Brendan Brazier: when we bite into food part of the environment becomes part of us. Great quote I got from Bob Harper. Brendan Brazier is a Canadian endurance athlete, author, advocate of a plant-based diet for personal and environmental health, and creator of a line of whole food nutritional products called Vega. I loved hearing this – especially since it was heard directly after I watched the movie “Food Matters”.

Brendan Brazier is one of the only few professional athletes in the world whose diet is 100 percent plant-based. I often wondered about how you would get enough protein if you were vegan, especially since I’m not fond of soy – and it’s not fond of me. Watching this movie one of the first things they talk about is spirulina. Spirulina called a superfood because its nutrient profile is more potent than any other food, plant, grain or herb. These nutrients and phytonutrients make spirulina a whole food alternative to isolated vitamin supplements. Who knew?? What I found out was that spirulina , just like hemp, is known as a complete protein due to the fact that it contains all the essential amino acids. So you can get the complete proteins you need without having to process all of the animal products that are hard on the arteries. Also, digestible protein unlike other forms of protein, the protein in Spirulina is 85-95% digestible, one of the highest available. In fact, Spirulina is second only to a dried egg supplment with regards to usable protein, and higher than any of the common foods in the form in which they are usually purchased. Wow!

Also, I read recently about President Bill Clinton converting over to a Vegetarian diet (bordering on veganism) to help his heart disease. The article posted very similar results as the movie did. President Clinton said, “I did all this research, and I saw that 82 percent of the people since 1986 who have gone on a plant-base, no dairy, no meat of any kind, no chicken, no turkey—I eat very little fish, once in a while I’ll have a little fish—If you can do it, 82 percent of people have begun to heal themselves.” Well – if it’s changed burger bulging Bill… think about what the switch could do for you?

Also I want to mention that last night on The Biggest Loser, Bob Harper invited some of the contestants to his home. At the house he came out to them that he is vegan. Bob said, “I enjoy living a plant-based diet because it makes me feel clear headed and strong, not to mention my genetically high cholesterol dropped more than 100 points. That was all the motivation I needed.” I wonder if he’ll have to do anymore of those cheesy Jennie O plugs on the show this season? He has posted some great recipes to help you serve a few vegan meals to your family over at his website, My Trainer Bob – http://www.mytrainerbob.com/blog-posts/vegan-recipes-from-last-nights-biggest-loser

So the question I pose to you today is… what part of the environment did you eat today?

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Technorati Tags: Bill Clinton, Bob Harper, Brendan Brazier, Food Matters, spirulina, super food, The Biggest Loser, Vega, vegan

So I have found that as the summer nears the end I’m seeming to get more relaxed about my fitness. We all know that feeling. The warm comfy winter is coming soon which means lots of treats, large sweaters and the pounds sneak back. So I decided that I need some good old fashioned motivation! And in my life one of the greatest fitness motivators has been Billy Blanks. So I took some time to give a try to This Is Tae Bo his newest DVD.

This Is Tae Bo is Tae Bo at it’s best. It’s very old school, so if you come from the Amped up era – this may not be for you. But if you are one of those people that has worn out your old VHS of the original Tae Bo tapes – you have found a new love in this DVD.  It’s got good pace, loads of cardio, nicely timed recovery and you’ll burn the calories you need to get rid of the fat.

Now – cardio isn’t the whole picture, however. I trained for about six months with a great trainer here in town, and saw some really fantastic results. I did need to move my cardio to the next level, but now that I’m not at the gym I really needed to advance my strength training at home with some more motivating workouts. There is only so many times you can do the old routines before you need something new. So I added two great trainers into the mix.

The first is Jackie from Workout! Jackie Warner is great. And her DVD Personal Training with Jackie: Power Circuit Training is a great system to use. It has five great workouts that you can mix it up with. Right now I’m using the upper and lower as separates and finishing up with some cardio on two of my strength training days. If you’ve never done much in the way of strength training it’s a great DVD because anyone can do the 15 minutes of strength training. And Jackie is very technical so you don’t have to worry if you are doing it correctly.  Once you have mastered it the long strength training session will keep you gaining and growing.

The second trainer I added is Bob Harper of Biggest Loser fame. I’ve done some of Jillian Micheal’s workouts, but they just don’t do it for me. Personal opinion. Bob has a new line of DVD’s called the Inside Out Method. I recently purchased the Pure Burn Super Strength DVD to give it a try. I started with the beginners 25 minute strength training session, and it was more than hard enough for any beginner. It recommends you use 2 – 3 lb weights to start, but since I’ve been training for awhile I used my 5 lb. weights. I thought it was a well thought out workout, with good calorie burn. I haven’t tried the larger session yet, but I’m sure it’s a killer.

My biggest problem with this DVD is that he seems to be trying too hard to be hardcore in the video. I think maybe he’s gotten tired of the “my best friend Bob”  visual that The Biggest Loser has given him. His team is not the best choice I think for the video for his target audience, but I guess we aren’t there for the workout crew, right?  Bob doesn’t always give the best direction, but he does give you some motivation to keep going and keep trying. I haven’t tried the other DVD’s in the group – I’m really wanting to try the Yoga Warrior video. It looks intense. You can also combine with the tools and tips at his website – My Trainer Bob .

If you are looking for more of a cardio workout I prefer his portion of The Biggest Loser Workout: Cardio Max. It’s a hard 25 minutes of cardio with a little weights thrown in. This could be a good side cardio for those days when you don’t have the time. He does a far better job with both direction and motivation on this one, and it’s a lot of fun. You have the option to add on both Jillian and Kim’s cardio protion as well which would make it great for someone just building for a cardio foundation in their healthy life.

Finally I’m finishing my week by adding in three days of walking (3.5 miles per day) and I’m doing yoga or pilates one day a week. A great yoga basic that I love is living arts yoga conditioning for weight loss with suzanne deason since it has great direction and no movements that are dangerous. Stretching out is not only important for after every workout, it’s important to do a good deep stretch once a week for overall flexibility.  Stretching allows your joints to lubricate themselves as well as it lengthens your muscles so that you have the lean look that we all want to have.

So go ahead and challenge yourself! Get off the couch and try something new. If these videos don’t work for you – try something else. We each are so different that what works for me may not work for you. The key is to challenge yourself, stick with it, and have some discipline to it. No one can force you into health – but you!

Technorati Tags: Billy Blanks, Bob Harper, cardio, DVD's, exercise, Health, healthy living, Jackie Warner, pilates, strength training, Suzanne Deason, Tae Bo, The Inside Out Method, This Is Tae Bo, working out, Yoga