fun and easy.  And the different juice combinations are endless.  I recommend starting off with a simple recipe for your first one.  Try juicing the following:

- Spinach, carrot and apple.

This one is simple, tasty and very healthy.  Try it yourself.

You can view my video on juicing to learn another recipe – one of my favorites.  Watch the video here: YouTube.com/tnfitnesslink-vegetable-juicing

If you have any questions, comment below or send me an e-mail: Jmartin@tnfitnesslink.com

If you already juice, then be sure to leave one of your favorite juicing recipes below!

Jonathan Martin

It’s summer time… and it’s time to hit the grill!

Have fun when making kabobs.  Get the family involved – picking ingredients, chopping, putting on skewers, grilling etc…  You’ll find that with a little creativity, you can make some delicious combinations that everyone will enjoy!

Here are 3 tips on how to make a kabob that’s not only sizzling with flavor but is also rich in healthy nutrients:

1)  Choose high quality meat.

• The most important factor when choosing meat is whether it’s grass-fed or grain-fed.  Grass-fed meat is vastly superior in nutrients and does not harm our health as factory-produced, grain-fed meat can.
• Since meat is such a center piece in the creation of a kabob, choosing good quality meat should be the first step.
• Follow the above link to read more about choosing meat.
• You can select beef, pork, poultry, shrimp or other meat.

2)  Marinating

This is what makes a good kabob, great!  Not only do seasonings and marinades (when done right) add wonderful flavors, but with the right ingredients, valuable nutrients are provided as well.

Just to give you an idea, seasonings and marinades can be made with the following:

• Oils (butter, coconut and grape-seed oils are the best to use, because they don’t go rancid at high heats like vegetable or olive oils do.)
• Something acidic (such as citrus, vinegar, mustard, whey etc…)
• Herbs (basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley etc…)
• Spices (peppercorn, garlic, ginger, cumin, cinnamon etc…)
• Other (broth, cream, honey, crushed fruit, berries or seeds etc…)

There are endless options for marinades.  Start out with choosing a few combinations that you like.  Keep it simple at first, and then experiment to see what you can create.

3)  Include lots of vegetables

Grilling brings out extraordinary flavor in vegetables.  Even those that don’t typically eat vegetables can enjoy them grilled.  Nearly all vegetables will grill nicely, here are a few common ones to get you started:

• onions, bell peppers, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, cucumber, cellery etc…

Also, as a side dish, opt for fresh veggies or a salad instead of grains.  This will boost the nutrition and cut back on fat-storing grains.  Start with something simple like:

• Shredded carrot and zucchini with raisins
• Cucumber and tomato salad
• Or maybe some fresh guacamole

Here are some tasty Kabob recipes for you to try!

I made this one last week:  Sweet Herb Pork Tenderloin Kabobs

> Pork tenderloin, cut and marinated in mustard, honey and tarragon.

> Sweet potatoes, sliced and steamed a little

> Green bell pepper, cut into chunks

> Yellow onion, cut into chunks

> Peaches, cut into chunks

>>> Marinate the pork, steam the sweet potato, cut your veggies and peach and then put them all on the skewers.  Cook for roughly 12 minutes on the grill – turning them every 2-3 minutes.

I’m making these ones tonight! Chili and Lime Chicken Kabobs

> Cut chicken and marinate in the following:

• 3 T grapeseed oil
• 1 1/2 T red wine vinegar
• 1 lime squeezed
• 1 t chili powder
• 1/2 t paprika, onion and garlic
• Cayenne pepper, black pepper and sea salt to taste

> Onion, cut into chunks

> Summer squash, cut into chunks

> Snap peas, folded and skewered (lightly steamed – optional)

>>> Cut and Marinate chicken, skew chicken and veggies and grill for roughly 15 minutes or until chicken is done.  Squeeze lime over the kabobs as they are grilling.

Enjoy!

Jonathan Martin

A great way to start the morning is with a breakfast of quality eggs and veggies.

Ingredients:

• 6 free-range (or pastured) eggs for two adults
• leeks
• spinach
• corn tortillas
• coconut oil
• sea salt

Enjoy your delicious breakfast.

What are YOU suppose to eat?  2 meats prepared in 5 minutes for dinner and leftovers.

1. Roast in the Crock Pot
2. Marinated Chicken in Pesto

Quit all the cookie cutter diets that don’t work! No more guess work – eat for your Metabolic Type. And then be able to:

Lose weight naturally…

• Increase your energy levels
• Eliminate hunger, cravings and mood swings
• HEAL THE BODY!

Get started today:  Metabolic Typing

Enjoy pumpkin seeds as a delicious and healthy snack in a variety of ways.  Use the following ideas to roast yours today.

Note:  To preserve their healthy fat content, it’s important not to roast the seeds over 200 degrees.  150-180 is ideal.  roast them for an hour.  (more or less for desired crispiness.)

After removing the seeds from the pumpkin and drying them – mix/toss them with these or other fun flavors:

• Maple syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, sea salt
• Worcestershire, garlic salt
• Honey, chili powder, cayenne pepper
• Olive oil, sea salt, black pepper
• Egg white, cinnamon, nutmeg
• Butter, curry powder
• Olive oil, diced granny smith apple, raisins
• Soy sauce, garlic powder, sea salt, ginger

Raw pumpkin seeds can also be ground or crushed and added to other foods to add nutrition.  Such as:

Oatmeal, trail mix, soups, salads, granola etc…

Enjoy!

Here’s a highly nutritious snack that’s fit for Fall!  It uses fresh raw seeds and vegetables.  Enjoy.  Watch the video on how to make it HERE.

Put the following ingredients into a food processor or blender.

• 1 1/2 cups  of raw pumpkin seeds (deshelled)
• 1 bunch of fresh cilantro
• 2-3 cloves of raw garlic
• 1 zucchini (optional – helps to tame down the potent cilantro)
• 1-2 squeezed limes
• 1 jalapeno (more or less as desired)

That’s it!  Then dip celery, carrots, cucumber and whatever else you want into it.  Hope you enjoy!  Have a great Fall!

Potato Salad, Lite

6 potatoes, boiled

1 large hard boiled egg

2-3 T of pickle relish

3 T of Kraft Mayonnaise with Olive oil

4 t of mustard

Salt and pepper to taste (apox. 1t each)

1 T of Italian seasoning or blend of basil, tarragon, rosemary

Optional additions: Chopped onions, black olives, red/green peppers

(# of servings: 10)

Beet Salad

1 bunch of beets

4 big organic carrots

1 bag of organic peas

1 small white onion, finely chopped

4 T of Italian parsley, chopped

Sea salt, balsamic vinegar and olive oil to taste

Tabbouleh

3 bunches of organic Italian parsley, chopped

5 organic roma tomatoes, chopped

1 seedless cucumber, chopped

1 cup of Cous Cous, steamed or boiled

2 T of mint, finely chopped

Olive oil, sea salt and lime juice to taste