Melissa's Tip of the Week is designed to help you and your family to live happier, healthier lives through a healthy diet and exercise. View this email in your browser

Eat Fat to fight fat? Limiting fat is becoming passé... I used to be on the super low fat bandwagon, but over time, I realized that those fat free products were making it harder to stay at my goal weight, not easier.  Why?  Taking the fat out of a product means you have to add a bunch of chemicals and fillers to take its place,  and that means less fat can mean worse for your body and your waistline. “The amount of total fat is irrelevant, and we shouldn’t be using any numerical rule,” says Walter Willett, chair of the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. “But the type of fat is still relevant.” Aim to get the majority of your fats from whole foods such as nuts, fish, avocado, high-fiber grains, and olive oil, à la the Mediterranean diet (rather than 100-calorie snack packs). There are worse things than saturated fat, believe it or not, and they come in the form of refined carbs and sugar.  Wanna see what sugar does to your body?  Check out this Prevention  infographic of what sugar does to your body.  Aside from increasing wrinkles and inflammation, it adds unwanted pounds and exacerbates blood sugar issues, increasing insulin resistance and damaging your kidneys.  Bummer. One type of fat you should never eat?  Trans fats.  These are non-nutritious fats that can actually alter your cells.  They have been shown to increase bad cholesterol, and decrease good cholesterol.   Check the Nutrition Facts label and the ingredient list. If the Nutrition Facts label says the product has "0 g trans fat," that doesn't necessarily mean it has no trans fats. It could have up to half a gram of trans fats per serving. So check the ingredient label to see if "partially hydrogenated oils" is on the list. Those are trans fats. I've said this before, and I'll say it again:  the best way to avoid cravings is to crowd them out with lots of fresh vegetables, protein, healthy fats, and fruits.  If you eat the 9 cups of vegetables we should be striving for every day, it's pretty tough to eat other stuff, because you just don't have the room.  Fill your plate with veggies.  Add a little protein (chicken, fish, meat, nuts).  It takes longer to eat, you register fullness, and your body register satiety (your body realizes it got the nutrients it needed).

Remember at the end of August, I'll be handing out those logs for anyone that wants to try my "Daily Exercise Challenge".  Clients, class participants and small group trainees are all welcomed! Complete the sheet to get entered into a drawing for a 1/2 hour personal training session with me!   Low carb bread?  You bet!  I finally found a recipe that really tastes GOOD!!  If you have a nut allergy, I'm afraid this particular one won't work, but if it's not a problem, read on!  Here I've listed 1 TBSP honey--with the honey, this is 2.1 net carbs per slice.  If you replace with a tsp of Stevia, that drops to 1 net carb per slice.  Plus it's super filling! Coconut Milk Bread (credit to): http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/2013/01/coconut-milk-bread/)   gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, Paleo Wet Ingredients: 1 & 1/4 cups coconut milk, room temperature  (unsweetened almond milk also works) 4 whisked eggs, room temperature 1/4 cup melted coconut oil 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon honey (can be 1 tsp stevia) Dry Ingredients: 2 cups | 240g almond flour (I have used both Bob’s and Honeyville in this recipe) 1/2 cup | 70g coconut flour, sifted to remove any lumps 2 tbsp psyllium husk powder 1 teaspoon sea salt 3/4 teaspoon baking soda Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 1) Lay a piece of unbleached parchment paper across the bread loaf pan so that it goes down one of the long sides, across the bottom and back up the other long side. NOTE: If you use a different bread loaf pan the cooking time may change. 2) Grease the two exposed glass ends of the dish. Set aside. 3) Add dry ingredients to a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. 4) Add wet ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix with an electric mixer. 5) Add whisked dry ingredients to wet mixed ingredients. Mix with an electric mixer. 6) Using a flexible silicone spatula, scoop half of the batter into the prepared pan, and press it down firmly. 7) Add the rest of the batter to the dish using the flexible silicone spatula, and press down firmly again. (The top should be smooth and level when you’re finished.) 8) Bake for about 70 minutes. 9) Let the bread rest in the pan until cool. Small Group Training is starting anew!  With fall, our challenge is to get back into a routine.  With that in mind, I will be offering several options to get fit, lose weight, work on your goals... Wednesdays, 9am-10am;  FITT (Focus Integrated Team Training).  This will focus on exercises that work with your capabilities, while still providing a fat burning workout!  $99 for 6 weeks. Fridays, 10am-10:30 am, TRX YOGA FUSION>>>I'm using my 200 hour certification in yoga, and mixing it with my knowledge of the TRX as a tool to make a challenging fusion of the two.  $79 for 6 weeks. Saturdays, 11:30am-12:30am;  FITT (Focus Integrated Team Training).  This will focus on exercises that work with your capabilities, while still providing a fat burning workout!  $99 for 6 weeks.

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