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GGS Holiday Gift Guide – Five Health Books for any Budget

Crazy Legs — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:00:53 +0000

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Girl Get Strong’s Holiday Gift Guide

Giving the Gifts of Health and Fitness

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Book Edition

Books are meaningful gifts at affordable prices and they’re the perfect presents to cuddle up with in front of the fireplace this holiday season. Here are five books on health and fitness that caught our attention and would make great gifts for any budget.

Robin Takes 5: 500 Recipes, 5 Ingredients or Less, 500 Calories or Less, for 5 Nights/Week at 5:00 PM

Description

It’s 5:00 PM. Everyone’s hungry. It’s takeout or fakeout, meaning nuking a processed meal from the freezer. But there’s a third option that doesn’t include processed food or an unhealthy heap of calories and fat–Robin Takes 5.

Imagine quickly preparing delicious meals for yourself, your friends, and your family with just 5 fabulous ingredients. Does it get any better? Absolutely, with Robin Takes 5. The book features 500 recipes and each dish is a mouthwatering 500 calories or less. Two-color recipe text complements full-color photography inserts. In addition, helpful icons note ideal recipes for holidays and entertaining as well as recipes with less than 500 mg of sodium. That’s not all–nutritional information is given for each recipe.

In Robin Takes 5 500 recipes highlight at least 10 different ethnic cuisines, and dishes range from soups, pizzas, and pastas, to chicken, beef, pork, seafood, side dishes, and desserts. Consider 70 recipes just for chicken, such as Cashew Crusted Chicken with Roasted Jalapeno-Mango Chutney, and 50 dessert recipes, such as Orange Marmalade Tart with Chocolate Covered Almonds. Consider yourself armed for mealtime. The next time the clock strikes 5:00 PM and you want both noshing and nourishment, check out Robin Takes 5.

About the Author

Robin has been a food writer and a nutritionist since 1990. She is the author of the best-selling cookbook Quick Fix Meals. Her popular show Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller currently airs on the Food Network. Her primetime show Robin to the Rescue premiered on the Food Network in March 2007. Robin’s recipes and nutrition features can be seen regularly in a variety of media outlets, including the Today show on NBC, The Early Show on CBS, Good Morning America on ABC, Live! with Regis and Kelly, Fox News Channel, Food Network, HGTV, Guideposts, Cooking Light, Health, Fitness, Fit Pregnancy, Woman’s World, and Parade. Robin has a master’s degree in food and nutrition from New York University.

Women’s Home Workout Bible

by Brad Schoenfeld

Shed unwanted weight, sculpt your physique, tone muscles, reduce joint pain, or simply be healthier and more fit. Women’s Home Workout Bible will show you how–all in the privacy and comfort of your own home.

In Women’s Home Workout Bible, best-selling author and renowned personal trainer Brad Schoenfeld shares his secrets on the perfect at-home workout. Step by step, you’ll identify the home gym setup and workouts for your fitness goals, schedule, and budget.

You’ll learn how to set up your personal gym for as little as $100, or expand your options with more equipment for $500, $1000, or more than $2500. Whatever your budget, with over 160 exercises, you’ll have plenty of variety, including bands, balls, free weights, and fitness machines.

Women’s Home Workout Bible will then ensure you get the most out of your investment. You’ll learn how to set up workouts and organize your training for noticeable results. To get you started, there are 12 four-week programs for conditioning, sculpting, and core stability, plus three levels of fat-burning cardio workouts. And with expert advice, exercise tips, and answers to the questions you always wanted to ask, it’s like having your very own personal trainer and fitness consultant. If you’re ready to reclaim your body without the expense or scrutiny of public health clubs, you need the Women’s Home Workout Bible.

The 10-Minute Total Body Breakthrough

by Sean Foy

Introducing a breathtaking promise: transform your body and get fit in just 10 minutes a day. Incorporating the latest research in exercise physiology, The 10-Minute Total Body Breakthrough is an ingenious program of interval, circuit, aerobic, and resistance training that accrues the benefits of hours at the gym in daily 10-minute workouts. And these are workouts that can be done anywhere, any time—home, office, hotel room, the park, and, of course, the local health club.

Created by Sean Foy, an exercise physiologist and behavioral coach, The 10-Minute Total Body Breakthrough counters the #1 reason people don’t exercise—not enough time—with a scientifically proven, clinically tested 4-3-2-1 program: 4 minutes of high-energy cardio, 3 minutes of resistance, 2 minutes of core, and 1 minute of stretching and deep breathing. The step-by-step illustrated exercises are simplicity itself—air boxing, wall push-ups, chair jogging, stationary high-knee marching—and are presented in three levels geared to the reader’s fitness, with four weeks of routines per level. Their potency lies in the benefits of nonstop movement, thermal effect, intensity, and more: in other words, why it truly takes just 10 carefully crafted minutes to boost metabolic rate, exercise all the major muscle groups, increase cardiovascular endurance, have a positive effect on cholesterol and blood pressure, and deliver a sense of well-being. The 10-Minute Total Body Breakthrough

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

by Christopher McDougall

Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.

Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, the author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder.

With a sharp wit and wild exuberance, McDougall takes us from the high-tech science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultrarunners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to the climactic race in the Copper Canyons. Born to Run is that rare book that will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that the secret to happiness is right at your feet, and that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.

Thrive Fitness: The Vegan-Based Training Program for Maximum Strength, Health, and Fitness

by Brendan Brazier

In an easy-to-apply system, complete with detailed exercise descriptions and pictures, author Brendan Brazier explains his ground-breaking approach to fitness and how you can gain maximum results in minimal time.
As one of only a few professional athletes whose diet is 100 percent plant-based, Brazier is a professional Ironman triathlete, two-time Canadian 50k ultra marathon champion and the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called VEGA. Brazier researched and developed this easy-to-follow program to enhance his performance as an elite endurance athlete. In addition to being completely plant-based, the recipes in Thrive Fitness are free of all common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, soy and corn.

Click here to read the rest of the GGS Holiday Gift Guide

8 Foods, 8 Weeks to Help your Heart

Sian — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 08:00:25 +0000

We are doing a mass giveaway of fitness books on Facebook right now! We are giving away this book plus a whole 7 more days of book giveaways coming up! So be sure to LIKE us on Facebook for even more groovy giveaways!

Q & A with Janet Bond Brill, Ph.D. R.D., LDN
Author of Prevent a Second Heart Attack: 8 Foods, 8 Weeks to Reverse Heart Disease

Q: Why did you write the book Prevent a Second Heart Attack?

A: I saw a need among heart attack survivors that was not being filled. Currently, more than 13 million Americans have either survived a heart attack or been diagnosed with heart disease. As a registered dietitian specializing in cardiovascular disease prevention, I have found that heart attack survivors simply are not following a lifestyle plan that would help them to prevent a second attack. What many of these “survivors” need to know is that a healthy lifestyle and carefully following doctor’s orders can prevent another heart attack. The problem is that many of these individuals find the “cardiac diet” too restrictive or complicated, and some receive no lifestyle counseling. What’s more, if the heart attack survivor decides to go it alone and purchase a self-help book, he or she may reach for one of the best-selling heart disease reversal books that promote a punishing, “extreme” fringe diet. Most of these books feature Spartan, vegan-style eating plans that are simply too difficult to follow and frankly are just not livable. Why should heart attack survivors be punished further with the burden of tasteless, low-fat plans when there is a better way? My book gives these people good news – - that they can prevent new plaque buildup and even reverse or stabilize dangerous, vulnerable plaque in their coronary arteries with a delightfully palatable lifestyle strategy where they can still enjoy the good things in life.

Q: But what exactly are the best lifestyle changes – - alongside drugs – - for preventing a second heart attack and even reversing heart disease?

A: That is the very question this book answers. A tremendous amount of scientific research has investigated the application of various diet and exercise plans in preventing further coronary events. I have found that the bulk of the scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the notion that post–heart attack patients should be advised to eat a Mediterranean-style diet, be physically active at least thirty minutes a day, and not smoke. In fact, the famed Lyon Heart Study that tested a Cretan Mediterranean diet in cardiac patients reported a phenomenal reduction of recurrence rate of 70 percent compared to the control diet (a typical low-fat Western-style diet). Thus, the bulk of the scientific research is crystal clear: a Mediterranean style of eating combined with physical activity is the optimal lifestyle plan for preventing a second heart attack and is far superior to the low-fat vegetarian diet regimens typically prescribed to heart patients in the fat-phobic ’90s (and that continue to line bookstore shelves today). I propose that a Mediterranean-style diet, as outlined in Prevent a Second Heart Attack and backed by powerful evidence, can be even more effective than the eating plans currently recommended by many cardiologists – - simply because it tastes good and makes life more enjoyable. Following vegan-style plans can also reverse heart disease but only if adhered to – - an extremely difficult chore for most Americans.

Q: Did you have a personal reason for writing this book?

A: All the men I love have either died of heart disease or are currently living with the disease. My father had his first heart attack at age forty-five and died from his second attack several years later. He was never given any lifestyle advice that could have helped him prevent or reverse his disease. My father-in-law, Harry, had his first heart attack at forty-eight years old and had his second bypass operation two years ago at age seventy-eight. He has tried many of the low-fat vegetarian diets over the years but has found them too difficult to adhere to on a consistent basis. My husband, Sam, had his first heart attack two years ago at age fifty-one. So I wrote this book with the hope that Sam, Harry, and the 13 million other American heart attack survivors will follow the advice set forth in these pages: a livable lifestyle that will show them the way to a long, happy, and healthy life by teaching them how to prevent that second lethal attack and even reverse the actual disease process.

Q: Hindsight is 20/20, but is there anything you would have suggested your husband, Sam, do to prevent his first heart attack?

A: Looking back, I would say I underestimated the power of three risk factors to promote a heart attack: severe emotional duress, family history, and a low HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Fearful that he would follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps (his grandfather died of a heart attack at age thirty-five), Sam underwent an invasive medical test (an angiogram) at age forty-five to reassure him that he was free of his family scourge. The results came back negative for any trace of cardiovascular disease. His blood values were excellent except for a low HDL value of 32 (under 40 mg/dL is considered a risk factor). He didn’t smoke, had normal blood pressure, and was not overweight. He continued under the care of his cardiologist – - and had passed his exercise stress tests with flying colors. Then came the economic tsunami that hit the Florida real estate market (my husband is a general contractor) . . . combined with the stress of his father’s second bypass operation . . . and he had a heart attack on July 31, 2009 – - and thankfully survived with minor heart muscle damage. So obviously, looking back, he should have been taking much more aggressive preventive measures given his family history – - such as medications, HDL-boosting lifestyle measures, and practicing more stress management techniques.

Q: Is heart disease really reversible?

A: Yes. Studies published in leading medical journals have shown that following a lifestyle similar to the one outlined in my book – - and combined with physician-prescribed medications – - can stabilize and even reverse vulnerable plaque.

Q: Can I eat red meat?

A: The Prevent a Second Heart Attack plan consists of removing the plaque- building foods (red meat, cream, butter, eggs, and cheese) that cause blood vessel damage and replacing them with delicious anti-inflammatory foods that facilitate the body’s natural healing processes to reverse existing heart disease and restore quality of life. To combat the confusion issue, the Prevent a Second Heart Attack Plan offers powerful lifesaving advice, translating the complex clinical findings into a simple, easy-to-follow set of guidelines, “The Eight Dietary Commandments”: (1) no more butter and cream, to be replaced by extra virgin olive oil; (2) no day without greens and other vegetables; (3) no day without figs or other fruit; (4 & 5) no meat (beef, lamb, pork), and replaced by fish and legumes; (6) no day without walnuts and flaxseeds; (7) no day without whole grains and cereals; (8) and moderate alcohol consumption, mainly in the form of red wine, recommended at dinner. (Plus a bonus food – - deep, dark, sinfully rich chocolate!)

Q: What is the best exercise for my heart?

A: The scientific consensus is that walking is the best exercise prescription for fighting off heart disease. How much, how often, and how fast (plus a discussion of the latest scientific research on exercise for heart disease) is detailed in the chapter on exercise. The best medicine for healing the arteries and reversing heart disease is moderate exercise, and the best exercise for you is the one you will do on a daily basis!

Q: What makes your plan so different and easier to follow than some of the other heart disease reversal plans on the market?

A: Many of the best-selling plans advise avoiding fish; any and all kinds of oil; avocado; nuts; seeds, and chocolate–delightfully tasty foods–all advocated in my plan.

Q: Can I really begin to heal my arteries in just 8 weeks?

A: Clinical research has shown a significant reduction in the rate of secondary events in post-heart attack subjects switching to a Mediterranean-style diet–in as little as 6 weeks.

Q: What about protein–where do I get my protein from?

A: The Prevent a Second heart Attack plan urges you to become a “vegaquarium.” By getting your protein from the earth and the sea, you will also be fueling your body with numerous additional nutrients that fortify your daily heart disease defense system–artery healing components not found in a Western-style diet high in animal protein.

Q: Can I drink coffee and tea?

A: The Prevent a Second heart Attack plan is a plant-based diet. Both coffee and tea are made from plants–and plants contain plaque-fighting phytonutrients. So yes, you can have coffee and tea.

Q: What about supplements?

A: Not all supplements are created equally when it comes to treating and reversing plaque buildup. Three stand out among the crowd and should be in every heart attack survivor’s medicine chest: Niacin; Vitamin D3; Fish oil.

Author Bio
Janet Bond Brill, Ph.D., R.D., LDN, author of Prevent a Second Heart Attack: 8 Foods, 8 Weeks to Reverse Heart Disease, is a diet, nutrition, and fitness expert who has appeared on national television. She is the author of Cholesterol Down: 10 Simple Steps to Lower Your Cholesterol In 4 Weeks Without Prescription Drugs, and specializes in cardiovascular disease prevention. Dr. Brill lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and three children.

For more information please visit http://preventasecondheartattack.com/ and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter

The Worst Fitness Habits

Sian — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:30:28 +0000

We are doing a mass giveaway of fitness books on Facebook right now! We gave away a copy of this book away yesterday but we have another copy to giveaway PLUS a whole 7 more days of book giveaways coming up! So be sure to LIKE us on Facebook for even more groovy giveaways!

The followng is brought to you from Your Best Body Now: Look and Feel Fabulous at Any Age the Eat-Clean Wayby Tosca Reno with copyright permission. This is a GGS approved book that we all adore.

Some workout habits arise out of laziness, and some are downright dangerous. Check out the worst fitness mistakes you can make and the simple corrections that can help you stay focused.

1) FORM. I can’t say this enough . . . form is your safety net. Once you compromise the way you do the move, you’re no longer getting the greatest benefits from the exercise and you’re seriously increasing your risk of getting hurt. Even if it means lowering the amount of weight you are lifting, follow the correct form for the most outstanding results.

2) OVERTRAINING. I believe in staying motivated, but don’t expect that you’re going to dive right in and pound your body into its best shape ever overnight. Not only will this all-or-nothing attitude cause burnout, but you also risk injury and you will definitely give up on yourself because this is an unreasonable expectation. Instead, you’re going to gradually build up your muscles so they get the most effective, efficient workout possible. If you follow the Best Body Now program, more doesn’t always mean better, faster results. And remember, rest is good for your body. Take days off between training to repair and rebuild, or if you’re training daily, don’t work the same muscle groups back to back.

3) UNDERTRAINING. Once you’re dressed and ready to sweat, commit to giving it your all for the next thirty to sixty minutes. Just going through the motions doesn’t do anything for your body and makes it easy to let boredom creep in. You owe this time to yourself — you deserve it — so make sure you give it your all. As So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Debbie Allen says, “Put on your short stuff and sweat!” I like it!

4) DAYDREAMING. It’s so easy to let your mind wander while you’re lifting weights, but studies, such as those published in Athletic Insight and the Journal of Motor Behavior, have shown that when you’re completely focused on each rep, more muscle fibers are used. You can develop a laser-sharp focus by actively involving your mind in every set and rep, thinking about how your body moves, how the muscle engages, which muscle or muscles you’re using and correct form. This adds up to a better workout and faster results. So forget about the laundry, your kids’ schedules and your afternoon conference call, and stay 100 percent in the moment.

5) STAYING WITH A FEW EXERCISES YOU KNOW. Your muscles love being challenged, so if you just stick to the same routine, they’ll eventually adapt and won’t have to work as hard to do the same moves. But if you change the exercises and even the order you do them in, you ensure that muscles don’t get too efficient at any single routine. Not only is this better for toning, but it also helps your mind stay focused and engaged.

6) HOLDING YOUR BREATH. Regular steady breathing has many benefits, including keeping you from passing out. The upsides are that proper inhalations and exhalations can help you power through moves, keep lactic acid (a by-product that builds up in the muscles during exertion) at bay and help maintain a steady heart rate. A full breath delivers the maximum amount of oxygen to the blood, which in turn delivers more energy to the working muscles.
The above is an excerpt from the book Your Best Body Now: Look and Feel Fabulous at Any Age the Eat-Clean Way by Tosca Reno with Stacy Baker. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Author Bios
Tosca Reno, B.Sc., B.Ed., author of Your Best Body Now: Look and Feel Fabulous at Any Age the Eat-Clean Way, is the bestselling author of the Eat-Clean Diet® book franchise, which has sold over a million copies worldwide. A magazine columnist and fitness model, she has spent the past decade putting her principle of health, fitness and wellness in motion in her own life, and sharing her proven plans with readers through her books, regular columns in Oxygen and Clean Eating® magazines and media appearances. She has appeared on Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, Extra and The Doctors, among others.

Visit her at www.ToscaReno.com and www.EatCleanDiet.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Stacy Baker, coauthor of Your Best Body Now: Look and Feel Fabulous at Any Age the Eat-Clean Way, is a health and fitness writer whose work has appeared in publications such as Self, Shape, Fitness, InStyle, Women’s Health, Family Circle, Prevention and more.

Non-Diet but Healthy Lifestyle Books + Giveaway

Sian — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:30:28 +0000

Winners are Janet F and Susan C!

No more diet books, please! We all know you can not do a crash diet and expect to keep off the weight. It just does not work. Time and time again so many people do these crazy diets and down goes their weight and than back it comes. Such a horrible vicious cycle. So two new books came across my desk and I was so happy that both of them really were about lifestyle change and not about some fad diet…yipeeee!

The Body Fat Solution by Tom Venuto

Tom Venuto has a reputation as a man who is a fat loss expert and a natural, steroid-free bodybuilder. Since 1990, he has trained hundreds of individuals. He also has a highly successful ebook called Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle.

I found this book really trying to change the way people see and think about food and exercise. I really thought the author did a great job by starting at the beginning to make the change and how to keep the healthy life style going. Tom puts it together all in once place. You will learn:

* Promote thinking about food positively
* Recommended food list plus recipes
* Become motivated
* Exercises (including pictures) with plans
* Increase metabolism
* Break the fat loss plateau and how to maintain
* Develop a positive social network ++ much more!

It is very easy to read and is very well laid out. You will have EVERYthing you need to get you started in a healthy life style. Great read!

This GGS gal gives it out of 5 dumbbells. No wonder it is a best seller!

Clean, Green & Lean by Dr. Walter Crinnion

This book is all about going organic and clean and green. Everything from what you are eating, to what you are cleaning your house with could possibly be the culprit for weight problems. I thought this book was very well written and it certainly had me thinking about what chemicals I put in my body or I am around each day. You don’t really have to lose weight for this book to have an impact on you. Its a good read just to get all the toxins out of your body. It turns out that toxins are stored in fat and they compromise the mitochondria, which Crinnion describes as “the fat cells’ power plants. Yikeesss!! I do really think that North Americans eat way too much processed foods. The only thing I didn’t like was how heavy the author relied on supplements.

To take some tips out of this book and get rid of toxins would be very helpful for everyone and really what do you have to lose?

This GGS gal gives it out of 5 dumbbells.

To the giveaway….

Want to read either of these books ? We’re giving away a copy of each! Leave a comment below telling us what book you would like to get your hands on. Winners will be notified by email. U.S. residents only, please.

Contest ends May 28, 2010~good luck!