Today, we’re going to get away from the vegetable category a bit and talk about 1 food that has been called a “miracle cure for all” for centuries. Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to call any food a miracle, but if there was ever one that comes close it’s definitely….

Super Healthy Food #2: Apple Cider Vinegar

Raw Organic Apple Cider Vinegar is made by fermenting apples in a wood barrel. It is not the clear vinegar you may see in your grocery store simply labeled “Apple Cider Vinegar”. The kind you are looking for has a brownish tinge to it and floating stuff inside. The floating “stuff” is called “mother” and is formed from the pectin and apple residue. Please be careful when purchasing and be sure to get:

Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother

Several ingredients found in Apple Cider Vinegar give it its “magical powers”. It contains hefty amounts of calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, malic acid (very helpful in fighting infections from harmful bacteria and fungus) and pectin (which has been found to regulate high blood pressure).

Apple Cider Vinegar has also been found to greatly improve digestion and eliminate heart burn, clear skin irritations (like acne and contact dermatitis), assist in chronic fatigue conditions, help relieve constipation and assist in weight control by breaking down unwanted fat in the body.

WOW, that’s quite the list. With a track record like that, this food should be at the top of your “must have” list on a daily basis.

Here are 3 easy ways I ensure I drink a minimum of 1 TBSP of Apple Cider Vinegar into my meal plans every single day (yes, every day!)

Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing

If you’re pressed for time, a little olive oil, apple cider vinegar, sea salt and pepper is a delicious way to dress any salad, but if you have a little time you can quickly prepare this tasty salad dressing and enjoy the benefits of ACV at the same time.

Mustard-Shallot Vinaigrette

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

· 1 tablespoon finely minced shallot

· 1 teaspoon dry mustard

· 1/4 teaspoon dry granulated garlic

· 1/4 cup raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar

· 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (more or less depending on how thick you make the vinaigrette)

· sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

Put the shallot, mustard, salt, pepper and vinegar in a small mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly. Add olive oil and whisk until emulsified. Taste and adjust seasonings as you like. This is best when made fresh, but it can be made up to one day in advance, and kept in the fridge in a small airtight container. Let it sit at room temp for one hour if it has been in the fridge.

If you’re not having a salad on a particular day, you can consume your ACV in the form of a tasty cocktail (sorry, no alcohol included).

Apple Cider Vinegar Cocktail

* Mix 1 to 2 teaspoons of Raw Apple Cider Vinegar (with mother)

* 1 to 2 teaspoons of Raw Honey

* 8 ounces of filtered water

Drink this cocktail 1-3 times a day, preferably before or with each meal.

I suggest you start out with 1 teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar and honey to see if your stomach can tolerate the mixture at first. If you see you are having no stomach problems then increase to 2 teaspoons of each.

Alternatively, if you would like a cocktail with a bit less sugar, use stevia or xylitol to sweeten (although, raw honey has a long list of powerful healing properties all in itself, making the “cocktail” one of the healthiest drinks you can have each day).

Green Smoothie w/ vinegar

For those who really don’t enjoy the strong taste of vinegar, making a healthy fruit and vegetable smoothie is a great option. The different flavors of the fruits and veggies will help mask the vinegar taste.

There really is no need to have an exact “recipe” for your smoothie and I would recommend varying the ingredients every time so you are always getting in a variety of vitamins and minerals.

Here is one of my favorites (you can adjust the ingredients to suit your taste).

Isabel’s Green Machine

Makes 4 cups

· 1 cup filtered water or coconut water

· 1/2 – 3/4 box of organic baby spinach (or 1/2 – 3/4 lb)

· 2-3 leaves of kale (stems removed)

· 1/2 inch slice of organic lemon (peel, pith, and all)

· 1 ripe banana

· Large handful of strawberries (about 6 large ones)

· 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

· 1/2 avocado (optional)

· 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

Blend all ingredients and enjoy!

If you are pressed for time, you could substitute the kale and spinach with Athletic Greens to make the green machine a little quicker to create.

Isabel’s favorite Green Drink – Athletic Greens

The benefits and the ways to use apple cider vinegar are truly endless. I highly recommend making sure you get your minimum 1 tablespoon of ACV into your meal plans every single day and see the dramatic effects for yourself.

I know how challenging just getting a few fruits and veggies can be on a daily basis.

First, sometimes veggies can be a little more time consuming to prepare than some other foods. You’ve got to wash, chop, cut, steam, sauté or peal and many times this is a lot more than some people can fit into their busy schedules.

Second, there are a lot of different vegetables that are wonderful for our health and can really assist in burning off unwanted body fat, but people just don’t enjoy the taste.

I’m going to share 3 of my favorite foods (not necessarily all veggies) and how I’ve made them a delicious part of my healthy eating plan. We’ll begin with….

Super Healthy Food #1: KALE

Kale is “all the rave” these days. If there was an equivalent vegetable to the captain of the football team, kale would be it!

The good news is Kale is a health warrior like no other vegetable. It is jam packed with Vitamin C (for helping keep the immune system strong), loaded with beta carotene (to keep skin healthy and ward off skin cancer), and loaded with tons of calcium (which is wonderful especially for those who are worried they are not getting enough calcium when eliminating dairy products from their eating plan). Not to mention it is jam packed full of fiber, making you full faster and keep your bowels moving at a regular pace each day (2 very important components to weight loss).

With all these health benefits, what could be the bad news?

Unfortunately many people just don’t love the taste of kale. Now I’m not the right person to ask when it comes to the taste of veggies, because I am a diehard lover of all veggies (always was), but someone like my dear hubby who just does not appreciate many green things describes kale as “eating the grass in our backyard might be tastier”….you gotta love his honesty, right?

So here are 3 ways I, my hubby and my toddler all enjoy kale, not necessarily on a daily basis, but a minimum of 2-3 days per week.

1. Kale Chips

Making Kale Chips is easy. Tear the leaves into pieces and toss with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees F until crisp, 20 to 30 minutes. Make sure to monitor your chips while they are cooking so as not to burn them.

My son and I are happy to snack on these throughout the day. You can combine them with some raw nuts and they’ll really help you get that snacking “crunch” you may be missing in your eating plan.

2. Chicken Vegetable Soup with Kale

Ingredients:

· 2 teaspoons coconut oil

· 1/2 cup chopped onion

· 1/2 cup chopped carrot

· 1 teaspoon thyme

· 2 cloves garlic, minced

· 2 cups chicken broth or water

· 3/4 cup diced tomatoes

· 1 cup cooked chicken, skinned and cubed

· 1/2 cup cooked brown rice (optional)

· 1 cup chopped kale, stem removed (about one large leaf)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a medium sauce pan. Add onion and carrot. Sauté until vegetables are tender, 5-8 minutes.

2. Add thyme and garlic. Sauté for one more minute.

3. Add chicken broth or water, tomatoes, cooked rice, chicken and kale.

4. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

I love to eat this soup just as it is described. My son, on the other hand, loves for me to put the soup in the blender and make a “creamy” soup instead. My hubby will eat this soup but will almost always eat around the kale. I figure he is still getting a lot of the benefits of the kale in the broth (you just can’t win them all, can you?), but he also enjoys the creamed version I make for my son.

3. Morning Green Drink

Ingredients

· 1/2 pear

· 4-5 green grapes

· 1/4 banana

· 1/2 cup kale

· 1/2 – 1 cup water

· 1 cup ice cubes

· Stevia or Raw Honey to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a blender on High. Enjoy immediately.

You can vary the ingredients (adding more or less of each fruit or kale) to suit your taste. I am very good at making sure to eat breakfast each morning, but my husband tends to jump out of bed and want to race out the door, so this is a fast breakfast option you can take with you. This is a great way to start your morning along with a good serving of protein to go along with it (raw nuts, cottage cheese or some hard boiled eggs).

If veggies are still really not “your thing”, you may want to look into one of my favorite “greens drinks” to ensure you’re getting all of your recommended vitamins and nutrients each and every day. Not only do I love the taste, but the ingredients are all organic and minimally processed. This is the only greens drink I trust to take myself and give to my entire family.

Delicious Athletic Greens – a great way to get in all of your daily veggies

Enjoy your Kale!

I’m not really a frequent TV watcher, but for the past few days, my family and I have been spending a lot of time indoors because of a recent snow storm that hit the New Jersey/New York area.

As I was relaxing on the couch with my mom, we were flipping through the channels and we came across “The Dr. OZ Show”. Without even knowing what the topic of the day was, the first thing I saw was Dr. Oz rolling out a cart filled with pink, blue, and yellow packets…yes, a huge cart filled with packets of artificial sweeteners.

The topic of the show on that particular day was whether or not artificial sweeteners are really harmful and what are some good alternatives to use. Dr. Oz had 2 other physicians on the show with him to discuss some recent research and facts….you better believe I kept the TV on (and my mom was all ears as well).

Yes, I pretty much know what the real answer is…artificial sweeteners are nothing but BAD news and I cover the reasons why pretty extensively in The Diet Solution Program, but I really wanted to see what type of studies have been done most recently on the topic and where some doctors (well at least these 3 doctors) currently stand on the whole artificial sweetener debate.

They stated some great facts that are backed up by piles of research. Mainly…

· People who use artificial sweeteners are usually heavier than those who don’t use them. This may be linked to increased hunger signals that are sent to the brain and increased “sweet cravings” that lead to overeating.

· People who use artificial sweeteners are more likely to be “insulin resistant” because their insulin receptors are (in a sense) confused all the time. Your body is thinking “What is this fake stuff you’re giving me? Is it food? Is it not? I don’t know what you want me to do with it?”…leading to blood sugar and insulin imbalance. This one leads to the third and most shocking finding for many people in the audience….

· People who use artificial sweeteners are TWICE as likely to get Type 2 Diabetes than people who don’t use artificial sweeteners. TWICE? Oh goodness. I knew that artificial sweeteners had been directly linked to Diabetes but I did not know that the number was so high. I decided to look up this fact myself and YES, studies have shown (as presented in the most recent annual meeting of the Endocrine Society) “People who use artificial sweeteners are heavier, twice as likely to have diabetes, and more likely to be insulin-resistant compared with nonusers.”

My mom, who was sitting right next to me is a Type 2 Diabetic and has had her fair share of health complications due to her Diabetes. She said, “I sure wish my doctor would have told me these facts years ago when we discussed my Diabetes. Actually, the hospital dietician encouraged me to use those artificial sweeteners in an effort to decrease my sugar and calorie consumption.”

Well, that was many years ago and I do believe our medical community is a lot more informed on these nutrition topics now than ever before, BUT even with this increased research and knowledge I still see people using those little pink, blue and yellow sweetener packets everywhere I go. Uggghhhh!

Next, the 3 doctors began discussing healthier alternatives and one of the first things said was…

“If you’re going to choose from these 3 packets, I would choose Splenda (yellow packet) since it is the only one, up to this point, that has not been linked to Cancer yet”.

Dr. Oz quickly came back with “Well, wouldn’t you say that could be because it has been on the market the least amount of time and has been studied the least? We do not have any long term studies on its long term effects because it just has not been around long enough.”

Yeah Dr. Oz! I couldn’t agree more (not that I agree with everything he says, but this is a great point). Let’s not let manufacturers and food companies use us as their guinea pigs. We really have no idea what the long term damage of Splenda is, but what we do know is that it will increase appetite and disrupt blood sugar and insulin levels…2 things we absolutely DON’T want when attempting to lose weight and achieve ideal health.

Now, what were some of the healthy alternatives to artificial sweeteners? They laid out 3 choices that I thought were actually pretty good…

Honey

Honey is a wonderful and natural alternative to artificial sweeteners and sugar, but it must be RAW. All 3 doctors kept going on and on about how healthy honey is and that it contained many health benefits (it is a great immune system booster, has been found to contain anti-cancer properties, helps relieve arthritis pain and assists in relieving ailments like yeast infection and athletes foot), but they did not emphasize enough that these properties have only been found in RAW honey and not pasteurized and processed honey.

Look for honey that looks thick and cloudy and specifically says “RAW” on the label. As with absolutely every food, be sure to use it in moderation and pay close attention to your body’s response after consuming it. I use approximately 1-2 tsps of raw honey each day in my tea or on Ezekiel bread toast with almond butter…one of my favorite pre-workout snacks.

Truvia

Truvia has gotten quite a bit of attention in the media lately because it contains Stevia (a natural and healthy alternative to artificial sweeteners) but can be found at almost any local supermarket and is much cheaper than Stevia. But there is a reason why. It is not pure and contains other ingredients.

When I read the label on the Truvia box it says…

Erythritol, Rebiana, and Natural Flavors

Erythritol is a natural sugar alcohol and Rebiana comes directly from the Stevia plant, but what makes me a little reluctant to use Truvia is the “Natural Flavors”. When you click on the “natural flavors” link on Truvia’s website to get a better explanation of what these natural flavors really are, all it says is..

“Natural Flavors are used to bring out the best of our natural sweetness, like pepper or salt would be used to heighten the taste of a meal.”

What? What does that mean? That doesn’t tell me anything or indicate exactly what these natural flavors are and whether or not it could be harmful to our health.

So I don’t recommend Truvia. What I recommend is natural, 100% pure Stevia (which can be found at www.stevivasweetener.com). That is the brand I use and feel safe and confident using and recommending it.

Agave Nectar and/or Syrup

The most recent research on Agave is quite extensive and somewhat controversial. Because this is a very important topic and one that contains loads of great information, I am going to cover it all on its own in tomorrow’s newsletter.

For now….

1. Be sure to read the labels of every food you may think may contain artificial sweeteners (this is many more products than you would expect)…bread, yogurt, cereal, low sugar drinks…look for saccharin, aspartame, and/or sucralose and if you see one of these in the ingredients list, avoid it at all costs.

2. Use natural RAW honey and/or 100% pure Stevia for all of your sweetening needs. A little of each goes a really long way and you’ll find that the less you use, the less you’ll desire that sweet taste.

3. Embrace foods in their natural state. I now find herbal teas and hot oatmeal are delicious unsweetened, 2 things I used to sweeten with a ton of sweetener. Once you become accustomed to eating many foods without adding any sweetener, you’ll find that any “sweet food” is just too sweet for your new palate and you’ll actually enjoy natural foods much more.

As per many reader’s requests, I just filmed a video where I give you all the details of my own personal weight loss journey.

To hear more about…

• What healthy foods I eat all day
• The specifics of my own workout regimen
• Exactly what motivates me
• How I overcome life’s challenges and what strategies I use when things get tough
• The details of my own weight loss journey
• What are some staple items in my kitchen

…listen to the audio interview I did just a few weeks ago here:

http://fitpro.thedsp.info

You’ll also get access to interviews with interview with 10 other top fitness professionals.  People like Joel Marion, Holly Rigsby, Tom Venuto, Vince DelMonte and many many more.

Check out those really great stories here:

http://fitpro.thedsp.info

You’ve probably heard me say this a million times (so I’ll say it again)…

You’ve got to keep your workouts fresh, fun, new and exciting, otherwise there’s no way you’re going to stick with them. They also MUST be realistic and coordinate well with your lifestyle.

Here’s what I mean…

Let’s say someone said to me that the only way to get in shape was to go to the gym at exactly 7am every morning for at least an hour or more. Well, thank goodness that is not the case because 7am is just about the worst time for me to workout (that’s when my son wakes up), the gym is not very easy to get to on most days (did I mention said son is 11 months old?) and I do NOT have over an hour to spend at the gym (I mean, who does, right?).

Now what if someone said that there are an endless number of ways that you can get in shape, at whatever time of the day is best for you and you can do your workouts at a gym, at home or anywhere that is convenient for you? That sounds like something that would actually work right?

Lucky for me, I never have a shortage of fun workouts to choose from to keep my exercise plan new and exciting. Fitness authors from all around the world have been so generous as to share their books and programs with me for my review and when a good one comes my way, I’m always happy to share it with you.

But the last one I got comes with a bit of a funny story…

I received an email from a guy by the name of Scott, asking me if I wanted to read and try out his new fitness program. Sure, why not? I’m always up for something new.

Well, when I opened up the file he sent me, a wave of fear came over me…TACFIT Commando? Who does this guy think I am? GI Jane? He’s clearly never met me…short, petite, new mommy who wears heals at every occasion.

I was actually a little intimidated to say the least. This just didn’t seem to be something I could handle. It looked like something army recruits would be doing, not something little ‘old me could do.

But, hey, I’m willing to try anything once and as long as I didn’t have to perform this in public, who cares how embarrassing or wimpy I looked.

Well, let me tell you, not only was the workout something I could definitely handle, it was super fun, yet challenging at the same time and was all done right in my living room. I think what made it so enjoyable was that it was totally different…a completely new way of training that I’ve never done before (and I did feel a little like a tough momma there for a second…that’s right, don’t mess with me.)

And the best part was I did the entire workout in 30 minutes and didn’t need any equipment at all. How’s that for simple?

Now I’m going to ask Scott if it’s ok if I share one of my workouts with you (and I’m pretty sure he’ll say yes) but until then, take a look at Scott’s TACFIT Commando program here:

http://fitcommando.thedsp.info

The full TACFIT Commando program is available now and to celebrate its debut, they’re doing a special 51% off sale.

http://fitcommando.thedsp.info

Not only that, there’s a special surprise waiting for you on that page to go along with your new kick butt workouts.

Here’s to kicking butt!