The Mayonnaise Jar

All of us who have committed to a goal have made training a priority. Until you do this, you will only go so far. Below is a very clever story about all the things in our lives. Many of us are extremely busy and the most common reason I hear from people of why they aren't exercising or eating right, etc. is that there is not enough time. You must look at your life and prioritize what is important to you. The harder you work the more time and energy you will have for all of the other things! I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did. It brought a smile to my face as I finished. I'm so lucky to have so many great people who have come into my life as a result of Train for Life and it's great to be reminded about these things that are so important.

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle… When 24 hours in a day is not enough… Remember the mayonnaise jar and two cups of coffee. A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students, if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes’. The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. “Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – family, children, health, passions. Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else – the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. So… Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.” One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

Something to Think About..

I came across this today on Mike Boyle's blog and it definitely made me think. As someone who has been wrapped up in working so hard, I make sure that I have time for things like this.. This isn't just an important message for kids, but us adults too. We are so busy that life just passes us by. Take sometime for yourself, a minute, an afternoon, a weekend to just enjoy the simple things in life. Life is too short, enjoy all the things it has to offer! This article was in a recent Parade Magazine:

Go ahead, kids. Lie in the grass. Study the clouds. Daydream. Be lazy. You have our permission.

I feel sorry for todays kids. Summer comes, theyre finally free from schooland bang! Band camp. Science seminars. Internships.

Instead of downtime, its get-up-and-go time. Chorus travel, archaeological digs, dance tours. My nephew from Michigan flew to Georgetown University for a summer medical program, replete with cadavers. He was 16.

He’s hardly alone. Some kids fill their summers with so many prep courses that theyre ready to graduate from college by the time they get there. Its all very admirable, but heres a question: Why so busy?

I can make the case for doing nothing all summer. Thats right. Nothing. I know it wont advance your kids career objectives or improve their SAT scores.

But it might be good for them.

When I think of my childhood summers, I remember lying in the grass, hands behind my head, feeling the blades dig into my fingers. I studied the clouds. I joked with my friends. None of us wore watches.

Weekdays were indistinguishable from weekends. Id wake up when my eyes opened, read comic books over bowls of -cereal, go outside with my baseball glove (just in case a game broke out), and find something to do on my bike, make things in the garage. Was it lazy? By todays standards, maybe. But there was a freedom that todays kids dont enjoy. We sat on curbs. We daydreamed. Think about the word. Daydream. It means your imagination wanders while your eyes are open.

What kid has time for that today? Preteens are on travel soccer teams. They fly to faraway cities. Play tournaments. Isnt that what pro players do?

Likewise, camps chew up the summer months, but theyre no longer just softball and swimming. There are fashion camps. Circus camps. Science camps. Achievement is emphasized.

Even kids at home find their free time under scrutiny. Some children are made to adhere to playdates as if keeping a doctors appointment. (By the way, the closest I ever came to a playdate was when my mother opened the door on summer mornings and said, Go. Dont come back until supper.)

We need to lighten it up. Sometimes doing nothing is doing something. Sure, camp can be fun, and travel ball is exciting, but if we cram in activities from the last day of school to the first, were ignoring an important fact: The way kids work during the academic yearhonestly, youd think homework was a full-time joba mental break may be needed. These are young minds, young bodies. Replenishing the juices by kicking back is not a bad idea. And if not in childhood, then when?

Now, I know what youre thinking: If we dont enroll our kids in an activity, all theyll do is text. Or watch TV (and text) or talk on the phone (and text).

Well, you could prevent that. You could take away the cell phone, the iPod, the Nintendo. Then see if you can get your kid to do four things in a day:

1. Have a face-to-face conversation with a friend.

2. Read something.

3. Build something.

4. Get wet. A pool. A hose. A sprinkler. Whatever.

Thats really enough. Before you can blink, its the school year again, where every day is jammed with sports, AP classes, student government, and field trips.

Thats fine for September. But if September is no different from June, July, and August, then were doing something wrong. And our kids are missing something precious.

Best-selling author Mitch Albom is a Detroit Free Press columnist.

Recipes from TFL Clients

Submitted by Kim T:

Ingredients: 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed) 1 cup prepare sun-dried tomato pasta sauce 1 cup fresh basil leaves 2/3 cup cold water 1 pound ground skinless chicken breast 1/3 cup seasoned dried bread crumbs 1/3 cup grated Parmesan 1 egg white 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions: 1. Combine the sun-dried tomatoes and enough boiling water to cover in a bowl. Let stand until softened, about 10 minutes; drain. 2. Put the sun-dried tomatoes, pasta sauce, basil and cold water in a blender and puree. 3. Combine the chicken, bread crumbs, cheese, egg white and pepper in a large bowl until well mixed. Shape the mixture into 20 meatballs. 4. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 4 minutes. Add the sun-dried tomato mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the meatballs are cooked through, about 7 minutes.

Per serving (5 meatballs with 1/3 cup sauce): 347 cal, 12 g Fat, 4 g Sat Fat, 0 g Trans Fat, 75 mg Chol, 894 mg Sod, 27 g Carb, 33 g Prot, 190 mg Calc; WW Points - 7

Recipe taken from Weight Watchers Cookbook

Recipes from TFL Clients

Submitted by Nancy:

Filling: 1/2 cup of minced mushroom. I like to use fresh mushrooms but canned works fine 1/2 cup of thinly sliced kale. In a pan add 1/2 tsp of olive oil and cook the kale and mushrooms. For about 5 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked.

Chicken: I like to use cut thin chicken breasts. I season the chicken breasts and then add the kale and mushrooms mixture on top of it. Roll the chicken and add toothpicks to keep it from falling apart.

I cook the chicken in a pan with light coating of olive oil for about 1 minute on each side.

I remove the chicken and put in a baking dish.

Cook on 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.

I like a to make a sauce to go over the chicken.

I saute mushrooms in the same pan I used to lightly cook the chicken. Once the mushrooms are completely cooked, I add the liquid from the chicken that is in the baking dish. (Make sure that the chicken is fully cooked before adding the liquid from the dish) I then add some lemon juice. Cook for about a minute and then pour over your stuffed chicken.

I like to have this chicken recipe with a side salad.

Enjoy!!!!

Why You Will NEVER Do a Crunch Again

Many of you have attended Boot Camp for more than 3 months now and we have yet to do a single exercise that resembles a crunch. With that said, many of you have also noticed your waistline shrinking and getting tighter without them. All of the core exercises we do are based on the principles Stuart McGill has widely researched and published work on. A flat, tone stomach has nothing to do with how many crunches you are doing everyday and every thing to do with the type and intensity of exercise you perform and what you're putting in your mouth! You CAN NOT out work a bad diet!So I encourage you to read the following article that explains WHY you will never have to do another crunch... The man who wants to kill crunches A Canadian professor of spine biomechanics rails about the dangers of the ubiquitous sit-up by Patricia Treble on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 9:00am

After three decades of figuring how out the spine works, Stuart McGill has come to loathe sit-ups. It doesn’t matter whether they are the full sit-ups beloved by military trainers or the crunch versions so ubiquitous in gyms. “What happens when you perform a sit-up?” he asks. “The spine is flexed into the position at which it damages sooner.” The professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo knows a thing or two about snapping spines. In his lab, McGill proudly shows off a machine that’s probably created more disc herniations than any other in the world. “We get real [pig] spines from the butcher and we compress them, shear them and bend them to simulate activities such as golf swings and sit-ups, and watch as unique patterns of injury emerge.” A disc has a ring around it, and the middle, the nucleus, is filled with a mucus-like liquid. Do a sit-up and the spine’s compression will squeeze the nucleus... Click the following to read the remainder of the article - http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/19/the-man-who-wants-to-kill-crunches/

Try Something New.. Kale Lasagna Diavolo!

1 tsp olive oil, plus more for oiling pan1 8-oz bunch kale, stems removed 1 15 oz pkg fat-free ricotta cheese 4 oz. chevre or soft goat cheese 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.) 2 cups prepared tomato puree 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 6 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat 8-inch square baking pain with oil. 2. Cook kale in large pot of boiling salted water 2 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. Throughly wring out kate, then chop. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Set aside. 3. Mash together ricotta and chevre in bowl and set aside. 4. Heat 1 tsp oil in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add garlic, and cook 15 seconds, or until fragrant. Add tomato puree and red pepper flakes; Simmer 5 minutes or until thickened. 5. Spread 1/4 cup sauce in prepared baking pan. Place 2 lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Top with half of cheese mixture, half of kale, and 1/3 cup sauce. Top with two more noodles, remaining lasagna noodles and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan and bake 40 minutes, or until cheese has melted and lasagna is bubbly.

Per 1-cup serving - 183 calories 14 g Protein 5 g total Fat; 3 g Sat Fat 21 g Carb 13 mg Chol 450 mg Sodium 2 g Fiber 5 g Sugars

From the January/February 2011 issue of Vegetarian Times.

Snack Ideas - Protein Scones

I got the following recipe from Jen Comas (http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/training-logs.asp?qid=146203&tid=197) over at EliteFTS. I'll be whipping up a batch of these tomorrow. I'll post some pictures of the baking process and let you know how they taste! Maybe I'll even bring some in to Tuesday's class...

Get creative with these and add whatever you like - unsweetened cocoa powder & coconut shavings, or dried cranberries and walnuts, etc. I added 1/4 cup raisins and 1/2 Tablespoon of cinnamon, but any add-ins that you like will work. Dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, whatever. Add something though, or these will be really boring.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients: 1 cup plus 1/4 cup almond flour 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder (or chocolate. Whatev.) I used Vanilla Metabolic Drive 1/4 cup oats 1 Tablespoon of Stevia 4 egg whites 2 Tablespoons 0% fat Greek Yogurt, or pumpkin puree (your choice. I used pumpkin. Unsweetened applesauce will also work) 1/4 cup raisins 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon

Mix all of the dry ingredients together first.

Then add the wet ingredients.

Drop 9 spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray or smeared with coconut oil, and slightly spread them out just a bit.

Bake until the peaks barely start to turn golden, about 12 minutes. They should still be slightly soft when you take them out.

WARNING: Watch these closely & don't overbake them, otherwise you will have rock-hard protein doggy biscuits for Fido.

Makes 9 scones. The following macros are for the basic mix, not including the raisins. Remember, any add-ins will change these numbers:

Protein: 8 grams Carb: 5 grams Fat: 9 grams Calories: 133

In My Headphones..

I posted this on Facebook yesterday, but thought it was so great I wanted to make sure everyone heard it! There's nothing better than a song with an awesome beat and a great message. I can't stress how important it is to fill your world with positivity. Whether it be the music you listen to, the books you read, or the people around you; you are a product of your environment, make it a positive one! Check out the following song from Chris Brown..

It’s your life. It’s your life. Your beauty’s deep inside. Inside you. Don’t let ‘em bring you down, no. Your beauty is inside of you. Don’t let ‘em bring you down, no.

What They Never Told You About EGGS

This past weekend we held our first Grocery Store Tour at the Big Y in Wilbraham, MA and it was a success. There were a lot of great questions and everyone learned a lot about the choices they were making and changes that needed to be made. There were so many great questions that we were not able to make it around the whole store in the hour that we had. So as a result, I wanted to post this great article from Cassandra Forsyth-Pribanic about EGGS. I get asked a lot about eating too many eggs and it's affects on our cholesterol. Cassandra does an awesome job at debunking some of these thoughts and explains many of the health benefits of including eggs on a daily basis. Enjoy the article!

The Egg: this three letter word invokes almost as much fear into the hearts of Americans as our other favorite “deadly” three-letter word: F-A-T.

However, it’s finally time to crack the misconception that eggs are bad for our health, because they’re absolutely not. It’s unfortunate, but many people still think that you cannot eat more than one egg per day, or even more than 3 eggs per week because if you do, you’ll develop high blood cholesterol levels and fatty arteries. But, this could not be farther from the truth.

So, why do we think this way? Click below for the remainder of the article...

http://trainforlifema.getprograde.com/two-eggs-a-day.html