Immune Boosting Gut Healing Soup
Hey EF Fam,
Below is one of my favorite soup recipes that I found from Jordan Rubin the creator of Garden of life. Bone broth is a powerful stuff for healing and health. livingwaterhealthandwellness.com
“says Yes, chicken bones contain incredible healing properties that are only released when slow simmered for many, many hours (usually at least 12). The gelatin that is released from the bones and cartilage of the chicken bones and parts is incredibly nourishing to our own bones and cartilage. It can also have a profound effect on the immune system and the digestive tract (which largely controls the immune system). Bone broth is rich in several amino acids that aid the immune system and the digestive system in many ways. I won’t go into great detail about these today, but for an extensive look at their effect on the body, visit this article at The Nourishing Gormet. ”
Here is the recipe and it will Yield: 6-10 servings. Sometime I make double the amount and eat it for the week.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (free range, pastured, or organic chicken)
3–4 quarts cold filtered water
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
4 medium sized onion, coarsely chopped
8 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
2–4 zucchinis
4–6 tablespoons of extra virgin coconut oil
1 bunch parsley
5 garlic cloves
4 inches grated ginger
2–4 tablespoons Celtic sea salt
Directions:
“If you are using a whole chicken, remove fat glands and the gizzards from the cavity. By all means, use chicken feet if you can find them: they are full of gelatin. (Jewish folklore considers the addition of chicken feet the secret to successful broth.) Place chicken or chicken pieces in a large stainless steel pot with the water, vinegar, and all vegetables except parsley. Bring to a boil and remove scum that rises to the top. Cover and cook for 12 to 24 hours. The longer you cook the stock, the richer and more flavorful the stock will be. About five minutes before finishing the stock, add parsley. This will impart additional mineral ions to the broth. Remove from heat and take out the chicken. Let cool and remove chicken meat from the carcass. Reserve for other uses such as chicken salads, enchiladas, sandwiches, or curries. (The skin and smaller bones, which will be very soft, may be given to your dog or cat.) Strain the stock into a large bowl and reserve in your refrigerator for use as a base for other soups.”
Fitness Nutrition For Faster Results (Fueling your workout)
Countless times a week, “Coach, whats a good, quick snack to eat before my workout?”
In todays world they’re are numerous supplemental “pre-workouts” on the market. So which one is right for you? Don’t feel pressured by shiny labels and mis-educated salespeople trying to make a buck at your expense. Now I’m not saying all these powdery substances are bad, is their a better way to obtain the benefits? perhaps. Is there a healthier way to retain the reward that these supplements produce? DEFINITELY. Educate yourself on these products before you buy blind.
Most people do not realize that very few products/supplements are FDA approved or any sort of banned substance free tested. While pre workout supplements are often effective, research has proven that none have been more or equal to as effective as naturally obtaining nutrients and the benefits from food. When picking a pre workout snack, try to consume something that will help increase “VASODILATION”.
But first… What is vasodilation?
Web MD defines vasodilation as…
Vasodilation: Widening of blood vessels that results from relaxation of the muscular walls of the vessels. What widens in vasodilation is actually the diameter of the interior (lumen) of the vessel.
Also meaning, widening the walls of the vessels to allow for more oxygen rich blood and nutrient dense cells to be pumped through the body, ultimately allowing for a better performance.
What will vasodilation do to me?
Increasing blood flow to working muscle groups through increased vasodilation has the potential to increase work capacity during both aerobic and anaerobic performance.
What foods will help naturally increase vasodilation in you?
Foods high in Nitrates
What foods contain Nitrates?
Vegetables such as dark leafy greens, Beets, collard greens, lettuce, beets, carrots, green beans, spinach, parsley, cabbage, radishes, celery etc. Further, the longer fresh vegetable juice sits, the greater the conversion of nitrates to nitrites, so you should drink fresh vegetable juice as quickly as you can.
Beetroots are extremely high in anion, and nitrates, which is concentrated in the saliva and absorbed by the gut. Nitrate is converted to nitrite in your body almost immediately by bacteria on your tongue. As long as the nitrite is not converted to large amounts of harmful nitrosamines in your stomach, nitrite eventually becomes nitric oxide in your blood, which can relax your blood vessels.
How will the role of nitric oxide (derived from nitrates) enhance my performance
Increasing N.O. can be beneficial for individuals due to its role in regulating blood flow, neurotransmission, immune function, blood sugar regulation, calcium regulation and muscle contraction. Potentially, there could be additional for athletes and people whom perform regularly, as it may help to increase oxygen in contracting muscles decrease adenosine triphosphate (ATP, a form of energy) cost during exercise, increase tolerance to long term high intensity exercise and time to exhaustion.
When should I eat these foods?
These meals/ items are a great anytime snack, however to help enhance your workout 2 hours for maximum absorption and studies have shown even up to 30 minutes prior of your workout is in an ideal window to consume to allow maximum absorption of nutrients and energy from the goods. Consuming these nitrate rich foods just prior to high intensity exercise may help by increasing a workout by increasing the amount of time before lactic acid builds up. Note to self that everyone is different, trial and error is the best way to test results for yourself.
Also to help energize yourself for the day, these antioxidant rich foods are a great way to kick start your day and give you the fuel you need to last through those long hours of the day.
What if I don’t eat them?
Now not to say that not eating these foods will negatively affect your workout, however certainly eating them will positively affect your workout.
Try these quick drink recipes for an even quicker energy and performance boost!
Quick Drink Recipes
Beet & Berry Smoothie
2 tbsp beet-juice
1 cup berries, of your choice
¼ cup orange juice, fresh is best
½ cup almond milk
Ice as needed
Directions
Blend in your blender until smooth and enjoy!
——-
The “Beet IT” Smoothie
1 banana
1 tbsp beet-juice
½ cup yogurt, vanilla
1 tbsp honey
Ice as needed
Directions
Sources:
NSCA: Journal Quarterly PTQ, Vol.1 Iss. 1
Debra Wein, Kelly Murphy
Beetroot Juice Supplementation and exercise
Beaufort Health and Fitness: Ginger Turmeric Tea Recipe
- Anti-inflammatory
- Anti-fungal
- Anti-microbial
- Increase recovery from exercise
- Vaso dilator
- energy booster
- nausea remedy
- intestinal support (improve digestion)
- Immune booster
- liver detox
- flu, cough and cold remedy
- Reduces bad cholesterol
- purifies blood
- and on and on and on
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
BEAUFORT PERSONAL TRAINER ASKS: IS YOUR SWEET TOOTH CAUSING YOU ACHES?
Breaking News: As of last month the World Health Organization (WHO) lowered their daily sugar intake recommendations from 10 percent of calorie count to 5 percent. That works out to about 6 teaspoons — or 25 grams — of sugar per day for someone whose BMI is between 18-25 (considered normal).
Why? According to WHO, “Many people don’t realize much of the sugar they take in are “hidden” in processed foods, according to WHO. A can of soda may contain up to 10 teaspoons or 40 grams of sugar. A tablespoon of ketchup has 1 teaspoon of sugar.”
How much sugar you eat in a day can wreak havoc on your health, skin, weight, mood, etc. But while it’s all well and good that the sugar guidelines have been cut in half, which WHO representative is going to clear out your refrigerator or follow you around all day slapping the high sugar foods out of your hands? The answer is no one. Even your Beaufort personal trainer can’t do that. So it’s up to you at the end of the day to make the right choices.
Now, if you’re like me (aka a sugar addict), you may get that craving anywhere between lunch and dinner and that’s when all hell breaks loose. You may have tried in the past to go cold turkey, and for some, that works, but for those of you who end up strung out, biting your nails and looking like you need your next hit of heroine, this just won’t do. Even working out with your Beaufort personal trainer, though it puts you and your body in the right frame of mind, it may not keep you away from the tub of ice-cream at night or from the birthday cake at the office. So how to you get off sugars? Let’s start by eliminating refined sugars (high fructose corn syrup, corn sugar, sugar alcohol, and the like)… really bad stuff.
I can tell you from my experience being a Beaufort personal trainer that not all sugars were created equally. Refined sugars especially are harmful to your body in more ways than one. Including:
1. A weakened immune system – I know that every time I fall off that sweet, yummy wagon, I get a severe cold. And it has been proven that sugar decreases our immune response.
2. Increased inflammation in the body – along with gluten, sugar has been known to lead to inflammation in the joints.
3. Stressing our organs – our livers does double time to process excess amounts of sugar in our bodies.
4. Premature aging – Sugar contributes to Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs). These AGEs damage the skin’s collagen and elastin, causing to appear more wrinkled and saggy.
5. Mood swings – and the inevitable crash.
Here are some alternatives to refined sugars to help get you on the right track to kicking your sugar habit while letting you still enjoy the occasional sweet treat. NOTE: despite the benefits of these vs refined sugars, please use in moderation (about a tablespoon or 2 per day).
Raw Honey: Benefits – it contains high-antioxidant flavonoids, which can help reduce cancer risk; is also antibacterial, acts as a cough suppressant, boosts energy, heals wounds and can help regulate blood sugar levels.
100% Pure Maple Syrup: it contains zinc and magnesium, which can boost immunity. It soothes stomach pains, is anti-inflammatory and has polyphenols, which are rich in antioxidants.
Unsweetened Applesauce: An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Why not try some applesauce too? This high antioxidants snack has soluble fiber, vitamins C and A and potassium, all of which can help promote heart health and proper brain function.
Coconut Water: Working out with or without a Beaufort personal trainer? Forget the sports drinks?and load up on high electrolyte, low fat, low glycemic index (unflavored) coconut water. Sport drinks have lots of sugar, which can lead obesity. And while we’re at it, we can source some sweetness from coconuts as well. Coconut Sugar, a great sugar substitute ?is made from the evaporated coconut palm flower sap. It has minerals such as zinc, potassium, calcium and iron and is lower on the glycemic index.
Cranberries, Raisins or Ripe Banana: Ripe bananas and dried fruit, like raisins or cranberries, can be ground up and substituted as a sweetener into baked goods. You’ll placate your sweet craving and get the added antioxidants and other minerals like potassium from the natural sugar.
Remember, what goes up, must come down. It’s physics… Unfortunately, the same goes when you eat lots of sugars. So skip the refined sugar and opt for one of these tasty sweet treats instead.
Beaufort SC Personal Training: Diet and Nutrition
Most people aim to have a well-maintained body. But some of them for various reasons are not willing to do any physical activity, and just prefer to lessen their food intake by partaking in off-the-wall diet food programs. Yet there are numerous people who do not know how to implement proper diet and nutrition. The long and short of it is that eating starvation diet food recipes or crash cleanses to lose weight would only work if you remain consistent. And no one can consistently starve himself/herself or go on a life long cleanse. The kicker is that diets work best if you accompany it with Beaufort SC personal training or a physical activity.
Physical activity can come in the form of running, weight training or both. The EarthFIT Beaufort SC personal training programs offer Beaufort health and fitness programs including the right way to deal with diet food programs and plans. They will help you to understand how important eating the right food is in proper portions and the right timing for eating various foods; all this while keeping your body in great shape. No more yucky diet foods that lead you right off the wagon. The Beaufort SC personal training programs will teach you to how lose weight permanently without doing any cleanses, or taking pills, non-prescribed drugs or horrible diet foods. They have included appropriate ways cut or adjust meals, which will also give you ideas and tips on how to make new, tasty meals. This training center in Beaufort SC aims to deliver its top-notch fitness program not only to people who want to trim down, but also to properly maintain a sound body and mind and just want to stay healthy.
People should not take their physical health for granted. EarthFIT takes its role in getting you fit very seriously and does not promote dangerous diet food for consumption. Beaufort personal trainers will guide you through the things you will need to do in order to attain and maintain your physique. They will also give you tips and advice about healthy foods that you will enjoy eating without worrying that you will gain the weight back. But it all starts with you.
The EarthFIT team believes that spending time working out is great, but it is not enough to lose weight and keep it off, especially if you just work out to eat. That’s why EarthFIT clients don’t work out. They train. They train themselves on how to eat right without starvation diet food, as well as exercise properly using the proper form (a rare quality in Beaufort SC). Most gyms don’t care whether you achieve your fitness goals even if you’ve been a loyal patron for years, as long as you pay the bill. That is the main reason why EarthFIT, in Beaufort SC, encourages you to participate in their fitness program – it’s a great opportunity to start doing things right. One of the great parts about the EarthFIT program is that they will assess each participant before they begin. Every client is different and special, so why do some generic workout, or alternatively, starve on diet foods, and any other weight loss and diet food programs that don’t really work? It’s time to MAKE THE RIGHT MOVE. EarthFIT’s trainers are all capable of helping you reach your fitness goal, even if it was something that you thought impossible without the yucky diet foods.
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
Beaufort Health and Fitness: Importance of gut health
Hey EF Fam,
The last email should have gotten the message across about the importance of gut health. The great news about all this is that gut health can be improved fairly easily.
It comes down to diet and nutrition. Today’s foods are ladened with:
- Preservatives,
- Additives,
- GMO’s,
- Antibiotics,
- Gluten,
- Pesticides,
- Sugars and artificial sweeteners
- Sugar substitutes, and
- Other chemicals
that absolutely wreak havoc on not only gut health but our overall feeling and well-being.
Also, so many people are treated with medication that destroys gut health and only mask the symptoms of what the meds are supposed to be fixing.
To qoute Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a Russian-trained neurologist with a medical practice in the UK:
“The trouble is that in our modern society, we live in a world where a growing proportion of the population damaged gut flora, because they have been exposed to repeated courses of antibiotics; women are taking contraceptive pills, which damage the gut flora quite profoundly, or any other prescriptive long-term medication. People are taking in toxic substances through their food and drink, and other… environmental influences damage the composition of their gut flora.
As a result, when they are exposed to mercury, lead, other toxic metals, or other toxic substances in the environment, their gut flora is unable to chelate it, and cannot remove it.
It floods into their bloodstream, and settles in the body. Unfortunately, toxic metals have a particular affinity for fatty tissues in the body, so they get stored in the brain, spine, and in the rest of the nervous system. They also target your bone marrow and the rest of the high fat organs in the body… Of course, when they’re stored in there, they would cause leukemia, lymphoma, other immune abnormalities, and other problems… “
Your gut health is directly connected with your mental well-being and mood. In fact probiotics are much more powerful anti-depressants than over-the-counter meds with no side effects. Your gut has been called the second brain…
Dr. Mcbride states,”In terms of Gut and Psychology Syndrome, we are talking about the functioning of the brain of the person,” Dr. McBride explains. “Any dysfunction of the brain is usually connected to what’s going on in the digestive system. In Gut and Physiology Syndrome, we’re talking about the functioning of the rest of the body. Hippocrates… made a statement that all diseases begin in the gut. The more we learn now with all our modern scientific tools, the more we realize just how correct he was.”
This brings me to my first solution:
Increase your probiotic intake. Pro-biotic means “for life”…
Probiotics stimulate the growth of good microbes. You will know your gut is out of balance when you intake pro-biotics for the first time and have a healing reaction like:
- diarrhea,
- cramps,
- gas, and
- bloating
This is because there is a war going on in your gut, the good vs the bad microbes and the healing process means you are purging the evils of bad microbes and allowing your body to restore balance and heal.
You can purchase probiotics at the store, but nothing will comes close to restoring your gut health better than organic raw fermented foods like:
- kim-chi
- sauerkraut
- kefir (coconut milk or raw grass fed milk)
- fermented soy (Miso or Tempeh)
- Kombucha
Secondly, we want to eliminate all the foods that promote and feed the bad bacteria like the ones listed above and then eat pre-boitics which are foods that stimulate good bacteria growth, like:
- Raw chicory root
- Raw Jerusalem artichoke
- Raw dandelion greens
- Raw garlic
- Raw leek
- Raw onion
- Cooked onion
- Raw banana
List taken from http://www.
Because rebalancing the gut flora is something that anyone and everyone can benefit from we are launching a 21-Day Detox program in the near future. Be on the look out for more info
shortly!
Committed to your health,
Ian
P.S. The 21 Day Detox will be offered to both current EFers and Non-EFers. If you know a non-EFer who may be interested in joining the 21 Day Detox, make sure they respond quickly as we are only opening a few spots since we only have a few spots left open for training total.
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
How I Got Started In the Health and Fitness industry and became a Beaufort Personal Trainer
Health and fitness have not always been part of my life before I became a Beaufort Personal Trainer, as a kid I never played any sports and while my parents ate better than most of the population, it still was not great (Don’t get me started on what my grandparents fed me!). What changed was that about 10 years ago, my parents decided to start eating healthier and buying organic foods, and while I complained because I could no longer have Honey Bunches of Oats in the morning, I started feeling better and my grades in school went up. I was interested in why I was feeling better and had better grades, so being the nerd I am and having Google at my finger tips I started doing my own research. After reading tons of articles, I became obsessed with the health benefits of tea and really focused on learning more about the chemical found in green tea, EGCG. I was amazed at the research showing the anti-cancer and heart health benefits from green tea as well as the ability to increase fat burning (because every teenage boy wants that six pack). After tea, I became interested in holistic medicine and how different plants had medical properties. I bought a huge book on medicinal herbs and started learning as much as I could about herbal medicine.
Two years later, I was entering high school and since I was coming from a small private school (graduating class of 21 students) to a large public school. Since I did not know anyone in the new school, my parents made me sign up for cross country in the fall semester. Now before cross country, the most exercise I did was play around with my dad’s weight set and trying to teach myself martial arts. So when I went to the first day of summer practice and ran three miles and lifted, it was a huge shock to my system. But I liked it and was hooked on exercise. Soon after came my interest in sports nutrition to help me improve my performance, especially the post workout window to increase protein synthesis. I also got my first exercise physiology lessons from my cross country coach when he talked about different muscle fiber types and mitochondrial density, which amazed me!
Fast forward two more years, it was the end of my sophomore year of track season. I was burned out, over trained and on the verge of injury, sick, had no self-esteem, and was tired of people calling me skinny. So I did something about it, I quit distance running and took up weightlifting. I wanted to be big, strong, fast, and powerful not slow and weak like I was. After three months of lifting, I gained over 10 lbs of muscle and dropped to sub 10% body fat. But I was not satisfied and wanted to look like the fitness model Julien Greaux. Around this time was when I spent (aka wasted) a ton of money on supplements that were supposed to help with building muscle. Since the supplements were not giving me the results I wanted, I took a hard look at my diet and my training and compared it to how top strength coaches, powerlifters, and bodybuilders were training and started to make changes. The more I learned on my own, the better results I got so I kept on reading. I was also inspired by many of these people, and decided that I wanted to go into fitness modeling one day to inspire others to get into health and fitness.
Later that year, I was looking at colleges and had no idea what I wanted to do at first, I didn’t think to be a Beaufort Personal Trainer on the spot and, all I knew is that I wanted to help people. Then I found the major called exercise science. Bingo! I knew right away what I was going to be majoring in! I was already obsessed with learning about exercise and nutrition and I helped a ton of my friends out with working out and dieting so why not do it for a living? And off to Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania I went! I decided not to compete in track anymore in college and focus on powerlifting and bodybuilding since I was burned out from running in circles and having permanent shin splints.
Funny thing about college though, isn’t that the place where you go to learn all of this information that you do not know and become super smart? I thought I was going to learn a ton of new information to help me out my freshman year, but I got stuck in a bunch of worthless general education classes designed to make you a more “well-rounded person.” What about sophomore year? Nope, didn’t learn much. Junior or senior year? Nope, not from classes at least. Pretty much everything I learned was not going to apply to me in strength and conditioning/personal training and anything that was relevant I already learned from books I owned or from articles I read.
However, college did allow me to become the strength and conditioning coach for the Bloomsburg University Women’s Basketball team and work as a personal trainer in the Bloomsburg University Recreation Center. I also did a strength and conditioning internship at Bucknell University with Jerry Shreck the last semester of my senior year. These experiences really expanded my knowledge of strength and conditioning! I also sucked it up and decided it was time to start my fitness modeling career.
For those of you that do not follow bodybuilding, there is a new category called men’s physique which wants the fitness cover model look, not the Incredible Hulk look. I signed up for my first men’s physique competition with a natural organization and did a photo shoot with an armature photographer the day after. I fell in love with competing and signed up for another competition later that year where I took seconds place. Then I did a professional photo shoot with my girlfriend in Baltimore. Recently, I took third place at the NPC Delaware Open and qualified for Nationals!
That’s my story in a nutshell. I got started learning and working out fairly young and have never stopped since then. Now I am preparing for my next competition which will be in May in Charleston, SC!
–Coach Chris
YES! Contact me today to schedule a FREE no obligation consultation and trial workout.