NO EXCUSES! Cammie Fights M.S. with P90X and Shakeology

Watch how Cammie, a mother of three, overcame great adversity to combat the debilitating symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. With P90X, Shakeology, and the support of her loving ramily, she found the strength and hope she desperately needed.
P90X info: http://changetodayfitness.com/ProductP90x.html
Shakeology info:http://shakeology.com/coacheliana

5 Fun Summer Beach and Water Sports for Fitness

5 Fun Summer Beach and Water Sports for Fitness

By Andrew Rice

Summer's just around the corner. Soon it'll be time to take advantage of the long days and warm temperatures to break out of your winter workout habits and take it to the lake, river, or sandy beach of your choice. Summer is, after all, about having fun and enjoying time with your family and friends. But there's no reason that has to mean spending all day in a lawn chair eating barbecued pork and drinking Bud Light^®. Why not cut loose and try one of these outdoor activities? They're all excellent workouts, and great fun to share with other people. Just keep in mind that whenever you're planning on spending time in both sun and water, a good waterproof sunblock is a must.

Water World

Whether you have access to an ocean, a lake, or a pool, water exercise is easy on your joints and bones while still excellent for muscle tone and aerobic conditioning. Water offers a whole different kind of resistance to a body that's accustomed to moving on land. While impact is pretty much nonexistent with water exercise, every move takes a lot more energy, and consequently burns a lot more calories. Even at a leisurely pace, you use twice as many calories swimming as you do walking.

1. Swimming. Swimming is fun and a great workout. At ocean or lake beaches with swim buoys, try swimming out to the buoy line, then following it parallel to the beach. Alternate your pace, switching from fast to slow every other buoy. After you've swum far enough, swim back in and jog back up the beach to your towel. It's also really fun to pick a challenging distance swim and do it with a group of friends. When I was a kid, we used to swim from my grandparents' pier to an island about a quarter of a mile away. All of us, from Grandma to little kids, would take our time swimming across, then rest on the island before swimming back. You can do this at an ocean beach by swimming out to a distant buoy, around a pier, or any other point that's a workable distance away. For safety, I recommend having a friend paddle along with you on a kayak or paddleboard, both to be there if anyone poops out, and also to make your presence more obvious to boat traffic.
2. Bodysurfing. I do a lot of ocean sports, including surfing, but bodysurfing brings me closer to my amphibious ideal than any other activity. Bodysurfing is also great because it's got a low learning curve but never ceases to be fun. There's always some new or challenging variation to enjoy. Choose a stretch of beach with waves that break cleanly, and without any big rocks or other hazards. You'll want a good pair of bodysurfing fins (most snorkeling fins are too big and tend to come off) to give you the acceleration and power to get into the waves. If you've never done it before, here are the basics:
   • Swim out to the peak—the area where the waves stand up and break.
   • Tread water to get a good view of what's coming and choose a wave that's about to break, not one that already has.
   • As it begins to roll under you, put your head down, kick like crazy and do a few crawl strokes with your arms. You'll feel your body begin to accelerate until suddenly you're flying through the water.
   • At this point, you can use your palms as a planing surface and get your head up to see where you're going. The wave will either poop out or spit you out.
   • Repeat until you've had enough fun.
3. Backyard water polo. Next time you're at a pool party, organize a casual game of backyard water polo between friends. If you don't have an actual water polo ball, and most of us don't, a kids' rubber foursquare ball is the next best thing, or a slightly deflated volleyball. Set up goals at both ends of the pool, using patio chairs or a couple of empty coolers tipped sideways. The rules of real water polo are overly complicated, but for our purposes just think soccer in the water. You're not allowed to stand on the bottom, and once you pick up the ball with a hand you have to either pass or shoot. Between treading water and sprinting up and down the pool, your muscles and aerobic capacity will get worked much harder than just swimming a few laps. Play to 20 and switch ends when the first team gets to 10.

Sandy Land

Let's go back to the beach and look at another unfamiliar environment that offers a great workout opportunity: deep, soft sand. Whether you run, walk, or play soccer, doing any athletic activity in deep sand enormously increases your level of exertion. If you normally run 4 miles on hard ground, 2 miles of soft sand will have you panting. At my local beach in California, I work out by doing an alternating interval jog/sprint at each lifeguard tower. On this beach, they're spaced about every 200 yards. Each soft sand sprint gets my heart rate and breathing way up. The next 200-yard easy segment cools me off a bit, and my heart rate slows back down. My usual course is about a 2-mile round trip.

4. Beach volleyball. Professional beach volleyball players all seem to be ripped, tan, and about 7 feet tall. Now I can't help you with the tall part, but play beach volleyball regularly and the ripped and tan part comes with the territory. The key here is constant dynamic motion, which builds balance and core strength, combined with vertical jumps and leaps that give your legs and glutes explosive strength. If you don't have a net handy, just volley with a friend for 15 or 20 minutes, trying to keep the ball in the air as long as possible while constantly increasing the distance between the two of you. When the ball falls, step closer together and start over again.
5. Dune running. About 40 minutes from my house is a gorgeous sand dune that rises at least 250 feet in a steep incline behind the beach. Every time we're near it, my 5-year-old daughter insists we stop and do a little dune running. She sprints straight up the thing and waits for me at the top. Then she turns around and goes first, running down the dune at warp speed, taking giant leaping steps. It feels like flying, or like what running on the moon would feel like if you could wear surf trunks on the moon and survive. With the muscle and aerobic workout going up and the sheer joy of bounding down, there's just nothing better. We've also been known to somersault the whole way down, but for a few days afterward, you'd better be prepared to find sand in places you never imagined it would go. Oh, and you'll feel like you just rode the Scrambler^® 10 times back to back. My daughter usually does about five circuits up and down. I'm only good for maybe three. What can I say? She's a lot tougher than me. Want to see how you stack up? There are dunes all over the world's coastlines and deserts—what are you waiting for?

Sour on Milk? 5 Healthy Dairy Substitutes

Sour on Milk? 5 Healthy Dairy Substitutes

By Jeanine Natale

So you've made the decision to go dairy free for health, diet, and/or allergy reasons. Maybe you're trying to avoid lactose. Maybe you just don't like the way the dairy industry tends to treat cows. But here's the rub: You love milk! So what are you going to do? Fear not, it's easy to avoid lactose and still get your fill of milk-like liquids. Soy, rice, coconut, almond, and even hemp "milks" have all found their way into the diets, hearts, and grocers' shelves of health-conscious people everywhere. Some, like coconut and rice milk, have been around for hundreds of years as dietary staples in many cultures around the world.

We're going to take a look at the five most widely available—and very diverse—milk substitutes, but before we start, let's quickly look at what you're leaving behind when you give up dairy. A 1-cup serving of regular skim milk has 90 calories, 125 milligrams of sodium, 8 grams of protein, 30 percent of your recommended daily allowance (RDA) of calcium, 25 percent of your RDA of vitamin D, phosphorus, and riboflavin, and 16 percent of your RDA for vitamin B12. That same cup of skim milk also contains 12 grams of carbohydrates, 11 of which are sugar.

Now let's compare the rest. Keep in mind that these are all vegetarian/vegan-friendly, gluten-free alternatives.

1. Soy Milk. Soy milk is probably the best-known milk alternative in the Western world. It's easy to find it in a variety of flavors and options at just about any market. So how does soy milk stack up nutritionally compared to skim milk? A typical 1-cup serving has about 100 calories—slightly more than skim milk—with 7 grams of protein, 29 milligrams of sodium, 25 percent of your RDA of thiamin, 9 percent of your RDA of riboflavin, 8 percent of your RDA of iron, 15 percent of your RDA of copper, 20 percent of your RDA of manganese, and just about 35 percent of your RDA of calcium.
   
   Despite soy milk's popularity, there is some controversy surrounding it. The trend toward foods that are or contain GMOs (genetically modified organisms) is currently a cause for great concern, and more than 90 percent of all soybeans sold in the U.S. are GMOs, making it pretty difficult to find truly natural, organic soybeans or soybean milk products. 
   
   Also, unfermented soy products like soy milk naturally contain what are known as phytoestrogens—chemicals that when introduced to the human body tend to act like estrogen. There are many studies on this subject, but unfortunately most of them tend to contradict each other: Do phytoestrogens cause or prevent cancer? Are there negative side effects to ingesting too much of the stuff if you're male? Should infants be given soy products at all? The best way to deal with the soy debate and its consequences, aside from doing a bunch of research yourself, is simply to remember the age-old adage, "All things in moderation." If you aren't going to be consuming gallons of soy milk per day, you should be just fine.
   
   Bottom Line: You might want to explore other choices before settling for this somewhat controversial and overprocessed milk alternative.
2. Rice milk. If you've ever had the popular Mexican drink horchata, you've had rice milk. The popular commercial brands are enriched with calcium and other nutrients found in dairy milk, but they also (like commercial soy milk) have a variety of additives, sweeteners, and flavorings, many of which can't be considered either organic or natural. 
   
   So how does rice milk add up nutritionally? A 1-cup serving has approximately 80 to 90 calories, but they come mostly from sugar, which you probably already get plenty of, and which you're probably trying to avoid if you're trying to consume a healthy diet. If you're a rice milk or horchatafan, great—you can mix it with all kinds of things to make it a fun, refreshing treat. But realistically speaking, rice milk doesn't have much else going for it. 
   
   Bottom Line: Although it's relatively popular, I wouldn't settle on rice milk as a truly complete and healthy alternative to regular milk, unless I was mixing it with Shakeology^®. Store-bought brands will be more nutritious, but will contain a lot of sugar.
3. Coconut milk. Thai food, anyone? How about a piña colada? If you're a fan of either, chances are, you've had plenty of coconut milk in your lifetime. Now, don't mistake coconut milk for the watery liquid found in the center of the coconut, which is known as coconut water (the stuff you hear sloshing around inside when you shake one). Rather, we're talking about the rich, creamy stuff that's extracted from the white coconut flesh nutmeat itself. Want to do it yourself at home? You're looking at some pretty intensive labor. 
   
   Until recently, a cup of coconut milk contained at least 500 calories, most of which was saturated fat, but now low-calorie coconut milk has begun finding its way onto grocers' shelves. A typical 1-cup serving has about 150 calories, most of which is still saturated fat. It has 3 grams of protein, 45 milligrams of sodium, 50 percent of the RDA of vitamin B12, 30 percent of the RDA of vitamin D, and 10 percent of the RDA of calcium and magnesium. If you're a vegan looking to get more vitamin D in your diet, this stuff might help, but keep in mind that you won't be getting any protein from it and you'll be getting a lot of fat.
   
   Bottom Line: Regular coconut milk has traditionally been intended to be used in small amounts, mainly for cooking, not as a milk substitute for drinking a glass at a time. Although it's delicious and has lots of healthful benefits, it's way too rich to have as a drink by itself. And while light coconut milks may not pack the same caloric punch, they're still essentially just fat.
4. Almond milk. This is one I can live with. Nutritionally, a 1-cup serving will have anywhere from 50 to 80 calories, depending on how much water has been added. Although it has minimal protein, it does have 25 percent of the RDA of vitamin D, 50 percent of the RDA of vitamin E, and 150 milligrams of potassium, along with some manganese, selenium, and many other trace elements. 
   
   There are a wide variety of fortified store-bought brands that all taste pretty darn good—sweetened, unflavored, or otherwise. Along with the more mainstream commercial brands, it's also easy to find almond milk products that are raw and organic.
   
   Almond milk is a personal favorite and quite versatile too, although keep in mind it's still low in protein. On a side note, it's fun to make from scratch. A 1-pound bag of raw almonds can get a little pricey at around $12.00, but the investment is worth it. Make your own—it's delicious!
5. Hemp milk. Places like Trader Joe's^® or Whole Foods Market^® are your best bet for hemp milk. There are a couple of different brands, again, all fortified and sweetened to taste more like regular milk. And no, it doesn't get you high. Interestingly though, the U.S. is pretty much the only country in the world that doesn't allow hempseed cultivation, even though there's no drug content in it. All hempseed in the U.S. is from Canada; it's guaranteed to be organic and pesticide-free.
   
   Hemp milk could be a real find. Hempseeds are pretty much considered a superfood, meaning that even in very small amounts, like an ounce or two, they pack a wallop nutritionally. A 1-cup serving of hemp milk has approximately 110 calories and has 24 percent of the RDA of iron, 72 percent of the RDA of magnesium and phosphorus, 35 percent of the RDA of zinc, plus 11 grams of omega-6 fatty acids, 4.5 grams of omega-3 fatty acids, and 16 grams of protein. Wow. 
   
   Bottom Line: A milk alternative that's naturally packed with nutrients. Definitely worth checking out.

If or when you decide to go with one or more of these alternatives to milk, also know that you can use them in most recipes just like regular milk. There are literally hundreds of recipes available free online, and dozens of well-informed cookbooks on the market. So experiment a little, and find out which milk substitute works best for you.

6 Ways to Fire Up Your Metabolism

6 Ways to Fire Up Your Metabolism

By Monica Ciociola

It can be discouraging when your results don't seem to match the efforts you're putting into getting in shape. But instead of giving up on your fitness program, or worse, diving into the Twinkies^® (trust me, you'll regret it!), try making just a few easy changes to your diet and your lifestyle. Sometimes the smallest things—like getting more protein in the morning or enough rest at night—can lead to the biggest weight loss surprises.

1. Don't skip breakfast. Eating lean protein in the morning will help get your metabolism revved up for the day ahead. Protein from egg whites, for instance, will help stabilize your blood sugar, make you feel fuller, and keep you from overeating later in the day.
2. Resistance training. Working out with some form of resistance—resistance bands, weights, or a stability ball—helps build your muscles. And because one pound of muscle burns way more calories than a pound of fat does, the more muscle you have on your body, the higher your metabolic rate will be.
3. Interval training. Short 10-minute explosive cardio sessions followed by less intense cardio for the same amount of time will rev up your metabolism. For some of the best interval training workouts, check out INSANITY^® or TurboFire^®.
4. Get your beauty rest. Human growth hormone works directly on cells to increase your metabolic rate by 15 to 20 percent and can only be produced during the hours of deep sleep. So make sure you get a good night's sleep!
5. The magic mix. At mealtime, try consuming lean proteins from chicken and white fish along with complex carbohydrates from fruits and veggies. This magical combination will speed up your metabolic rate as food is transformed into usable nutrients, and you'll build muscle and burn fat during the digestive process.
6. ¡Ay, caliente! Studies show that hot peppers, spices, green teas, and caffeine can give your metabolism a sudden surge by stimulating the release of stress hormones. If jalapeño and cayenne make you wince, turn to our all-natural Slimming Formula supplement, which contains green tea, for the same metabolism-boosting effect.

Twinkies is a registered trademark of Hostess Brands, Inc.

The Ins and Outs of Organic Food

What does "organic" mean? What makes a fruit or vegetable organic? What about meat? And what are the benefits of buying and consuming organic foods rather than conventionally grown ones?

8 Tips for Storing Fresh Foods- By Steve Edwards

8 Tips for Storing Fresh Foods

Steve Edwards

If you glance at news headlines, you've probably read "Americans don't eat enough fruits and veggies" and how we should eat more fresh foods. There's no better time to improve on this than during the summer, when we have enough choices for even the pickiest of us to find something we like. One of the main problems with fresh foods is their life span. You need to buy only what you can eat right away, which doesn't always fit into our hectic lifestyles. And while fruits and veggies are not expensive, they quickly become so if you waste half of what you buy. Here are eight tips to help you stretch every penny while improving your health.

1. Plan ahead. Try and make a trip to the market every five days. Most fruits and veggies will stay fresh and edible at least this long. If you're on a schedule, you'll know you've got to eat all you've purchased prior to the next trip, which is a pretty helpful tool for staying on a healthy diet. If you're a once-a-week shopper, read on. We'll provide some tips for squeezing a few more days out of your perishables.
2. Time your shopping. By shopping early or late in the day, when temperatures are cooler, you can expand the life span of fresh foods. This is particularly useful if you use your local farmer's market—which you should, because these foods tend to be fresher, cheaper, and of better quality. Getting to the market early gives you the pick of the litter and expands the time the foods will stay fresh.
3. Coolers aren't just for beer. If your schedule demands midday shopping, you can minimize its effects by keeping a cooler in your car. Keep an ice pack in your freezer and remember to grab it before you head to the market and toss it in the cooler. Sure, this makes it hard to hit the store on a whim but it will force you to plan better, which has no downside. If you need another reminder, shop with reusable bags. If you have two things to remember, you'll lessen your odds of forgetting. Plus, some markets reward you for using them.
4. All parts of the fridge are not created equal. Unfortunately, all those cool compartments in the doors are not the most efficient way to store most things. It's colder in the deep recesses, so store the most sensitive items in the back. This is especially true for eggs because the "special" egg slots are almost always in the door. Don't use them. Store your eggs in their original carton in the deepest corner of the fridge. (Click here to read more about eggs.) Separate your foods in the fridge, too. Fruits and veggies should not touch one another. In fact, it's best if nothing is touching each other. But fruits and veggies should be stored in different drawers because fruits emit ethylene, which causes veggies to rot quicker.
5. Prep your food. Some foods do better if you prepare them, others not, but taking a few minutes when you get home to organize your groceries will help you get the most for your money. Think of it as a coupon you don't have to remember to bring to the store.
   Most plants are better left in the state you bought them until ready to use, but there are some exceptions. Salad greens, for one, should be prepped prior to storage. Wash them—preferably in salt water—and then spin them dry in a salad spinner. Then separate the leaves with paper towels and store in zip-lock bags. This can keep your greens fresh for up to a week.
   Herbs, as well, benefit from some prep work. For leafy herbs, unbind them and separate and toss anything soft or discolored. Then place them in a glass jar, stems down in water, as if you were arranging flowers. Then cover loosely with a plastic bag.
   Buy cut fruits and vegetables only when ready for use. Cutting produce too far in advance exposes it to air-accelerating bacterial growth.
6. To wash or not to wash? Contrary to what your market does for aesthetics, don't wash most fruits and veggies prior to storage. And if they are wet from the market, dry them off and then store them in your crisper drawer between layers of paper towels. This will keep them fresh for up to 10 days. If you leave them wet, they'll mildew in less than half that time.
7. What to leave out of the fridge. Some items do better at room temperature. Potatoes are one. Tomatoes are another, though this is debated. What isn't debated is that you should store them stem down no matter where you put them. Most fruits should be taken out of the fridge a day or two prior to eating them, since they are generally sold just short of ripe and they ripen more quickly at room temperature.
8. Containment. Science is your friend when it comes to maximizing the life of fresh foods. Here are a few examples. Glass stores dairy better than the cartons they come in. Transferring your milk to glass containers will both improve its taste and double its life span. The same goes for cheese. And we've vastly improved upon the traditional Tupperware and Saran Wrap storing methods. New storage bags and plastic containers extend life by allowing produce to breathe. Some are even designed to absorb ethylene gases. There are also other devices that you can place in the fridge to absorb ethylene. Taking a few minutes at the market to study the latest technology can make it easier than ever to maximize your food's potential.

4 Great Winter Sports Workouts- By Andrew Rice

4 Great Winter Sports Workouts

By Andrew Rice

So far, it's been a brutal winter—and there's no better excuse than freezing cold weather for staying inside (and doing a Beachbody workout)! But there comes a time when you just have to make a break from the confines of your living room and get outside. The great news is that winter sports are fantastic cross-training workouts because they require more balance than many summer sports. Also, they each utilize a set of muscles different from your usual workout. It's possible to be at peak strength and form come spring if you engage in one or more of these four winter sports activities to get outside and stay fit.

1. Downhill skiing. As you already know, the core muscles are the cluster of muscles around your spine, pelvis, and groin that give you balance and stability. Skiing uses all these muscles in a fun, dynamic workout. To mix it up a little, do things like skating in your skis up the hill to the chairlift rather than booting up the slope. For a beginner, just learning to ski is plenty of exercise. More advanced skiers can use a few tricks to keep improving balance and core strength: Take a run where you balance on just one ski for as long as possible while still turning and stopping. When one leg gets tired, switch to the other and keep going. Backward skiing is also a test of your balance and works a different set of muscles. Leave your poles at the lodge when you try backward skiing, or take them off your wrists and hold them out in front of your body, kind of like a pair of handlebars. Of course, try these tricks on a run where you're really comfortable, not on a double black diamond. Skiing moguls and shredding the terrain park with the snowboarders are also fantastic for your core.
2. Cross-country ski skating. First, my condolences to those of you who have snow but no mountains. Life is cruel. But flat snow has its uses, too. The variety of cross-country skiing called ski skating is wonderful for your balance and overall aerobic fitness. If you don't know what this is already, picture yourself ice skating really fast through the woods, but on skis. Seek out your local snow-covered frozen lake or a groomed cross-country ski resort for the best trails. Lacking those options, seek out the closest golf course or even a snow-covered football field. The motions of skating work the heck out of your quads, glutes, and core. Your arms get a nice benefit, too, since you sometimes use them to push. And you can adapt skating to your own preferences. Some people go long distances; others do sprints. Mix it up and come up with a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) program that'll blow away anything you do on a track in a pair of running shoes.
3. Snowshoe running. Proof that people will do just about anything to stay fit. This sport is largely practiced by devoted—make that maniacal—runners looking to crank up their fitness. According to at least one expert, marathoners who cross-train in the winter with snowshoes often find their race times have plummeted come spring. A set of good trail-running snowshoes should set you back between $200 and $400. Beyond that, it's free. It'll feel awkward at first. You'll need to retrain your brain a little from your running stride. On snowshoes, you'll pull your feet up using your hips rather than pushing down with your feet like you would running on dirt or asphalt. And don't run using a wide stance; that'll wear you down in no time. Truly hardcore snowshoe runners log up to 70 miles a week, but that's extreme. Start out slowly and work up to a mileage that's maybe 20 percent of your summer running.
4. Ice skating. Anyone who has ever watched Olympic speed skating or a hockey game can tell you that ice skating is a great way to build your lower body and flexibility at the same time. Plus, like everything that requires dynamic balance, skating builds insane core strength—that tiny 10-year-old doing a flying camel spin has more core strength than the entire Chicago Bears defensive line. But you don't have to be Olympic material to benefit from a good skating workout. No matter what your ability level, just getting on the ice works your core. Skating can also provide a great workout for the large muscles you employ on the ice, including your glutes, hip abductors, hip adductors, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves.

For skaters at any skill level, the key is to get a little outside your comfort zone. Beginning skaters should work on gliding on one blade as long as possible with the other blade off the ice. Everyone has a strong and weak side. Use both. Start trying to do 5-second glides on each foot, then work up until you can go for much longer. Linking parallel ski-style turns is a blast on skates and utilizes your abs, glutes and thighs. Do this in sets with gentle skating in between. Finally, skating backward is a terrific exercise for your butt muscles and works the muscles on both sides of your legs. Make it a point to spend at least a third of your rink time going backward and soon you'll look like Wayne Gretzky from the rear.

I could blather on until spring thaw about great winter sports workouts, but I've got to get myself out of this chair and down to the rink. Enjoy the chill. Summer will be here soon enough and this year, I've promised myself to stay fit through the winter. I hope you can too.