Reach YOUR Peak

Eat Breakfast

Eliminate the Simple Carbs

Exercise (Almost) Every Day

Add Anti-oxidants to your plate

Indulge in Dark Chocolate

Hydrate yourself

• Start with the serving size: You need to know the amount of the food the label is giving you information about. It’s also helpful to know how many servings are contained in a package. This is where companies can trick you. You might think a bottle of juice contains 150 calories, but if you look at the label, the bottle may contain two servings, so you’re really consuming 300 calories.
• Check calories per serving in relation to the serving size: 100 calories in a one-cup serving is a lot different than 100 calories in a one-tablespoon serving.
• Total fat: Limit this amount to 56 to 78 grams a day.
• Saturated fat: No more than 16 grams per day.
• Trans fat: Consume two or less grams per day. A product may say “0 grams of trans fat,” but there still may be .5 grams or less grams. The only way to be sure is to read the ingredients. Steer clear of foods that say “hydrogenated oil.”

• Cholesterol: Stick to less than 300 mg a day.
• Sodium: Aim to eat less than 1,500 mg of added sodium per day.
• Total carbs: Look at this number in relation to the list of ingredients. If the number is high but the ingredients include whole wheat and whole grains, it still gets the green light. On the other hand, if you see ingredients such as sugar or high fructose corn syrup, and this number is high, I’d put that product back on the shelf.
• Fiber: Women need 25 to 35 grams per day so the higher this number the better.
• Sugars: Women are urged not to exceed 25 grams of processed sugar a day. Again, check out the ingredients and if you see things like sugar, brown sugar, or corn syrup, limit these foods.
• Protein: Depending on your activity level, a woman needs between 40 and 60 grams of protein a day.
• Vitamins: Some labels list the percentage of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, etc. Aim to get 100 percent of these nutrients.
• Ingredients: This is one of the most important aspects of the label. Look for real food ingredients (you can pronounce), and avoid enriched flour, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors and colors, and refined sugars.

Five Guys Bacon Burger Meal….2,380 calories…jeeeeeez

• Don’t go cold turkey. This plan usually backfires and you end up missing the sweet stuff so much you binge on an entire bag of M&Ms. It’s best to limit the amount of sweets you eat gradually.
• Decrease the amount of sugar you add to foods. Stir less into your morning cup of joe and sprinkle less brown sugar on your oatmeal.
• Choose one sweet treat per day. Moderation is key, so if you can’t live without a piece of chocolate after lunch or ice cream after dinner, then don’t. Designate one time each day to indulge in a little dessert and limit your sugar intake for the rest of the day.
• Read labels and watch out for natural sugars. Brown sugar, molasses, Sucanat, and organic sugar are still sugar.

Curb your sweet tooth with these other tips when you read more.

• Say farewell to soda and other sweetened beverages. These sugary drinks are also high in calories, so choose water flavored with fresh lemon or lime, seltzer, tea, milk, or plain water instead.
• Modify your favorite recipes. I often find that cutting back on the sugar in baked goods doesn’t change the flavor too drastically. Or you can whip up healthy alternatives to your favorite decadent treats such as this Frozen Raspberry Creamy, Dreamy Pie made with skim milk and egg whites instead of cream — the fruit makes it naturally sweet.
• Choose plain yogurt with fruit instead of flavored yogurt. You’ll end up cutting back on sugar and the fruit offers vitamins and fiber as well.
• Curb cravings with fruit. Fresh fruit is full of natural sweetness, so the next time you have a cookie craving, reach for a juicy peach, some luscious strawberries, or dried mangoes instead.

Very interesting stuff…I can not start my day without drinking coffee on my car drive to work. There are some health benefits to coffee which have been researched in many tests, but it’s interesting to read that your morning coffee isn’t REALLY waking you up, it’s really just preventing you from feeling the withdrawal effects of caffeine. Read the whole thing!

A 1995 study suggests that humans become tolerant to their daily dose of caffeine—whether a single soda or a serious espresso habit—somewhere between a week and 12 days. And that tolerance is pretty strong. One test of regular caffeine pill use had some participants getting an astronomical 900 milligrams per day, others placebos—found that the two groups were nearly identical in mood, energy, and alertness after 18 days. The folks taking the equivalent of nine stiff coffee pours every day weren’t really feeling it anymore. They would feel it, though, when they stopped.

You start to feel caffeine withdrawal very quickly, anywhere from 12 to 24 hours after your last use. That’s a big part of why that first cup or can in the morning is so important—it’s staving off the early effects of withdrawal. The reasons for the withdrawal are the same as with any substance dependency: your brain was used to operating one way with caffeine, and now it’s suddenly working under completely different circumstances, but all those receptor changes are still in place. Headaches are the nearly universal effect of cutting off caffeine, but depression, fatigue, lethargy, irritability, nausea, and vomiting can be part of your cut-off, too, along with more specific issues, like eye muscle spasms. Generally, though, you’ll be over it in around 10 days—again, depending on your own physiology and other factors.

It gives different opinions on time of day, doing it at 2 separate times (morning and night) or doing it all at ones, building muscle while doing cardio, etc.

For anyone who is interested =)

Right now I do cardio right after my 1 hour strength training session, but I’m looking to either do cardio at 8 am or lifting at 8 am, then the other at 4-5 pm, not sure yet.

Do any of you do 2 workouts in one day? If so, what is the order?