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BodyInstinct ®™
“6 week transformation program” copyright © 1999
Healthier cake recipes
www.TariRose.com
If you are planning on baking any cakes or cupcakes for a holiday event, your child’s classroom or just to have around the house and were thinking about using boxed cake mixes and canned frosting for convenience, you need to know that every single cake mix and every single can of frosting in the grocery store are chocked full of dangerous hydrogenated oils (trans fats)! Trans fats are responsible for heart disease, high blood pressure, and many other diseases. The FDA has determined that there is NO safe amount of hydrogenated oils in our diets. I know the mixes are convenient but, you usually have to add at least three more ingredients to that boxed cake mix anyway, so it’s not a big deal to use your own sugar, flour and baking powder too!
I have a recipe for both easy frosting and easy cake that are super quick, taste better and have no trans fats whatsoever.
Yummy white cake mix
2/3 cup butter softened
1 ¾ cup sugar (you can reduce the sugar to 1¼ cup if you prefer)
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
2 ¾ cups all purpose flour (you can use whole wheat flour for half the flour if you prefer)
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups of milk
Preheat oven to 350. Throw all ingredients into a large bowl and mix with hand mixer on low until moistened. Then beat for 5 minutes on high.
Bake for the following times for the pan size:
9x13 rectangular 45 – 50 minutes
2 – 9 inch round pans 30 – 35 minutes
24 cupcakes 16 – 20 minutes
*remember all ovens are different so times may vary. Check for doneness when a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Butter Frosting -butter is a more natural and healthier choice than trans fat as long as your not eating gobs of it every day! (everything in moderation)
1/3 cup butter softened
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
About 2 tablespoons milk
Throw it all in a bowl and blend until smooth!
Now, if you have your own cake/cupcake recipe, you can improve it’s healthiness by doing the following:
- You can cut the sugar in ANY recipe by one third without changing texture or taste and no one will ever be the wiser! (only healthier!)
- You can use whole wheat flour for half of the flour in any recipe without anyone noticing.
Keep in mind that these recipes and tips provide for “healthier” cake and frosting not to be confused with “it’s so good for me I can eat it all the time”. Baked goods should be a special treat saved for special occasions. Enjoy!
To buy or not to buy………………organic
Does it pay to buy organic? On average, organic food costs 50 – 100% more than conventional. Sounds substantial, but, then so does growing research that pesticides are more prevalent in our food and our bodies than previously thought. So, do you buy all organic some organic or no organic? Here’s a little list for you to take to the grocery store next time you go. It’s called the “dirty dozen”: foods you should buy organic as often as possible because they are most often laden with pesticides
THE DIRTY DOZEN:
- apples
- bell peppers
- celery
- cherries
- imported grapes
- nectarines
- peaches
- pears
- potatoes
- red raspberries
- spinach
- strawberries
Unless price is no object, the trace amounts of pesticides found on other fruits and vegetables doesn’t really justify paying more however, the organic label also ensures there are no antibiotics, hormones, genetic modification, and irradiation. So it these are concerns to you then you may want to stick with organic.
Other foods you should consider buying organic include meat, poultry, eggs and dairy (to avoid hormones and antibiotics) and baby food.
So, YES! Buy organic…………..wisely!
No Special Equipment Needed
Don't you need to use free weights and weight machines to develop toned muscles and prevent osteoporosis?
This is a common misconception in the minds of many individuals. To develop a toned body and prevent osteoporosis, you need to do weight bearing exercises. The weight itself does not have to come from a dumbbell or machine. In fact, your very own body weight is all the weight you'll ever need! Using your own body weight to work out is much safer, more effective and more practical than using hand held weights or machines. Exercises such as pushups, squats, lunges and tricep dips off a chair are examples of very effective exercises using your own body weight. The Hard-Body Yoga style of training is built entirely on the "use your own body weight" concept. Free weights and weight machines always added bulk to my body and it seemed as though I was always injured. I personally haven't lifted a weight in over 7 years except for my own body weight and I've never looked or felt better!
You are what you eat! (after 3:00pm!!!!!!!)
Yes! This is my revised edition of the old saying! Reason being, that, it really is the foods you eat later in the day that determine what your body looks (and feels) like. If you stick to eating only vegetables and lean proteins after 3:00pm, you will be amazed at how fast your body changes! This means no starchy carbs (e.g. rice, potatoes, flour products, sugar products) or fruit after 3:00pm. The best example I have of how great this theory works is the following story: I was once taking a client on a "healthy shopping trip" in the grocery store, Pointing out and explaining healthy food choices. I was also enlightening them about the 3:00pm rule and was not aware that an employee of the grocery store was listening. Two months later I was in that same grocery store again and that employee came up to me and thanked me for my overheard advice. Just by implementing the after 3:00pm rule, he had lost 16 pounds! And that was the only advice he had heard! In the same respect, DO eat your carbs before 3:00pm! You need them during the day for energy and to keep you from getting carb depleted.
Don't drink your calories!
Stay away from those calorie-laden smoothies, gourmet coffees, fruit & vegetable juices, and sodas! One of the quickest and easiest ways to consume a lot of calories fast is to drink them. It may take you 40 minutes of cardio to burn 300 calories, yet one soda later you've put most of that back in! Yes, even drinking fruit & vegetable juices are an unnatural way to take in your calories. It takes approximately 4 oranges to make a small glass of juice. So you are getting the sugar of 4 oranges without any of the fiber. That fiber is there for a reason! Also, would you ever sit down and eat 4 oranges? Probably not! So you can see where the calories start to add up. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics is now citing too much juice in children for obesity, malnutrition, and an increased risk of diabetes! Next time you have a craving for juice, eat the whole fruit instead!
The 4 essential components for total health & fitness:
- Nutrition
- Cardio
- Strength training
- Flexibility
All of the above are necessary to be fit and healthy! Luckily, you can knock two of them out (flexibility & strength training) at the same time with the Hard-Body yoga workout! The other two, I will do my best to help you with in this section.
Don't kill yourself trying to get healthy!!
No wonder people say that they don't have enough time to exercise. Most fitness "experts" are telling you that you need to do cardio, strength training and flexibility training several times a week every week just to maintain the minimum health standards. I see people in the gym exercising for hours every day! That is a tremendous amount of wear and tear on their joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles and it also makes me wonder how much time and energy they have left over for the really important things in life. The truth is, you can be healthy & fit without investing hours and hours a week into your program. In fact, the whole concept of Hard-Body Yoga came about when my philosophy on health and fitness changed. I wanted to start enjoying more time with my friends and family and spend less time working out yet still remain healthy and fit. So, I fused together my strength training with my yoga and pilates. That right there cut my exercise time down considerably, hence the creation of Hard-Body Yoga™.
I then applied my "do less, accomplish more" philosophy that inspired the Hard-Body Yoga style of training to my cardio training. For most of my fitness career, when it came to cardio vascular training my suggestions where simple: Do something that sustains your heart rate (e.g. fast walking, running) in your 60 to 80 percent zone for a total of 120 minutes a week. So I was personally doing 40 minutes of fast walking 3 times a week. With some experimenting I realized that I could do half that amount of cardio a little more intensely (throw in a few sprints or just walk much faster) and achieve the same results. I now do only 20 minutes of cardio 3 times a week. And what do I do with that extra time and energy I'm saving? I give endless piggy back rides to my daughter, I take leisurely walks with my family after dinner, I dance with my husband and kids to all of our favorite songs, I ride bikes with my kids just for "fun", and I "play" in the pool. There are so many better, more fulfilling ways to stay fit and healthy. Exercise and physical fitness should be something that enhances your life not something that overwhelms it.
Enjoy! |
