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Many women now prefer the safer, healthier alternative of natural progesterone vs the many health risks often associated with traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT). As hormone production begins to fall, naturally sourced progesterone supports hormone balance and optimum health during menopausal years. Please visit our website for Q & A's and valuable health info https://naturalibra.com
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What is better than a creamy chocolate shake? A creamy chocolate shake without the guilt! You won't miss the fat and refined sugar as you slurp up this tasty treat. Servings: 2
Here's what you need:
2 bananas, frozen
1/2 cup nonfat milk
1 scoops chocolate Shakeology
2 Tablespoons raw almond butter
dash of ground cinnamon
2 cups ice
Throw everything into a high speed blender, blend until smooth and creamy.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 292 calories, 7g fat, 33g carbohydrate, 7g fiber, and 25g protein.
You want to be fit. You know how much you should weigh. You know your ideal pant size. You can even picture how great those skinny jeans will look.
So why aren't you living life in your ideal body?
There are many complex reasons that make weight loss a challenge, reasons that go deeper than simply calories-in versus calories-out.
I'm talking about the life issues that get in the way of your success.
Read the following 5 obstacles and the solutions to unlock your best body ever.
1. You don't want to be bothered.
It's in your DNA to avoid pain and seek out pleasure. Unfortunately this works against you when trying to get fit. In your mind, it's painful (or at least uncomfortable) to deny yourself the tasty food that you crave and to exert yourself with exercise.
There's a simple way to work around this obstacle: Find something painful about being fat to motivate yourself towards healthy eating and exercise. Focus on the negative impact your current weight has on your health, self-esteem and lifestyle. Convince yourself that the pain of being out of shape is much greater than the discomfort of losing weight.
2. You don't want to wait for the good stuff.
Just as you wish to avoid pain, you are also an expert in seeking out pleasure - namely food. This served the cavemen well, but these days it ends up as extra pounds around your waist and thighs.
There's good news: extra calories are not your only option to stimulate the pleasure center of your brain. Find an activity or two that make you smile and indulge in those regularly.
A walk outside
A good book
A night out to the movies or theater
A spa day
You can also retrain your brain to crave the pleasure of exercise-induced endorphins. Talk about weight gain kryptonite!
3. You are crazy busy.
Let's face it, you work too much, commit yourself to too much and don't even get enough sleep most of the time. The fast-paced way you live leaves you exhausted, stressed and hungry for comfort food. You even begin to feel too busy to take care of your health.
It's time to reprioritize. Let go of your perfectionist standards and remove a few commitments from your schedule so that you are able to cook healthy meals, exercise and get a good night's sleep. Remind yourself that taking care of your health is not a luxury - it's a necessity.
4. You don't deserve it.
I don't agree with it, but you sure act like you don't deserve to live the good life in the body of your dreams. Take a moment to think back on all the times you have self-sabotaged your weight loss efforts. If you don't believe deep down that you are worthy then you'll never give yourself a chance at a fit body.
I believe that you deserve to have a healthy body - and I urge you to dig deep down to uncover why you don't. Once you conquer your feelings of unworthiness, getting on an exercise and healthy eating plan will be easy.
Take the time to take care of yourself. You DO deserve it.
5. You are afraid.
You're afraid to start because you just might fail, and wouldn't that be embarrassing? You're also afraid to start because you just might succeed, and change makes you uncomfortable – even if it's change in the right direction.
When you decide to get fit you will need to go through a bushel of changes:
New diet
New exercise routine
New friends at the gym
New clothes
New self-image
Focus on all of the ways that losing weight will make your life better. Envision that better life everyday so that it goes from being new and scary to familiar and comfortable.
Complex is Best Wait! Don't just skim down to see which exercise I've labeled as the best, get the whole story...
I'm often approached and asked to pin down a single exercise as the one that will help lose the most fat and sculpt the quickest. That's not an easy question to answer.
You see, I'm very aware of the fact that though an exercise may be perfect for Client A, it may not be the best choice for Client B—hence my hesitation to label any exercise as the universal best.
That being said, some exercises are definitely better than others. And, yes, there are even a few that I would call the best.
What makes an exercise the best? When you decide which exercises to include in your routine, it is important to consider the type of movement involved. The simpler the movement, the fewer calories you'll burn and the fewer muscles you will strengthen. On the other hand, the more complex the movement, the more calories you will burn and the more muscles you will strengthen.
To put it simply, exercises that use complex movements will deliver better results than exercises that use only simple movements. Complex movements recruit multiple muscles, some to stabilize and others to perform the movement. This process keeps your heart rate higher than a simple exercise would, giving you a more intense workout.
What is a complex movement? A complex movement is a multi-joint movement that recruits large portions of the body to complete the exercise. Let's compare a simple movement leg exercise with a complex movement leg exercise:
The leg extension machine uses a simple, isolated movement to work the quadriceps. You're in a seated position moving only your knee joint. There isn't much involvement, if any, from other muscles and it doesn't burn very many calories.
Now let's look at a free weight walking lunge. You start by standing with your feet together and a dumbbell in each hand at your sides (or a barbell across your shoulders, or a medicine ball held at your chest, or even with no weight at all). You take a large step forward and lower your back knee, keeping your front knee at a 90 degree angle. Now you push off your front foot and pull your back leg forward, repeating the movement.
How many muscles did you utilize while performing the lunge? Probably too many to count.
You certainly worked your quadriceps, gluteus, hamstrings, calves, abdominals, supporting muscles in your shoulders, arms and back- just to name a few. You also raised your heart rate and really kicked your metabolism into high gear. That's what I call a great exercise.
Other ways to increase intensity Using complex movements are just one of many ways to kick your workout intensity up a notch. Try incorporating a Super Set into your routine. To do so simply perform two or more exercises in a row and then take a short rest.
Or how about a Compound Set? Perform one exercise, rest, then perform an exercise with opposing body parts. To find exercises that compliment one another, choose ones that have similar but opposite motions such as a chest press and a row.
The key to finding the best exercise is to find the ones that bring your workout intensity to a whole new level.
I'd be shortchanging you if I named any exercise as the best. The fact of the matter is that it is a combination of changing your workouts up, using interval training, and even some good old cardio that will ultimately see you to your goal.
These methods will help you to burn more calories, increase your metabolic rate, and will stimulate the production of more fat burning and muscle toning hormones. Of course, there is more involved to achieving your fitness goals. You need to incorporate fat burning into your routine. You need to consistently challenge yourself during workouts. You need to take control of your eating habits and to get your diet dialed in.
This is a great meal for cutting calories and dropping weight. Watch your portions with the brown rice in order to stay within your daily calorie goal. White fish is packed with protein - just what you need for toning your body. Servings: 2
Here's what you need:
2 fillets white fish
1 teaspoons olive oil
1 lemon
seafood seasoning
paprika
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into bite-sized chunks
1/2 cup broccoli florets
2/3 cup brown rice, cooked
2 Tablespoons salsa
Preheat broiler. Grease your broil pan with the olive oil. Place the fillets and bell pepper in the pan, squeeze the lemon juice over it. Sprinkle with seafood seasoning and paprika.
Place the pan under the broiler for 5-7 minutes, watching closely to prevent burning. Add the broccoli and cook for another minute until soft.
Mix the cooked brown rice with the salsa and divide between two plates. Place a fillet on each bed of rice along with half of the veggies.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 203 calories, 3g fat, 24g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, and 19g protein.
In South Dakota, in the 1970s some people used to order something called the "Diet Plate." Common in most Sioux Falls-area and greater-Minnesota region restaurants, it consisted of a scoop of cottage cheese; a couple canned peach halves, still dripping syrup; a hamburger patty; iceberg lettuce; and a sprig of parsley.
While delicious by mid-20th-century, Midwestern standards, it was about as calorie restrictive as the chicken-fried steak and baked potato. Still, the perception was that this was diet food, most likely because each element in the "Diet Plate" had a vague resemblance to another, healthier, foodstuff—except the hamburger, that is. But that has to be there because this was South Dakota and any other meat would be deemed un-American.
It'd be nice to think that we've transcended the Diet Plate. Sadly, this isn't the case. Even today, there are dozens of foods we fool ourselves into thinking are healthful when, in truth, they do nothing but pad our hips and arteries. Here are nine of the worst offenders on your grocery store shelves.
Yogurt. It starts out as good stuff. Fat aside, there's the calcium and protein you find in all milk products, along with probiotics, which make it easier to digest for those with lactose issues. The only problem is, straight yogurt can be pretty bitter, so manufacturers load the stuff with sugar to make it more palatable and masquerade those carbs as fruit. Have a look at most flavored yogurt, and you'll find the second ingredient to be sugar or high fructose corn syrup. One container of Yoplait® Original Strawberry is 170 calories with 5 grams of protein and 33 grams of carbohydrates, 27 of which are sugar. Oddly enough, these are the exact same nutrition facts for Yoplait's other, less healthy-sounding flavors, including Key Lime Pie and White Chocolate Raspberry.Solution: Buy plain yogurt and flavor it yourself. You'd be amazed at how far a handful of raspberries or a tablespoon of honey will go to cut the bitter taste. And while you're at it, choose the low-fat or fat-free stuff. You'll still get all the nutritional benefits.
Wheat Bread. If you're reading this, you probably know enough about nutrition to understand that whole-grain wheat is better for you than refined wheat. By keeping the bran and germ, you maintain the naturally occurring nutrients and fiber.But for some reason, manufacturers constantly come up with new chicanery to lead you back to the refined stuff. One of their latest tricks is to refer to refined flour as "wheat flour" because, obviously, it's made of wheat. But just because it's wheat-based doesn't mean it's not refined. The distracted shopper can mistake this label for "whole wheat flour" and throw it in his cart. Another loaf of cruddy, refined, fiberless bread has a new home. Solution: Slow down when you read the label. That word "whole" is an important one.
Chicken. Just because you made the switch from red meat doesn't mean you're in the clear. If you opt for dark meat—the wings, thighs, and legs—you're losing protein and gaining fat. Three ounces of raw chicken breast, meat only, is 93 calories, 19.5 grams of protein, and 1.2 grams of fat. Three ounces of dark meat, meat only, is 105 calories, 18 grams of protein, and 3.6 grams of fat. It doesn't seem like much, but it adds up.Solution: Go for the breast, and while you're at it, ditch the skin. It's nothing but fat.
Frozen or canned fruit. Any food swimming in juice or "light syrup" isn't going to work in your favor on the scale. Furthermore, most canned fruit is peeled, meaning you're being robbed of a valuable source of fiber.Frozen fruit is a little trickier. While freezing preserves the fruit itself, adding sugar during the freezing process preserves color and taste; so many store-bought frozen fruits add it in. Solution: Read that ingredients list! You want it to say fruit, water—and that's it.
Canned veggies. "What?" you declare. "There's light syrup in canned string beans, too?" No, actually, they add salt to preserve this produce. A half-cup serving of canned string beans has approximately 300 to 400 milligrams of sodium.Solution: Many companies offer "no salt added" options. If you can't find one to your liking, go frozen instead—no salt (or light syrup).
Peanut butter. Squish up peanuts, maybe add a little salt. How hard is it to make that taste good?Apparently, it's so incredibly difficult that many companies feel compelled to add sugar or high fructose corn syrup into the mix. Why? I do not know. Some manufacturers, such as Skippy®, are up front enough to admit this and call their product "Peanut Butter Spread," but many others still refer to their sugary concoction as good old "peanut butter." Solution: Read the label. (There's a theme emerging here.) Considering real peanut butter has one ingredient, two ingredients max, it shouldn't be too hard to figure it out.
Juice. The range in the nutritional value of store-bought juices is massive. On one end, you have "fruit drinks" with just a modicum of actual juice in them. On the other end, you have fresh-squeezed, 100% preservative-free juice such as Odwalla® and Naked Juice®. But no matter which one you choose, it's important to remember that it's never going to be as healthy as whole fruit. And if you're trying to lose weight, it's a flat-out bad idea. First off, it's been stripped of fiber, so you absorb it faster, which makes it more likely to induce blood-sugar spikes. Secondly, you consume it faster and it's less filling, so you're more likely to drink more.Solution: If you must buy it, go fresh squeezed, but you're usually better off just skipping it entirely.
Canned soup. As is also the case with canned veggies, you're entering a sodium minefield. Half a cup of Campbell's® Chicken Noodle Soup has 890 milligrams of sodium. That's 37 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA)*—and who eats half a cup?Solution: Read those labels carefully. Most companies make low-sodium versions.
Fat-free salad dressing: Dressing, by definition, is supposed to be fatty, thus highly caloric. You use a little bit of it and in doing so, you get a healthy hit of the fats you need for a nutritionally balanced diet. Unfortunately, people prefer to buy fat-free versions so that they can drown their greens yet avoid excess fat.Nothing's for free. All this stuff does is replace the fat with carbs and salt, so you've basically gone from pouring a little healthy, unsaturated fat on your salad to dumping on a pile of sugar. For example, Wish-Bone® Fat Free Chunky Blue Cheese is 7 grams of pure carbs and 270 milligrams of sodium for 2 tablespoons, which you'll never stop at anyway. Also, given that there's no fat or protein in this particular dressing, one can only imagine what makes it "chunky." Solution: Make your own salad dressing. One part vinegar and one part olive oil with a blob of Dijon mustard makes an awesome vinaigrette. And here's another trick: Make your salad in a sealable container, add a tiny bit of dressing, and shake it up. It'll coat so much more than tossing will. And finally, make that salad with romaine or spinach or some other nutrient-rich leafy green. As far as we're concerned, nutrient-poor iceberg lettuce should have gone the way of the South Dakota Diet Plate.
This wrap is delicious for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's ready in a flash, tastes amazing, and is filled with lean protein, veggies and whole sprouted grains. Try it today, but don't be surprised if you get hooked! Servings: 2
Here's what you need:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup tomato, finely chopped
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
1 cup egg whites
dash of salt and pepper
2 sprouted grain tortillas
2 Tablespoons pesto (purchase it pre-made, or combine 1/2 cup walnuts, 2 cups basil leaves, 2 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 1 Tablespoon lemon juice in a food processor and blend until it becomes a paste.)
Spread a tablespoon of pesto over each tortilla and set aside.
In medium sized skillet warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until golden. Add the tomato and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until it is soft and wilted. Remove the veggies from skillet, set aside in a bowl.
Pour the egg whites into the skillet, season with salt and pepper. Cook until the egg is no longer runny.
Arrange half of the egg whites in a line down the center of each tortilla. Top with half of the veggies and then fold the ends up and wrap like a burrito.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 288 calories, 10g fat, 28g carbohydrate, 6g fiber, and 21g protein.
Hormones are secreted by your glands, such as your pancreas, ovaries, adrenal, and thyroid, in small quantities, usually into the bloodstream. The word “hormone” is taken from the Greek word “hormaein,” which means “to excite.” Hormones activate, control, or direct bodily functions and travel throughout the body until recognized by a receptor. Hormones control energy production and storage, water and salt metabolism, growth, and sexual and reproductive actions. Estrogen, Androgens, and Natural Progesterone are all steroid hormones manufactured in your body from cholesterol. (How can progesterone cream provide menopause help - Article HERE)
A steroid hormone is a steroid that acts as a hormone. Steroid hormones can be grouped into 2 classes, corticosteroids (typically made in the adrenal cortex, hence cortico-) and sex steroids (typically made in the gonads or placenta). Within those 2 classes are 5 types according to the receptors to which they bind: glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids (corticosteroids) and androgens, estrogens, and progestogens (sex steroids). Vitamin D derivatives are a sixth closely related hormone system with homologous receptors. They have some of the characteristics of true steroids as receptor ligands.
Steroid hormones help control metabolism, inflammation, immune functions, salt and water balance, development of sexual characteristics, and the ability to withstand illness and injury. The term steroid describes both hormones produced by the body and artificially produced medications that duplicate the action for the naturally occurring steroids.
FemBasis takes a lot of pride in our Natural Progesterone Creams and other products to that may help menopause symptoms. We do only put the best into our products.
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Most creamy soups are filled with fat – but not this one. Indulge with this healthy carrot soup. Serve with a side of lean chicken breast or grilled fish and a small salad for a balanced meal. Servings: 2 Here’s what you need:
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 small onion, diced
Dash of sea salt
4 cups carrots, diced
5 cups filtered water
3 Tablespoons White Miso
In a soup pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion with a dash of salt and cook for 4 minutes. Add carrots and stir, cook for another 4 minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover and simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes. Use a hand blender to process the soup until smooth.
Remove 1 cup of the soup and mix the miso into it until dissolved. Add back into the soup and simmer for 5 more minutes.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 187 calories, 4g fat, 27g carbohydrate, 5g fiber, and 5g protein.
Do you eat healthy, exercise regularly and yet haven't been able to achieve your goal weight? You're not alone.
You've fallen into the healthy food trap. This is the faulty belief that as long as the food you're eating is healthy then you don't have to worry about portion size.
Weight loss always has and always will be a numbers game. If you eat more calories than you burn, you'll gain weight - even if those calories are healthy.
Reduce the size of your portions and watch as the weight falls off
Dr. Joseph Mercola, a well-known health advocate, has an interesting take on exercise. He believes that it should be prescribed, like any other medication, in daily doses. "The simple act of writing out a prescription for exercise is an excellent approach to being proactive in regard to your health. It's also far more logical, inexpensive and actually radically reduces your risk of most every chronic disease known to man. A daily exercise routine is one of the main factors in achieving optimal wellness." Whether you think about it or not, each day you are faced with the option to get your daily does of exercise or not. Will you find the time to hit the gym today, or will the busyness of the day leave you exhausted on the couch? Quite frankly, you don't have reasons to not do it - you only have excuses. If you are like most then exercise isn't at the top of your list of favorite things. You'd rather be immersed in a bowl of ice cream, enjoying their favorite TV show or dining out with friends instead of sweating in the gym. But the fact is that your favorite things add inches to your waist, and you know that a larger waist equals an increase in health problems, not to mention an overall decrease in your quality of life. It's time to get serious about exercise. You could start by changing your attitude toward exercise. If you go into it with a bad attitude, chances are you won't enjoy it. It's time to accept the fact that you can enjoy exercise. Consider the following:
Have you written off exercise based on a particular type of routine – maybe you would enjoy something different. The truth is that no one can deny how great it feels to accomplish a challenging workout. It's rewarding, invigorating and feels great. You simply need to find the right form of exercise for you.
Try to pinpoint the main reason that you dislike exercise. Is it the uncomfortable workout clothes that you own? Maybe it is time for a new style. Is it trying to decide what machine to use at the gym? Maybe it is time for a personal trainer (more on that later). Is it the pain that you feel in your shoulder when swimming? Maybe it is time to find a new form of cardiovascular exercise - one that won't aggravate your injury.
See, the truth of the matter is that there are many different forms of exercises that will give you the results that you want. Don't like the gym? There's a program for you. Don't like running? There is an alternative. Don't have the time? There are time friendly exercise routines that will give you incredible results in under an hour. Like I said, when it comes to exercise you have tons of options. But it all starts with ditching the excuses and asking a qualified fitness expert like me for the right program for you.
Herb-Coated Halibut with Zucchini and Whole Wheat Couscous
www.naturalibra.com
Not only is this meal delicious, it's also incredibly healthy. A tangy herb paste coats both the fish and zucchini, which roast on the same pan. The entire meal is ready in 30 minutes – perfect for busy weekday dinners. Servings: 4
Here's what you need:
6 scallions, chopped
1 cup packed fresh cilantro
1/2 cup packed fresh mint
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon chopped, peeled fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
Salt and pepper to taste
1 zucchini, cut into spears
4 skinless fillets firm white fish
1 cup dry whole-wheat couscous
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Throw the scallions, cilantro, mint, oil, ginger, coriander and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a food processor and pulse until a coarse paste forms. Season with pepper.
Toss zucchini with 3 tablespoons herb paste in a bowl. Spread onto a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 5 minutes.
Rub remaining herb paste onto both sides of fish fillets. Push zucchini to edges of baking sheet, and arrange fish in center, leaving about 1/2 inch between each fillet. Roast until fish is opaque and semi-firm to the touch, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare directions. Serve fish and zucchini over couscous.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 354 calories, 10g fat, 29g carbohydrate, 6g fiber, and 32g protein.
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Wheat Bread. 
Juice. 
Fat-free salad dressing: 
