Badass Fitness

Badass Rant: Pyramids, Plates, and Gluttonous Pit Stops

The woman standing on the corner dressed like a giant human ice cream cone set me off.

Then came the new one-stop-shop donut/ice cream shop that opened last week near the main Interstate-10 ramp in Tallahassee - because, you know, after a 400-calorie donut what we all REALLY need is a banana split.

Then there was the obese couple that recently pulled into a handicapped parking spot outside my favorite wine bar, sat inside their car scarfing down burgers and fries -- and then rolled into the bar with the sluggishness that comes from a life lived on fast food.

Yes, all three of these incidents got my Irish-Italian temper simmering. But what REALLY made it boil over was The Plate.

With much fanfare Thursday, the USDA unveiled the food "Plate" -- replacing the longstanding Food Pyramid as the compass to healthy eating. There are many elements of the Plate that I applaud -- drink more water and fewer sugary drinks; enjoy food but in lesser quantities; fill half the plate with fruits and veggies.

But what ticks me off is the rising obesity that prompted the change. The Pyramid, it seems, was too confusing for Round America. The Food Pyramid kept its shape for years - telling us to eat more of the stuff at the wide bottom (fruits, whole grains, lean meats, veggies) and less of the stuff at the small top (processed sugary desserts, fats, etc). But America keeps getting rounder - and more sick, and more sluggish.

More Slackass. Less Badass. We have early-stage diabetes and high cholesterol before we hit middle age. We go through so many fast food drive-thrus that we're too big and soft to make it up one flight of stairs. Our children are obese. Not chunky, not 'plump.' They are dangerously obese. 

The long-running increase in life expectancy in the United States is slowing because of our gluttonous eating habits. Meanwhile, other countries are seeing longer life expectancies. All we seem to understand is "more," as in give me more food. As a nation, we're too lazy to even get up to change the TV channel - much less exercise.

Way to go, USA. One Nation Under the Drive-Thru.

This makes me want to scream. It makes me want to yank the bag of greasy fries from Mr. and Mrs. Roly Poly and lead them around the parking lot for 10 laps. It makes me want to pull the human ice cream cone lady back inside so she can't beckon any more overweight people into her shop for another dessert they don't need. It makes me want to walk into every all-you-can-eat buffet and break every oversized plate piled with a pyramid of fatty food.

I say forget the Pyramid vs. the Plate vs. low-carb vs. low-sugar.

Instead, try the Badass Food Guide: Eat less, move more.

Stop eating as if every meal is your last meal on Death Row. Don't supersize it. Don't Big Gulp it. Don't double dip it in chocolate. Don't deep fry it and order two for the price of one. Get off your Badasses and MOVE it.

And when you make that plate of food, remember that it doesn't have to resemble a massive pyramid. A molehill of real, unprocessed food will do.

Coming next week: Monday Move, and a few healthy potluck makeover ideas.

The List You Need for Your Next Grocery Trip

Your grocery cart is your arsenal of weapons on your Badass Journey to a stronger you. We are what we eat - which means we look how we grocery shop.

So if you spend most of your weekly grocery shopping time in the center aisles amid the soups, cereals and microwave popcorn, keep reading. If you like to walk into the grocery store and just pick up "whatever jumps out" at you, keep reading. If you walk past the organic produce and meats because you're sure it will be way too expensive, keep reading.

And even if you think you've perfected a healthy, budget-savvy grocery shopping strategy, keep reading. You might learn a new trick or two.

Choices can be great - but when we're trying to make the best ones, too many choices can be overwhelming. Supermarkets are full of choices that range from terrible to mediocre to excellent.

Show me a cart filled with brightly colored "go-gurt" pops, canned soups, baked chips and frozen diet meals, and I'll bet money the cart pusher is someone who goes on the d-word often...yet isn't seeing results. Show me a cart filled with fruits and vegetables, eggs, lean meats, real cheeses, whole grain breads and even real ice cream - and I'll bet money they look healthy and trim.

Last week a few co-workers and I went on a supermarket nutrition tour with Tallahassee-based registered dietitian and Nourish Nutrition owner Jaime McHaffie, in hopes of walking away with a healthier food-shopping strategy that might also save us money along the way.

McHaffie delivered, reiterating some of what we instinctively know but also shedding new light on the weekly errand we tend to take for granted.

So here are some of the best pointers. Print this out and keep it in your car or purse for that next food stock-up session:

1. Play Games in Produce: A healthy eating regimen is packed with variety - so even you regimented fruit and veggie eaters who buy the same items every week can amp up your game. Every week, try one new thing. If you have little ones, get them in on it with games - make a rainbow in the cart, find four yellow things and two orange things, etc.

2. Remember that Time is Money: If you are more likely to eat the green peppers or apples that are pre-cut because it suits your schedule, pay the extra dollar for the pre-cut convenience to ensure you get your daily does of fruits and veggies.

3. Round Loin = Skinny Badass: When shopping for pork and beef, remember that the leanest cuts are "round" and "loin."

4. Save with Skin, Toss the Skin: The skin on chicken is the fattening part, but there's no harm in buying a whole chicken and cutting it into parts - even cooking it with the skin on. In fact, it saves you money that way. Just toss the skin before it hits your dinner plate.

5. Go Fish, Twice: Aim for seafood twice a week - trying to include varieties like salmon with omega-3s. But canned varieties of salmon, tuna and sardines (if you can stomach them, which I cannot!) are budget-friendly good choices as well.

6. Cereal Savvy: The cereal and bread aisles can be the trickiest to maneuver, thanks to healthy-sounding varieties like "nuts and oats" or "honey wheat" that are loaded with sugar and fat but low on nutrition.

When buying bread, make sure the first ingredient is "whole wheat flour" and not "enriched" anything. Aim for varieties with 2 to 3 grams of fiber per slice - or 4 to 6 grams per sandwich. And beware of added sugars in the form of "fructose corn syrup," "sucrose," etc.

Cereals are potential minefields of sugar. Consider: Quaker Natural Granola Oats & Honey & Raisins has as much sugar as THREE Krispy Kreme Donuts, and the typical bowl (more like 2 servings than 1) can set you back 400-plus calories. Read the labels carefully - Kashi and Cascadian Farms are better choices. No matter which you choose, shoot for 150 calories or less per 3/4 to 1-cup serving, and 8 to 10 grams of sugar or less. Also seek out bran and wheat-based varieties higher in fiber.

7. Light and Free Might Cost You: Ever since Snackwell's Cookies debuted and made countless dieting housewives plumper, we've been conditioned to seek out "light" and "fat-free" varieties of our food faves. But so often, the regular version is the real deal that's better for your Badass. Fat-free sour cream, for example, has only 30 calories less per serving than full-fat - but has a laundry list of Franken-gredients produced in some factory. Same goes for regular Triscuits compared to the reduced-fat variety. And in many cases, you'll pay more for the "light" version.

So beware of what you're putting in your Badass - and remember that moderate amounts of REAL food beats Franken-foods. Period.

8. Make a Plan, and Stick with It: Do NOT go into the grocery store hungry, and do NOT go in without a list. Otherwise, you're more likely to make impulse buys that aren't healthy. And when it comes to eating well, remember: It can't tempt you if it's not in your pantry.

9. Stick to the Square and avoid being Round: Shop the outside areas, the perimeter, of the store. This is where the produce, dairy, and meats are. The inside aisles - home to chips, cookies, and other processed foods - are not your friend.

10. You can do the Can-Can: Canned fruits and veggies are a way to save money while stocking up on nutrition. Just be sure to rinse canned veggies to reduce the sodium, and make sure any canned fruits are packed in their own juice - NOT heavy syrup.

Now you can attack the grocery store like a Badass Soldier - Happy Shopping!

Coming up: We check in with Badass Turner's 360 to 30 journey. And a plan to make your next roadtrip Badass-worthy!

Nutrition Rule No. 1: No 4-letter D-word allowed!

In my Badass Universe, the f-bomb is nothing compared to the D-word.

DIET.

Ugh. It makes me cringe. I hate it. I avoid saying it. The D-word is to blame for much of our overweight, obese nation's problems. Why? Because the "D" is, inherently, unsustainable. We go on them, all different kinds of extreme variations, only to "fall off" after the restrictions and unreasonable "do not eat" rules become too much.

Our metabolism gets all out of whack, eventually yo-yo-ing so much that it just sputters. That is not my idea of a fun roller coaster ride.

Instead, Badass recruits, I encourage you to EAT REAL. Yes, you read correctly. EAT!

But I'm talking about real food, like a real person. Not like a rabbit. Not like a lab rat eating freeze-dried engineered crap. Not like a Ronald McDonald mascot wannabe eating every SuperSize special you can find. Real food, in the right amounts.

Melissa Layne, the North Georgia State University faculty member and fitness expert who led my recent nutrition certification course, gave me this great list she provides her personal training clients to encourage them to move away from the D-word and over to the "E-word" universe of eating real.

This list is not rocket science, Badasses, and that's the point. We try to make this Badass lifestyle more complicated than it needs to be. We try to come up with the "perfect diet plan." We obsessively calculate and count calorie combinations. We wish for a magic pill.

There isn't one. But there are 15 simple ways (at least!) that you can improve the way you EAT. No more D-word. It's all about moderation and common sense, and yes, a little self control. If you want that scale number or those "skinny jeans" bad enough, you can make these changes a habit and see results.

Check it out:

15 Healthy Changes You Can Make Today

• Reserve alcohol for special occasions
• The BUTTER has left the building! Wave buh-bye. You'll miss it less than you think you will.
• Fast food once a week, at the most
• Pack your lunches – brown bagging puts you in control of your intake.
• A protein on every plate
• A plant on every plate
• Eat breakfast and dinner sitting at the table
• No full calorie soft drinks
• No TV during dinner. Enjoy what you're eating.
• All snacks must be put in a bowl or on a plate.  No mindless eating out of a container.
• Dressing on the side of a salad – dip your fork. And say buh-bye to hundreds of extra calories.
• No bread as an appetizer or side. Use it only as something to hold your sandwich.
• All soups must be broth based.
• Water with lunch and dinner. Always.
• Desserts limited to every other day, once a day. (The cookie will still be there the day after tomorrow.)


Coming up: Nutrition by the Numbers - your basic cheat sheet and Badass Guide. And a Bosu workout that feels like play...

 

 

360 days to do a Badass Turnaround for the Big 3-0...

A note from the Badass CEO: This blog, and my company, is about building up the Badass Army - in numbers, in enthusiasm, in strength. So today, we welcome a guest blogger who is embarking on a 360-day Badass Journey that he wants to last him a lifetime. Chris Turner, a former military man, just got one year closer to 30 and he knows he isn't living as Badass a life as he should be. He is determined, over the next 360 days that lead him to the big 3-0, to reclaim the Badass guy he was at West Point. And he's brave enough to track his journey here on Badass Fitness. Read on, and be inspired to think about where you are - and whether you, too, need to start raising the bar to your full Badass potential.

There comes a time in our lives when we look in the mirror and realize it is time to stop making excuses.  A point at which we conclude that we have two choices: Change the way we have been doing things, or continue down that path leading to nothing great. For me, the “fork in the road” came last week.  Last Thursday, I hit the big 2-9.  One step closer to the big 3-0.

 Earlier this year I had been going strong -- getting back to where I wanted to be physically and mentally. But lately I have allowed my “work” and “socializing” to get in the way. 

Well, today I am putting it out there, in front of the entire Badass Army: No. More. Excuses.

I have allowed myself to become sedentary.  My life is about convenience.  When I go out to eat, I enjoy fast food - in large portions.  I look for happy hours and drink specials wherever I can.  I tend to choose drinks with friends over getting exercise or rest.  My DVR was designed to allow me to watch TV at my convenience, but I use it to record one show while watching another.  Worse, I will spend an hour flipping through the TV channels until I can find something that I would like to watch – which is typically a movie I have seen so many times, I can recite from memory. 

So last week, as my birthday approached, I looked in the mirror and asked myself:  Is this what I want to be when I hit 30? The answer: Hell no.

This brings me here, to Badass Fitness as a guest blogger. I am giving myself 360 days to do a “full 360°” with my life.  Yes, I understand that a full 360° would only get me back to where I am now, but here’s the thing: I DON’T want to be where I am now. 

For me, I want in 360 days to be at 0°. This is the point where you look back and say “That’s where I wish I was back at!”  You know this point. It’s when you could run 5 miles without breaking a sweat, or bench twice your body weight, and you looked DAMN GOOD doing it. 

Everyone has that point. Maybe it was five years ago before an illness, three years ago before you were married, or two years ago before you started working full time.  We all have that “used to be” place where we look at ourselves and say “I want to be there.”

My “used to be” place was in August 2003.  I was 21 and had just transferred from West Point to Florida State.  I was in the best shape of my life when I arrived in Tallahassee, thanks to the watchful eye of the U.S. Army and some great nutritionists.  Being on my own, I got lazy.  Didn’t work out as much, ate whatever, and partied… hard.

My goal is to get back to where I was then.  Not necessarily the 145 pounds and 5% body fat (although that would be nice), but back to being able to pick up and go run 5 miles when I get bored.  I want to get back to focusing on eating healthy instead of eating convenient.  I want to think first about going for a walk through the park, or kayaking down the river, instead of sitting on the couch and watching Harry Potter again.   I want to stand with the Badass Army and be proud of my accomplishments - knowing this360° is not a temporary thing, but a permanent life change.  (And yes, I really want to look good with my shirt off.)

I’m inviting you fellow Badasses to join me on this journey to complete my 360. Think about where you are, and where you want to be.  Some of us will look and be at 90°, some will be at 180°.  But we all have the same goal; to get back to that point where we are happy with what we see and how we feel.  This isn’t a quick fix; this isn’t a “do this for 90 days and you will be good to go.”  This isn’t me telling you what to eat, or lecturing you to work out six times a week.

This is about making a commitment to change.  360 days is a full commitment to changing who you are and how you do things.  It’s about your health, your fitness; it’s about changing your lifestyle.  I will be posting here periodically about my journey, and about this adventure, and I want to hear your feedback. 

Thanks to all those who are helping me with these changes:  My trainer and motivator the Badass CEO Shannon C.; all the good people at Sweat, the great food from Earth Fare, and the support of my beautiful wife Shanell.

Coming next week: A Monday Move you can do without moving, a new playlist, and healthy snacks that easily become calorie, fat and sugar traps 

Badass Math: Minus Sleep and Work, Almost 70 hours....to MOVE!

This Badass has never much liked math - hence my college degree and career focused on writing and communications. But a colleague finding her way to a stronger Badass recently gave me a calculation worth mastering.

It goes like this: (7 x 24) - (7 x 7) - (50) = 69 = ZERO excuses.

Translation: In any given week, there are 168 hours (7 days x 24 hours). Subtract approximately 7 hours of sleep for all 7 nights, then subtract another 50 hours for work, and you get 69 hours. That is equal to ZERO excuses for why you "don't have time" to work on your fitness and health.

Even if you did just three one-hour workouts a week, you would still have more than 60 hours of free time left. And yes, I know it takes time to commute, clean the house, chauffer the kids, feed the babies, etc. But it doesn't take 69 hours.

So there it is: The Badass Math you can't discount.

My colleague admittedly discounted the math for a long time, convincing herself that with her young child and husband and intense job, she simply "had no time." But finally, in recent weeks, something clicked. She did the calculation, and it left her with a lot of hours.

She realized that "no time" was code for "not ready" and "afraid," as in afraid to try for fear of failing. And "not ready" because, well, sometimes we're just not ready yet to get on the Badass path. Being afraid to get out there for the first time and jog or take a cycling class or lift dumbbells is totally OK - we've all been there.

But there comes a time when we have to be realistic and honest about the time we have and how we're using it. The fact is, as a whole it's human nature to waste time and make excuses.

How many hours do you spend watching TV or surfing Facebook, and could one of those hours be spent at the gym or doing a home exercise session via DVD? For all the time you spend on the phone, could you be (speed) walking and talking at the same time? Could one of those happy hours with the girlfriends or guys be spent taking a kickboxing class together or at least dancing at a nightclub until you break a good sweat?

Being active and healthy doesn't have to mean going to the gym and getting on the treadmill every day. It doesn't have to entail monthly membership fees or checks to a personal trainer. JUST MOVE. Find what you enjoy, whether it's rollerskating or surfing or hiking or cycling, and DO IT.

That's my challenge to you this weekend: Calculate how you're spending your time, and find at least one hour to do something active.

Because if you keep making excuses and sitting on your Bad(or not-so-Bad)ass, before you know it you'll be overweight and plagued with all of the things that come with that label - diabetes, high cholesterol, zero energy, low self esteem and general discontent and unhappiness.

And we all know there's nothing Badass about that.

Coming next week: Monday's Move; a new recipe or two, and a Butts and Gutts routine!

 

Top 5 Nutrition Mistakes? The Expert Weighs In...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The results you see when you set out on the road to a better, stronger Badass are about 85 percent what you eat and 15 percent how much you sweat, move, lift and get your heart pumping.

You can take cycling class or go running or lift weights every day, but if you eat and drink like crap before and after, all you'll do is maintain the status quo - or worse, get further away from your goal. 

Don't believe it? Well, today an expert weighs in. Jaime McHaffie, part owner of my favorite frozen yogurt place in town (Fuzions!), is a licensed dietitian and owner of Nourish Nutrition Consulting based in Tallahassee, Florida.

She provides one-on-one advice to clients, as well as group talks. She even takes field trips to the grocery store to show clients what to put in their cart - and what to avoid. (Yes, stay tuned for a blog on that one!)

So, in the process of interviewing her for an upcoming article I'm doing for Women's Running magazine, we started talking about the top 5 pitfalls that we both see in our clients when it comes to eating and metabolism-boosting nutrition.

She agreed to dish. Do any of these apply to you? If so, no worries! Just adjust, and watch how much faster you see results.

Jaime's Top 5 Nutrition No-No's

1. Skipping Breakfast: Don't Skip Breakfast! Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day! It jump starts your metabolism (your metabolism is what gives you energy and helps you burn calories). Eating breakfast helps fuel your brain and your body. When you're short on time, grab a granola bar, a piece of fruit, a yogurt, a smoothie, toast, or even a glass of milk. These are all items that will help you to start your day out on the right track. Try combining at least 2 food groups for breakfast to make your morning choice even healthier!

2. Not Honoring Hunger: The key to a healthy relationship with food, as well as a healthy body weight, is to honor your hunger. If you ever skip a meal when you are hungry or overeat past the point of fullness, you are not honoring your hunger.

It sounds silly, but most of us consume our meals and snacks without ever thinking about whether we are hungry or full. We just eat because it's lunch time or because we are bored. Likewise, we skip meals because we are trying to lose weight or because we are too busy to eat. Our body is designed to tell us when to eat and when to stop eating. Start listening to your body today and allow it to guide you as to when and how much you should eat.

3. Going "All or Nothing": When trying to change a nutrition related behavior, it is often tempting to go "All or Nothing." This is actually  not a good idea. When making behavior changes, it is important to set small, achievable goals for yourself.

If you try to fix all of your nutrition problems in a single day or even a week, you will most likely be left very frustrated. Pick the one or two things that you are most ready to work on and start there. Let's say, for example, that you needed to start eating breakfast. I would recommend that you set a goal of eating breakfast two or three days a week and see how you do. Then you can slowly increase the days, until you have reached all seven days. Once you are consistently eating breakfast every day, you can pick another nutrition related behavior to change.

4. Not Planning Ahead: We've all heard the quote, "He who fails to plan, plans to fail". This has never been more true for the world of healthy eating. If you are not planning ahead for meals and snacks, it is going to be very hard to make good choices. I encourage my clients to pick one or two days out of the week to plan ahead for meals and snacks. This is key, especially for those trying to lose weight. Try to avoid being unprepared for your day and left without healthy choices to choose from at home or the office.

5. Not Drinking Enough Water: Drinking water is essential to health and weight loss. Most of my clients are not drinking enough water. If drinking water is a struggle for you, try sprucing up your water a bit with a splash of juice, or some lemons or limes. Crystal Light is also a good option for those who find it hard to get in enough water. And for those that just 'forget' to do it, try setting an alarm on your phone, or simply keeping a 'water diary' on your desk for you to track your intake throughout the day.

Coming Friday: Badass Math: Sleep, work, and you still have almost 70 'free' hours...to MOVE!

Chipotle: A lesson in making wise menu choices

A Badass, a nun and a rabbi walk into a Chipotle....OK, scratch the nun and the rabbi.

A Badass walks solo into a Chipotle and is faced with a fork in the road to a stronger Badass. The sign above the order counter boasts that this is "Food with Integrity" -- chicken raised without antibiotics, beef sans hormones or antibiotics, local and organically grown vegetables.

"Awesome!" the Badass thinks. "This meal is guit-free, healthy and clean eatin'."

The Badass proceeds to order a burrito stuffed with all the trimmings. A thousand or so calories later, the Badass realizes this meal represents a buffet of bad choices. I did this on my first trip to Chipotle, which recently opened in Tallahassee, but did better the second go-round.

Eating out while staying on the Badass path is all about making the right choices when ordering, and Chipotle is the perfect illustration of how things can go so right - or so wrong.

Free-range chicken is awesome, but it's a nuclear bomb of calories, sodium and fat when you pile on cheese, sour cream, white rice and even healthy stuff like corn, salsa and black beans. Indulging and "cheating" 10 or 20 percent of the time is OK, but eating burrito bombs or other fast food every day or even a few times a week is a recipe for Bigger-Than-You-Want-Ass (as opposed to a great Badass).

Consider: A chicken burrito with rice, pinto beans, cheese, sour cream and hot salsa weighs in at 990 calories, 39 grams of fat and 100 carbs. If you skip the tortilla and make a Chipotle "bol" of rice, beans and salsa (sans cheese and sour cream), you save 400 calories and 26 grams of fat. That's what I call Fat Ass vs. Bad Ass.

A Double Chicken Burrito is more than 1,100 calories and 35-plus grams of fat with all the trimmings. Holy cow. That is two meals worth. But three chicken soft tacos with lettuce and tomatoes (authentic Mexican tacos do NOT drown themselves in cheese and sour cream) are about 500 calories, only 15 grams of fat.

So next time you're out, choose wisely. Whether it's Taco Bell, Wendy's, Bonefish, Carrabas, Subway or even McDonalds, there are always some choices on the menu that are better for your Badass goals than others. Know what they are. And decide: Is this the day to indulge and go "all in," or is this a regular day when - like most days - you pick the healthier thing?

Your health, your weight, your muscle tone - for most of us, they reflect what we do MOST of the time. 

Indulge occasionally. Stay on the Badass path usually.

Remember that the next time you order out.

Coming next week: Monday's Move; Breakfast turned upside down; and what are you doing with your 69 hours?

Celebrity Chef: To lose 65 pounds, he cooked and devoured (low fat) cheese

Chef Daniel Green lost 65 pounds before moving to the United States from England six years ago, but he does not believe in diets.

He concedes that most low- and fat-free cheeses taste like the plastic containers they come in, yet the foundation of many of his recipes is fat-free feta and ricotta cheeses and part-skim mozzarella.

He preaches the importance of flavor, yet rarely adds salt to his recipes.

A walking, spoon-toting contradiction? Hardly. Green lost 65 pounds precisely because he DIDN'T "go on a diet." He lost it precisely because he DIDN'T ban cheese (his favorite indulgence) from his eating plan. He lost it because he DIDN'T equate flavor with "just add more salt."

"Diets don't work because you're taking away something and telling yourself you can't have it," said Green, cookbook author and host of Shop NBC.  "Then we just binge after anyway. Healthy eating is about what you do on average. Monday through Friday, you don't waste calories. That way, when the weekend comes, you can enjoy dinner with friends or whatever." 

Amen! Green isn't much into exercise, but he still earns a Badass Badge of Honor from me because he understands the value of balance in eating. He also understands that banning foods and eating cardboard rice cakes isn't the way to maintain weight loss. Flavor is everything. And even when using healthy fats like olive oil, moderation is important.

During his visit Saturday to the Publix Apron's Cooking School here in Tallahassee, Green proved with a four-course meal that low-fat food can make the tastebuds pop with flavor and amazing textures and aromas. His food is influenced by his love of Thailand and all of its amazing foods - as well as his admitted love of all things cheesy.

But he has found ways to make fat-free feta seem full-fat, and to cook without heaps of salt. His food was amazing, and in no way did I feel deprived! This Badass' stomach was very very happy - and still healthy.

Below, I've shared my favorite recipes from the evening. Try them. They're easy, fast, and well within your calorie budget.

Eggplant Stacks

Ingredients (tomato coulis)

• 1/2 lb ripe tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Ingredients (stacks)

• 2 medium eggplants, cut into 16 slices
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 22 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 6 large basil leaves
• 1 garlic clove, minced or grated
• 1/2 cup Sorrenta skim milk mozzarella, shredded
• 4 Tbsp pine nuts, toasted
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 8 ounces Sorrento fat-free feta cheese, crumbled

Directions

To make the coulis: Simply blend the tomatoes in a blender. Heat a medium saute pan with the oil, and add the tomato puree, heating it for 3-4 minutes. Season to taste and set aside.

To make the stacks: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (yes, 180....)

Preheat a large saute pan medium heat. Season the eggplant slices with salt and pepper. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to the pan. Add eggplant and cook 3-4 minutes per side. Place slices on a foil-lined cooking sheet.

In a bowl, mix the tomqatoes, basil, garlic, mozzarella cheese, feta and pine nuts. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil and then season with salt and pepper. Stir all to combine. 

Assembly: Use the four largest eggplant slices, and on the baking sheet spoon a small amount of the tomato-cheese mixture on top. For each stack, place an eggplant slice on top and then another layer of the tomato-cheese mixture. Repeat the layering again, and then top each stack with a fourt eggplant slice. Cook for 12-15 minutes. Spread the tomato coulis among four plates equally and place the stack on top of the stack to serve.  

Miso Salmon

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 2 garlic cloves, grated or crushed
• 4-6 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tablespoons miso paste
• 1 large lemon, juiced
• 4 (4 to 5 ounce) salmon fillets, skin removed
• 2 cups cooked jasmine rice

Directions

In a bowl, whisk together first 6 ingredients. Place salmon fillets in a gallon-size Ziploc bag. Add the marinade and, after squeezing the air out, seal the bag. Let the salmon marinate for 10-15 minutes.

Preheat the broiler.

Remove the salmon from marinade (saving the marinade) and pat dry with a paper towel. Place the filets, skin side down, onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under the broiler and baste with the reserved marinade every 2-3 minutes until the salmon is cooled (8-10 minutes). Place 1/2 cup cooked rice onto 4 separate plates and top each with a salmon fillet.

Note: The fish can also be cooked stovetop, in a heavy non-stick pan, and the same marinade and cook method can be used for shrimp or sea bass. Heat the pan to high heat. Place the marinated seafood in the pan, allowing the fish to sear a few minutes on each side. Add some of reserved marinade if desired, and when it's done cooking, place on top of the cooked rice.

Coming Friday: The menu might say "free-range" and "fresh," but it's still up to you to choose wisely.

Three things that could be holding you (and your Badass) back

You go to the gym religiously, but your Badass looks the same as it did a year ago. You eat virtuously, or so you think, but the scale is stuck - or moving in the wrong direction. You lift weights, but you're not getting much stronger.

If any of these hit home, odds are you're missing the equation somewhere. As a trainer and fitness instructor, students and clients often share their goals - and their frustrations - with me. Three things consistently emerge as the culprit. When they address the culprit and make adjustments, they typically start to see the results they want.

As the new year and Resolution season gets underway, here are the most common fitness missteps I see along the road to a leaner, stronger, healthier Badass: 

1. Lack of Intensity: News flash -- walking the treadmill at an ambler's pace when you're capable of a jog, or even short sprint intervals, isn't going to get you to your weight loss goal any time soon. Spinning with the tension knob at 2 when you should be on a steep "hill" is cheating yourself. "Pumping iron" with 3-pound weights when you're strong enough for 10-pound dumbbells isn't the way to get sculpted.

This Badass journey is not a stroll in the park. It takes sweat, elevated heart rates, sore muscles and doing more pushups than you'd rather. So if you're going to show up, SHOW UP. Badasses don't do anything Half-Ass. Work hard. The eventual result: Harder abs, tighter Badass, rock-hard biceps.

2. Poor Form: Good form in weight training is key to good results. Instead I see:

• Crunches that involve pulling (and straining) the neck, instead of squeezing the core.
• Bicep curls that are all sloppy momentum, instead of a controlled curl.
• Lunges that are more like a quarter-curtsy instead of a deep, 90-degree lunge that really works the glutes and quads.

It's easy to get stuck in a comfort zone. But if that comfort zone involves poor form, you'll be just another "gym rat" who comes every day yet looks the same month after month. If maintenance is your goal, fine. But if you really want to make changes in your Badass, you need to lunge deeper, curl with more control, and lift smarter.

3. Miscalculated eating: The key to an efficient, fat-burning metabolism is balance. That means you don't cut calories to 1,100 or 1,200 a day while doing two-a-day cardio sessions. It means you don't justify three pieces of double-meat, stuffed-crust pizza with "But I just took a cycling class!"

Your body is a machine. Machines need fuel to keep running. They need not just the right fuel, but the right amounts. Eat too much, and the scale won't budget because you're not burning more calories than you put in. But if you eat too little, the scale won't budge because your body thinks you're starving it - and slows down your metabolism as it goes into the survival mode that dates back to our caveman days.

This miscalculation of eating is one of the most common challenges I see in clients and students. It inhibits their progress and frustrates them. They're exercising a lot, and they expect to see results. Totally understandable. But keep in mind: All work(outs) and no food makes your Badass starve. All work(outs) and too much food makes your Badass stagnant.

Balance, Badasses, balance. It will get you farther down the Badass road than any extreme diet or extreme exercise plan.

Coming next week: My 'date' with a healthy chef from across the pond; Monday's Move; and a Butts and Gutts workout

Resolution Resilience: Don't be a 'Three-Day Priest'

It's that time of year again. Yes, 'tis the Resolution Season. That annual ritual in which we set out lofty goals and go at them with 150 percent effort....for the month of January. Then comes February and the vows of "I will lose 25 pounds" or "No more dessert for me!" give way to our (not so healthy) patterns of old. The surest illustration of these Gung-Ho Resolution-ers is at the gym, where attendance spikes Jan. 1 and steadily goes back to normal by February.

My Dad, a fellow Badass from whom I inherited my muscle tone and love of iron-pumping, is an executive living in Tokyo. He tells me there is a Japanese saying for these people. It translates, literally, into "Three-Day Priest." Righteous for a few days, only to revert back to the "sins" of sloth and gluttony.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Our resolutions can actually become reality. We can actually see results. We can actually be long-term Badasses, instead of short-term Sort-of-Badasses. As a fitness instructor and personal trainer, I see a lot of people come and go. The ones who stay, who keep coming back and keep getting leaner and stronger, all follow a few simple but essential strategies to stay on the Badass path.

Here they are. Badass Tested and Approved:

1. Get Real: The fastest way to failed resolutions is by way of fantasy. Be real, honest, and true with yourself. If you love chocolate, swearing it off is unrealistic. Eventually, chocolate will overpower you. So don't swear it off. Find healthier ways to enjoy chocolate, moderation being the best way. If you truly hate running, don't resolve to run a marathon. Instead, find the activity that you enjoy enough to keep doing. Swimming, rowing, cycling, skating, surfing, tennis, hiking - whatever. If you're moving that Badass, you're ahead of the game.

2. Baby Steps: Vowing to "lose 50 pounds" is daunting. I mean, even 20 pounds can seem like a long ways away. Same goes with healthy eating. If you resolve to "eat 5 to 7 servings of fruits and veggies each day" but currently eat none, that is a huge adjustment. So why not break down those goals into smaller goals? Take baby steps:  "This week, I will eat one extra piece of fruit every day" or "I will lose 5 pounds by the end of January." Keep baby stepping, and within a few months you're closer than ever to your finish line.

3. Seeing is Believing: One of my cycling students is working to lose her baby weight, and the thing driving her is this: Swimsuit shopping in the spring. She has a visual of where she wants to be, of what she's working for. I still have the Dara Torres swimsuit picture on my refrigerator. Find a visual. Even the toughest of Badasses need a reminder of what the goal line looks like.

4. Reward thyself (sans food): We are a society that celebrates with food - the holiday season being the most gluttonous example. We also comfort ourselves with food. It starts when we're little, with ice cream rewards for good report cards, and continues through adulthood, when we commiserate with Ben & Jerry after a bad day. Well, get over it. This is one of the toughest things, but we have to recondition ourselves to reward ourselves and comfort ourselves withOUT food. When you have a rough day or week, why not get a massage or 'escape" with a movie? When you reach those baby-step goals, you should absolutely reward yourself - with new sneakers, a new workout outfit, or even a healthy cooking class. But not with an ice cream sundae.

5. Remember Why: What are you doing this for? What prompted you to make your resolution? Maybe it's wanting to set a better example for your child, or wanting to have the energy to run around after her. Maybe your doctor scared you with that "pre-diabetes" diagnosis. Maybe you're just sick of feeling like crap. Whatever your "why," don't forget it. In the toughest moments, when you start to feel like a temporary priest, remembering the "why" of your resolution can be the trigger to keep you going.

6. Stumble, don't fall: The Japanese joke about the "Three-Day Priest," but they have more than a few other wise proverbs and sayings as well. My current favorite: Fall down seven times, stand up eight. We are human. We will trip up, veer off path, skip a cycling class or eat M&Ms instead of light popcorn. The Badass thing to do when we fall is to get back up and keep on going. Fall down a few times, but always get up. And keep walking....right past that Three-Day Priest.

Coming up: Lessons from "Fatty," and the three things that could be holding you back from that sculpted Badass