Just got Katie's Frontline and Heartguard!!!! Saved so much money and they were awesome!  Check out www.maakenterprises.com!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year!




The holidays have come and gone and some of us have added the pounds from the festive cookies, cakes, and pies! Not to fear, you have eleven months to lose the weight you have gained this holiday season before the next round of all those treats begins. I have a few simple steps to shred those holiday pounds and in not time you will feel like your old self - and even better, a new improved version of yourself who makes health and wellness a top priority!



First - Set realistic goals. You cannot achieve everything overnight - do not set yourself up for failure by getting frustrated. This is a journey not a destination. Losing one to two pounds a week is an achievable goal.



Second - Eat more often. Filling up on three large, calorie-packed meals a day makes hard work for your metabolism, and tougher for you to meet weight loss goals. Think portion control. Split your meals into five smaller fairings a day. Eating light meals more frequently is a great way to take the edge off your appetite, charge up your metabolism, and burn calories more efficiently over the course of a day. Get a free diet when you go to beautysensations.com - to get you started!



Third - Get Moving. Focus on changing your habits to start seeing results. You do not have to sign up for a high priced gym membership. You can start by walking around the neighborhood, take the steps versus the elevator, get a workout video, get some small weights and do a routine in the comfort of your home, find a friend to workout with, whatever you think will work and KEEP working. If you hit a plateau then you can look into the gym membership.



Fourth - Use your supplements to really help you achieve those goals and keep them going! Revitalize and ShredFX will help with getting you to those goals! They both help with energy, appetite suppression and boosting of your metabolism!

Have a great year everyone!
love, june

WAYS TO BURN FAT!

Hi Everyone!

Hoping everyone is doing well!  The holidays are almost here so here are a few things we all need to remember to keep things in check!


1. Cut back on your carbohydrate intake and do not eat carbohydrates

before bed...and NEVER eat poor quality carbohydrates.



Poor quality carbohydrates are those that contain sugar or are

highly processed. These would include most breakfast cereals, breads,

snack foods, candies, and even fruits and juices. Eating these foods

immediately prior to bedtime will likely result in increased fat

deposit and will prevent your body from maintaining a successful

fat-burning mode.



2. Increase your muscle



The more lean muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn

even at rest. Muscle is extremely active metabolically. Do some

resistance training, add some muscle, and crank up that metabolism.



3. Never let yourself get too hungry, or too stuffed.



It really is all about moderation. Time your meals so that you eat

before you are starving, doing this one simple thing will cause you

to almost always eat less. When you do eat, stop when you're

satisfied, not when you are so stuffed you cannot even get down

another bite.



4. Eat more high fiber foods.



Most of us do not get enough fiber in our daily diets, and that’s

just a shame. Fiber not only promotes overall general health, but

also can significantly aid in your fat-burning efforts. Leafy

greens and salads are ideal sources of fiber.



5. Use Flexstar ShredFX for your thermogenic and Revitalize to also suppress appetite as well as detox, block carbs and fat!


Have a great week and a safe and fun holiday!
love,
june

Vinegar and Fat Loss!

Hello Everyone!

I have always loved vinegar.  Since I was a kid and my Mom gave me a teaspoon when I had the hiccups, I just loved it!  I use it all the time - pretty much on a daily basis!  So I was elated when I found out that vinegar has been clinically proven to destroy fat!  WOW! 

First study was done on carbohydrates.  Acccording to the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition if you have vinegar after a high-glycemic meal your glucose levels will not rise.  What this means is that the sugars from that meal will not turn into fat as readily. 

Another study was done on fat.  Acetic acid, the active component in vinegar, enhances fatty acid oxidation and thermogenic proteins such as UCP-2, and prevents body fat accumulation for those on high fat diets.

The most intriguing research was published in the journal Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry.  A study was performed on 175 obese patients who were administered different doses of apple vinegar.  The patients did not change their diet or exercise patterns.  One group received a low dose of vinegar, another a high dose, and the placebo group got a beverage that tasted like apple vinegar but had no vinegar at all.

The high dose group got 30 ml or 2 tablespoons, the low dose group drank 15 ml or 1 tablespoon and the placebo group drank about 2 cups of mostly water.  Patients drank 1 cup of the mixture after breakfast, and another cup after dinner.  After four weeks, body fat levels decreased significantly in both the high and low dose groups.  The higher the dose, the great the body fat decrease.  After 8 weeks, waist circumference decreased in the vinegar patients.  Body weight, visceral (belly) fat mass and triglyceride levels also decreased in the vinegar groups.

The study reported no side effects, and it suggests that you to keep drinking the vinegar mixture to keep the beneficial effects.  The good effects go beyond weight reductions, and so  vinegar could be an easy, safe, and effective compound to fight fat, and enhance health.  So 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar a day is the ticket!  Guess my Mom really knew what she was doing!!!
I miss her!!

Have a great night everyone!
love, june

The First Holiday Upon Us

Hi Everyone!
Life has been a bit crazy but I am trying to keep up with this!  The holidays are coming and the last thing I want is for anyone to give up the quest for being healthy and feeling great about themselves.  Just like I hae said before - live by the 80/20 rule with eating and keep away from the mindset of all or nothing for your workouts.  The first holiday to greet us is Thanksgiving.  I found a neat article with some helpful tactics for greeting this first adventure of the holiday season!  Keep checking back here and I will be with you as we make our way through the festivities together!


Four Healthy Tips for Thanksgiving


by Alan Zimmerer



Weight gain is strictly based on consuming more calories than you burn. This fact is simple in theory, yet difficult in practice, especially when the holidays come around. Follow these tips to ensure you eat some good healthy turkey, but don't end up looking like a plump turkey sitting on that couch.



Tip #1: Ten minutes before they fire the "start-eating gun", drink two full glasses of water. This ensures you are staying hydrated and will give you the sensation of fullness before you overeat.



Tip #2: Turkey day often involves a lot of us watching people do something active - playing football, or walking miles in a parade. Do just that. Grab some family members and have your own "parade" by taking a walk. Enjoy the outside while catching up with family and burning some of those extra calories. Love Thanksgiving football? Grab a pigskin and some of your family and have a touch football game in the yard during halftime. You will undoubtedly consume more calories so make a point to do something active with your family.



Tip #3: Most of you can spot healthy food, so find it, put it on your plate, and eat that first. Drink another glass of water after you finish the healthy stuff - and you will be more likely to pick at the desserts rather than put them down like it's your job - which will just get you into trouble.



Tip #4: Eat at least one thing unhealthy. It's the holidays and putting a lofty goal such as no desserts might send you over the deep end. Of course only you can know, but sometimes telling yourself it's okay to have a piece of cake will prevent you from gorging out when you finally give in.


Love this!  We can ALL do this and greet 2011 feeling awesome!
Have a wonderful night everyone!
Love, june

Life is NOT All or Nothing

Hello Everyone!  Getting to this later than I wanted but I am here!  Today was a tough day and I was totally thrown off track.  I had so much to do, planned to get up early and get right to my whole list of to do's.  Sure enough I got up, ate breakfast, took my supplements, all ready to get started and I simultaneously received two calls from my sisters.  I knew right away something was wrong.  Dad was rushed to the hospital.  Of course, complete stop on my do list - everything and anything planned.  Fast forward after many anxious hours later, much pacing, countless calls back and forth to the hospital, looking up airflights home if I needed to jump on a plane, but word came that Dad is doing better.  Thank GOD!

That is where I knew I needed to talk about life not being all or nothing - family, friends, pets, work,.... - WILL get in the way of our good intended plans to have the healthy lifestyle like I started talking about yesterday.   Believe me I know!  It is ok, though.  There is no need to panic.  Do not punish yourself by quitting working towards that healthy lifestyle.  As well, do not use these interruptions as an excuse to give it up.  Life is not about being all or nothing.  Tomorrow is another day.  You can get yourself back on track right where you left off.   Pick right back up on eating better, taking your supplements, getting your workouts in,.....  and don't look back.  Yesterday is gone.  Keep working on the todays and looking forward to the tomorrows!  I promise you it is all worth it.

Here are some of the ideas I use for abbreviated but effectful workouts when "life" gets in the way!  I try to find some room and then move for 10-20 minutes.  I use bodyweight exercises combined with cardio movement - brisk walking, stair climbing, running in place, jumping rope, use your imagination!

Some of the bodyweight exercises that are the best to focus on are:


bodyweight squats (and variations)
forward, reverse, or walking lunges

pushups (and variations)
bicep curls

tricep overhead extensions

shoulder overhead lifts, side lateral lifts and front lateral lifts
floor planks (holding the plank position from forearms and feet)

floor abs exercises such as lying leg thrusts, ab bicycles, etc.

Now here are some ideas I have put together!


If I have a parking lot that is not heavily used I will do walking lounges across it and as I walk back I will do an upper body exercise - shoulder lifts, side lateral lifts, front lifts, bicep curls,  tricep overhead extensions - all using bodyweight resistance.   I will repeat this 4 or 5 times.  It will get your heartrate up!

Stairs are always great, too!  For 1-2 minutes do some brisk stair climbing.  Then I will do stair lunges, with both feet on the bottom stair, heels extended off the edge, do 10-20 lunges with arms extended and back straight.  Repeat!

The healthy lifestyle is doable and flexible - you just need to think poisitve, give up that all or nothing thinking and enjoy how great it feels being healthy!

Everyone have a wonderful night!  Pray for my Dad!
June

The Journey

Hi Everyone!
Ok, I did it again.  I disappeared.  But after thinking all the time of how I need to get on this and then getting really slapped on the hand today about not keeping up with my blog I am determined to get on here and share not only what is going on with Flexstar but the wonderful knowledge that is passed on to me by the wonderful people I am blessed to meet!  So I am back and I am here to stay - so check back often!

I am always asked “give me a diet”. Before I go any further let me just say that I don’t want you to see this all as a DIET. I don’t like to just focus on the destination – it is a journey, a journey through life. Let’s make this fun and doable, a WAY OF LIFE. I like to follow the 80 / 20 Rule. 80 percent of the time I eat clean, 20 percent of the time I have the fun stuff I want! I believe you should “Eat to live, not live to eat!”. Does that make sense? Don’t say to yourself I can NEVER have that fun thing again. Right there you set yourself up for failure. That is how the human mind works. You can have those fun things – when you do enjoy them and then get back to the healthy stuff! I promise you that you will not only feel better and look better – you will realize that you have power over food not the other way around and this “way of life” will start to come so easy to you!




Ok, we have talked about the 20 percent of the fun time and got that down. NOW, let’s get the 80 percent of the “eating to live” part down. This does not have to be so hard, so stressful. We do have many easy choices out there – we just have to recognize them.



We need to eat meals that are comprised of protein, carbohydrates and fat – yes, fat, we need some fat! We need to identify what these three are first.



Proteins are the building blocks of muscle, enzymes, and some hormones. They are made up of amino acids and are essential for growth and repair in the body. A gram of protein contains four calories. Those from animal sources, chicken, fish, beef, turkey,… contain the essential amino acids. Those from vegetable sources, beans, peanuts,… contain some but not all of the essential amino acids. Proteins are broken up by the body to produce amino acids. These amino acids then serve as those building blocks to build muscle.



Carbohydrates are the fuel source for the body. The different types of carbohydrates include starches, sugars, and fibers. Carbohydrates contain four calories per gram. Every carbohydrate is broken down to glucose – the simplest sugar molecule found in the blood and used as the basic fuel for the body. But all carbs are not created equal and in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes the difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Choosing low GI carbs – the ones that produce small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels leading to more of an even energy level and keeping you feeling fuller for longer between meals – is the secret to long term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss! GI’s 55 and under are considered low, 56 -69 are medium, and 70 and above are high. Examples of some good low GI carb choices are beans, oatmeal, yams, peas, cashew nuts, nonfat/no sugar added yogurt, bananas, peach, lentils whole wheat, oat bran,…. You can go online and check out more!





The fact is: we all need fats. Fats helps nutrient absorption, nerve transmission, maintaining cell membrane integrity, and fat is necessary in fat loss! Fats contain nine calories per gram. Fats are not created equal. Some fats promote our health positively while others increase our risks of heart disease. The key is to replace bad fats with good fats in our diet.



Monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) while increasing HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). Nuts including peanuts, walnuts, almonds and pistachios, avocado, canola and olive oil are high in MUFAs. MUFAs have also been found to help in weight loss, particularly body fat.



Polyunsaturated fats also lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. Seafood like salmon and fish oil, as well as corn, soy, safflower and sunflower oils are high in polyunsaturated fats. Omega 3 fatty acids belong to this group.



Saturated fats raise total blood cholesterol as well as LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol). Saturated fats are mainly found in animal products such as meat, dairy, eggs and seafood. Some plant foods are also high in saturated fats such as coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil.



Trans fats are invented as scientists began to "hydrogenate" liquid oils so that they can withstand better in food production process and provide a better shelf life. As a result of hydrogenation, trans fatty acids are formed. Trans fatty acids are found in many commercially packaged foods, commercially fried food such as French Fries from some fast food chains, other packaged snacks such as microwaved popcorn as well as in vegetable shortening and hard stick margarine.



What can we do?

• avoid using cooking oils that are high in saturated fats and/or trans fats such as coconut oil, palm oil or vegetable shortening. Instead, use oils that are low in saturated fats and high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as canola oil, olive oil and flax seed oil.

• minimize using commercially packaged foods which are high in trans fats. Always read labels to look for trans-fat free alternatives.

• as saturated fats are found in animals products, use lower-fat version dairy such as 1% or skim milk instead of whole milk. Trim visible fats and skins from meat products.













Now let’s put together a starting point of tips that everyone should follow.



First everyone should eat a balanced breakfast no ore than one hour within waking. This will jumpstart the metabolism – the use of nutrients (calories,..) by the body. We want to increase your metabolic rate so you are a fat burning machine! Eating this breakfast can also help prevent cravings later on.



Ideally eating meals then every 3 hours – no longer than 4 – will help keep blood sugar levels at bay. When your blood sugar levels drop from not eating at all or not eating meals with protein, carbs and fat, you physically can crave sugar (it is not only in your mind!) setting yourself up for a roller coaster of a day and sabotaging your goals. So we want to try and get these meals in!



Make sure you are drinking water! Water is your body’s principal chemical component, making up, on average, 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. Water flushes toxins and carries nutrients to your cells. Lack of water can lead to dehydration and even mild dehydration can drain your energy, make your tired and produce major cravings. Drinking water will also help us feel full when we are eating so we can avoid overeating! The “eight 8-ounce rule” is a good place to start – eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day. Exercising, the climate you live in, your health status,… increase the amount of water your body needs. We want to drink enough water to rarely feel thirsty! So drink up!



Getting enough rest and consistent sleep is also a factor in reaching our goals. Lack of sleep can cause major fatigue, cravings and increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Research has shown a close connection between high cortisol levels and serious health problems such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, depression and osteoporosis. Increased cortisol will sabotage your long-term weight control!



Make sure you are fueling your body properly before and after exercise. Exercise uses fuel so it is important to eat a small balanced snack before exercise to prepare your body and keep blood sugar stable. It is important then to refuel after exercise restoring your glycogen storage (carbohydrate energy which is reserved in muscles) with some complex carbs and aiding your muscle building with good protein (only a small window of opportunity after our strength training to get that necessary protein in to maximize muscle growth).



Now we can get more specific with meals and supplementation that is going to help you reach your goals and KEEP you there! Again, this is not a destination, it is a journey, a lifestyle!!!!!!

See you all tomorrow!
Have a wonderful night!
xo - june