Summer is a great time for backyard barbecues with family and friends and the cool down is coming. But before you fire up the grill for one more monster cook out this summer, consider replacing some of the usual fatty cookout fare with these good-for-you grilling alternatives.
For a leaner twist on the standard burger, whip up a batch of Zesty Turkey Burgers seasoned with fiery salsa, jalapenos, and red bell peppers.
Hickory-smoked BBQ Chicken is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
Seafood enthusiasts are sure to love Spicy Grilled Shrimp with sun-dried tomatoes, seasoned with fiery salsa, jalapenos, and red bell peppers.
Many options exist in the market place now with low-cholesterol Portobello Burgers, made with pesto and provolone cheese, are perfect for vegetarians. Or prepare a meatless Grilled Vegetable Basket, which is also low in calories and sodium. For a sweet finale to your grilled feast, serve up a batch of scrumptious Grilled Pineapple Slices.
Each of these recipes found in our Empowered Nutrition Meal Plans and Personalized Nutrition Programs. They are not only delicious; they are packed with nutrients and on average contains less than 400 calories a serving, so you can indulge without the guilt.
***Did You Know… Competitive barbecuing is one of America’s fastest-growing hobbies, especially in Memphis and Kansas City. Both cities claim to be the barbecue capital of the United States. Clearly they haven’t been to Ribfest in Burlington ON Canada eh! It’s the largest Ribfest in Canada, tastes great and is a hoot. You will see me there, let me know if you are coming. www.canadaslargestribfest.com***
I have long been a proponent of using liquid calories when in need or for sport specific use.
However recently it has become a “hot” topic, yet once again [sigh]
Well here is the blunt plain truth of fat loss and performance nutrition in a liquid filled capsule for you.
Liquid calories are a detriment to your fat loss success.
Liquid calories are a secret weapon to your ultra marathon run/hike/bike or swim program.
OK so the most assumed benefit of liquid calories is that it gets in faster. YUP you got it… the calories get in faster, but you might also assume and learn you are correct in is that they get in faster, are mostly sugars and therefore spike insulin for increased fat storage faster. Not only that, intake of carbs are directly linked to the stoppage of fat burning for energy, so that is a double edge sword for the fat master there.
I DO like to consult my “ultra” athletes to use liquid calories more often than not and I do recommend them for any one serious in gaining weight (muscle and fat).
Most people mistake liquid nutrition with calories. They are not the same.
Liquid Nutrition is just that. It is a specific sports nutrition or medically formulated drink for optimal performance or even more simply for some, to stay alive.
Liquid Calories is the crap we keep justifying to the point it is single headedly the route of all fat burning evils. I am a fan of the real sugar over the fake sweeteners type of nutritionist, but when it comes down to it, I have to be real and honest and help you succeed anyway I can and if that means switching from 2 bottles of sugar laden calories soda pops to the same 2 but calorie free, then you know my answer. I can help you go to two zero calorie drinks, then to 1 then to none. But that will not happen overnight. So going with fake sugars is better than all those liquid calories (for now).
3 more reasons liquid calories suck for fat loss.
They are empty calories and do nothing for you but load you with calories
They do not fill your belly the way solid foods do, so you can essentially still eat a full dinner after drinking them
They do not stimulate the fat burning metabolism the way solid foods do
So anyone that wants to drink soda pops, go ahead. But keep in mind you fruit lovin’ juice mongers, a calorie is a calorie and you are not doing yourself any better than adding a few antioxidants to your diet but still drinking the same calories as your buddy next to you. Try to switch to diet soda, then to water to get the full benefits from your drinks and your solid fat burning calories.
To get an idea of what you should eat, check out our meal plans and download your free 2 week sample meal plans. www.empowerednutritionmealplans.com
Patrick “the solid eater” McGuire
President – Empowered Nutrition
Oh yeah, some more info that will blow your mind in terms of what liquid calories will or will not do for you, here’s a report in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, very interesting stuff.
I just got an email from a client and I thought I better post this to help you understand the power of nutrition.
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Hi,
Thank you for the brilliant information on nutrition. I was informed by my doctor that I am insulin resistant and my cholesterol is slightly high. She has prescribed medication for both conditions but I believe that nutrition plays an important role addressing the issue. Is there any advice you can share with me on these two issues?
Kind Regards
(name removed for privacy)
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… sure thing. In a nut shell I can say from experience with my clients the following:
Insulin can be controlled with Nutrition – including diabetes treatments
Cholesterol is both good and bad. You need it and it too is highly affected by nutrition.
Some foods will have low GI (glycemic index) while others help to lower GI of faster releasing foods.
Carbohydrates are almost exclusive to GI response. Proteins and Fats do not affect GI response as much.
Lower, slower and controlled GI is what you want to better control your insulin and blood glucose levels.
Our programs do just that.
In fact so well that one of our clients dropped 38lbs in 12 weeks and took his insulin down from 54 iu R and 62 iu N to ZERO iu R and almost half the iu N dose of insulin. (iu = intravenous units / R = fast acting insulin several times a day / N = slow insulin 1-2x per day).
This was all with the management of the nutrition program with his doctor and has been documented in his medical records.
Cholesterol we need to have both (good and bad) or we will not function optimally. Too much bad (which I think your doctor should have explained) is bad, but none is just as bad, possibly worse. Good fats increase good cholesterol and good low GI Carbs like oatmeal as well as Proteins and Fats can help lower bad cholesterol. Again, we address this with our meal plans.
To get the same meal plans that produced these results:
You are off to a good start by getting your nutrition in order. Make sure to stay active 3+ times a week and stay on track to get to your fat loss goals.
Following the nutrition program with a goal of weight loss will itself help your insulin and cholesterol issues and amaze your doctor.
Be sure to tell the doctor what you are doing, when you started the nutrition program, and get tested often as you may not need the medications to go up.
The doctors might just think it’s the drugs that are working if they are not aware of your lifestyle change and attribute the success to their use of the drugs when all along it was you and your nutrition and exercise program.
Oh yeah, one more tip. Exercise greatly aids in insulin control so stay active and get on a great meal plan.
Patrick McGuire
President – Empowered Nutrition
P.S. Please be aware that we are not doctors and are not giving medical advice. We are simply reporting the results our clients have seen with our meal plans.
OK, so I get this all the time and I just have to start to let my mind go on this and let the secret out of the bag.
Everyone always tells me they want to look hard and “ripped”. I immediately have to ask them their current weight and body fat. Then their goal weight and body fat percentage.
Then I proceed to ask the most important question. What is your “PRIMARY MOTIVATING GOAL”?
Is it Fat Loss, Muscle Building or Power, Strength and Size?
Every guy I meet wants to be bigger and leaner.
Every woman I work with wants to eat more calories and get leaner.
Here comes the kicker. Its the part of this process that never ceases to amaze me.
I tell them that their goal weight is 10-15 lbs too heavy.
I tell the guys they need to focus on fat loss, the muscle will stay and possibly even grow during the process with an intelligent nutrition program.
I tell the girls they need to eat to feed the lean machine, not the fat. That means the starvation diets of 800 calories a day are too low to enjoy life and keep hard earned sexy lean bodies and eating 2700 calories is way too much, even for most guys trying to get “ripped”.
Everybody battles me on this one,but believe me, you need to focus on feeding the machine, not the fat.
Guys get ripped and look bigger instantly.
Girls, eat more often, but less in general and focus on fat loss for optimal results.
There’s even more to it, but that is the basics on Fast Fat Loss and the road to be Empowered.
Silver Coaching is for those that are more seriously committed and already taken part in the Jump Start Coaching Program.
In the Silver Coaching Package, you will of course have access to the initial 4 audios recorded from live calls + 4 new Coaching Calls and topics + you will benefit from 2 live 30 minute Personal Coaching Calls. We will answer all your questions 1 on 1, well 2 on 1. Both John and Patrick will work with you Personally and record the both 30 minute sessions and provide you with the audio file within minutes of your call.
The Silver Coaching Package is typically reserved for members of the Jump Start Coaching Program.
2 live 30 minute 1 on 1 calls with either Patrick or John will typically cost you over $100 per call. Patrick has been known to offer this sort of coaching at $200 per hour.
The extra 4 audios are worth more than they cost and the value is exceptional as the topics covered are even more in depth than the initial members question generated topics previously covered.
Silver Coaching can mean the difference of setting and realizing you fat loss and muscle building goals.
Silver Coaching is available for $99 on a limited time offer. Once the Personal Call Times are booked, the offer will be removed. We only work with a select few committed individuals at a time. Don’t waste your hard work, don’t sabotage your efforts in and out of the kitchen. Get all your personal questions answered in person with Patrick and John live on the phone and get a personal recording of the session.
I am posting this as it was stimulated by one of our members after reading our email about coffee. We just might have to post that one on the site too, its stimulated a lot of chatter. I have edited out the clients name and email of course. Enjoy my response that follows. – Patrick.
Oh yeah, John and I love our coffee, believe me. Buzz, buzz, buzz.
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Ok,
so I understand the whole coffee debate. But, if I get a non-fat cappuccino with one
splenda, how is that bad? I think in total there is about 100 calories in a grande.
Or if I just get a Venti Green Tea with one splenda is that Ok? I have been hearing
some mixed reviews on the actual overall “safe” artificial sweeteners like splenda.
so which of the many sweeteners is best?
Thank you
Jay O.
=============================================
Hey Jay.
OK coffee is coffee, as long as it is black. Now that is for optimal results.
We did an audio on this recently and the answer is you can have the non fat milk, the whole cream if you wish. but adjust your calories in yoor snack or meal to offset the carbs.
Its not always the fat that makes you fat, in many cases it is really the carbs that make you fat. That and a sedentary careless nutrition lifestyle.
Sweetners are good… but the press will tell you they are bad for you. Really? Think of it this way, if we continue to eat as much sugar in a coffee as we do today, we are guaranteed to get fat and be a burden on the medical models we have today due to obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more.
If we continue to take in more sweetners (which is much less than the amount of sugar to get equal sweetness) then the reports will show if you eat 3 dump trucks a year of sweetner there is a link to brain cancer from a study done in rats with a diet replacing all carbs for sweetner induced foods. No mention of the protein or fat intake, but the ‘researchers’ assumed that the rats brain cancer was from the sweetners.
Which sweetner should you choose? Well there are a lot. Chemically I use Splenda or whatever is in the diet soda, when I am in need of a sugar fix and that is rare. I drink black coffee and green teas or raw teas (meaning nothing in them) to keep them alkaline and not acidic in nature, which is what happens when you add anything to a raw, natural drink… but that’s another topic.
If I was to choose one and only one sweetner to use, it would be the all natural stevia extract. That one works well, and no one has produced a study to say its bad. Why? Well because it is ‘natural’ and most people only look to prove man made things are bad. I am sure if I ate only 3 dump trucks a year of Stevia and almost nothing else, I would still get some medical ailment someday between now and the time I am 100 years old.
But for now, Stevia is the natural sweetner of choice. Oh and just so you know it is an extract from a plant.
You are what you eat. You know you need protein and you should only allow your body to have the best protein source possible. In the old days this meant choking down horrible tasting protein shakes because you knew you had to, not any more. Having a great body shouldn’t be a sentence to eat boring food that tastes bad, turning your food into nothing more than ‘fuel’. Creamy Protein Smoothie give’s you top quality protein that tastes great and puts the fun and life back into looking and feeling great.
Whey Protein Isolate is the highest quality protein available. Mixes instantly and tastes great. There is virtually no fat or carbs in empowered protein smoothie making it a perfect protein supplement for personalized empowered nutrition programs or for general protein supplementation on a daily basis.
Protein Smoothie helps you feel full for longer while not eating as much food. It also helps boost metabolism and causes more calorie burning than fat or carbs. With each serving of Protein Smoothie you will be burning more calories than an equal amount of carbs or fat. If you only had to choose one food to eat, protein would have to be it.
Protein Smoothie is designed to work with your Empowered meal plan system.
Get your protein smoothie here: [wp_cart:Protein Smoothie 1lbs Creamy Vanilla:price:22.99:shipping:3.00:end]
Slim Appeal – Essential Multi Vitamin For Women – “Balance”
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Tablets are made with high pressure machines and held together with binders. The end results could be less absorption of your ingredients. This means you aren’t getting what you paid for.
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Green Tea
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Auqamin F (Calcium)
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Vitamin B12
Hoodia Gordonii
5-HTP (Griffonia Seed)
Rhodiola Rosea
Picamilon
Phenyethylamine
Increased Energy and Boosts Metabolism
Green Tea
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Summer is a great time for backyard barbecues with family and friends and the cool down is coming. But before you fire up the grill for one more monster cook out this summer, consider replacing some of the usual fatty cookout fare with these good-for-you grilling alternatives.
coming soon to your door
Protein Smoothie – “Protein for Your Best Shape”
Slim Appeal – Essential Multi Vitamin For Women – “Balance”
Slim Appeal – Weight Loss For Women – “Natural Weight Loss”
