FUEL  ~  Dish of the Day:
Looking for a way to make your traditional almond snack more appealing? We’ve got just the thing! Roasted Rosemary Almonds add a TON of flavor to your midday protein boost!  [Click here for additional Recipes]

SPARK  ~  Thought of the Day:
Quote of the Day: If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin. 
~ Ivan Turgenev

Essential Element:  Repetition is the mother of mastery.  Clinical research shows that new habits can be formed through repetition.  Our brain cells actually create novel connections and new habits are formed. [click here to read Spark Insight: Creating Change]

Journal: Sometimes it’s our creature comforts that create the greatest barriers to our success. Our daily latte. The leftovers from the kids plate. Those chocolate covered mints we snag every night. Take a minute and think about your creature comforts; those things you’re so used to that you’ve never considered their need to be vacationed from. Write three of them down. Take the next 21 days and consciously replace one of them. Add something remarkably valuable to your day in its place.   [Click here for additional Journal exercises]

We all do what we need to do to survive, “get by,” and in hopefully most cases, succeed.  In all of these, good, bad, or ugly, stress accumulates and adds to the load we’re already carrying through life.  Thankfully, we are surrounded with abundant information on how to productively quarantine, reduce, or ideally, dissipate the stress – the question is, have we looked into it yet?

There are none more powerful in managing stress levels than ourselves, and so we are charged with the responsibility of keeping tabs on how we are allowing stressors to affect us psychologically and ultimately, physically.  After reading Week 1′s SPARK Insight, we understand a few of the physiological effects of chronic stress, and are tasked with finding practical methods to incorporate daily to prevent stress-induced deficiency.

Here are some great “weapons” in our arsenal that everyone can use to combat chronic stress:

• Bonfire’s FUEL section provides a wonderful way to eliminate some of the stress of having to “cook up” healthy meals to fuel a hungry household, and provides grocery shopping lists and recipes with instructions each week.  Not only does this help with the planning and shopping aspects, but the real, live, and whole ingredients in the meal plan help our bodies be properly set up to physically deal with our daily stresses.

• Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, lists five quick tactics to reduce stress in various life areas.

• In line with this week’s Insights example of establishing a Peace of Mind Account (PMA) to cope with stress, this 2008 archive from the Chicago Tribune offers a couple more basic tactics to eliminating finance-induced anxiety.

We need to practice removing ourselves from our everyday stressors, even if for a few seconds at a time while right in the middle of them, and we need to be on-purpose about it.

One particularly inconspicuous strategy that is fun and costs nothing is a “three second vacation.”  For three seconds, close your eyes and let your mind transport you to the most relaxing place on earth – sights, sounds, scents, everything.  Breathe it all in deeply for three seconds, and then resume your activity (extend duration and/or repeat as many times throughout the day as necessary).

Also, to the extent that schedule and location make it practical, giving your body a chance to “reboot” comes highly recommended.

On a larger scale, we challenge you to use some of the most gratifying activities you’ve come to enjoy to assist in the battle against stress.  They don’t necessarily need to cost anything (it doesn’t cost much to take a sketch pad out to draw a landscape or to get out and climb a tree…preferably your own tree), but a reasonable expense is also acceptable (a ride along the coast on a sunny day, top-down in a rented convertible, a round of golf, or a session out on the community airfield with a radio controlled airplane…however, if the expense or challenge of the mechanism adds stress, please find another coping mechanism to use).  If we ask our Bonfire experts, we’re sure to find intense exercise and surfing among their top choices for coping mechanisms – not specifically for the coping aspect, but because they’re a main course of fun with a generous helping of stress-relief on the side.

We’re all different and there’s no sense in stressing about choosing coping mechanisms, so find your fun and you’ll discover a mechanism that works for you!

“I’m too busy to exercise”

… not if Tabata has anything to say about it!

Tabata is a high-intensity, interval training regimen that can produce remarkable results.  It only takes 4 minutes to do, and it’s incredibly effective!  You will be amazed at how intense the four minutes of exercise will feel.

• Uses any type of exercise
• Takes only 4 minutes
• Engages both aerobic and anaerobic energy systems
• Builds strength and endurance
• You can do it anywhere!

Here is How it Works:

• A Tabata workout is an interval training cycle of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest.
• The intervals are repeated 8 times without pause, so the total time of the Tabata workout is only four minutes.
• To be clear, this isn’t “eight sets of eight,” although the goal of doing eight reps in each of the 20-second clusters is pretty good.  Instead it’s “as many reps as I can get in” during the twenty seconds, followed by ten seconds rest.
• IMPORTANT: This isn’t a “four minute workout” – it’s meant to be done when your fully warmed up and possibly even at the end of a workout.

In terms of making your progress measurable, you can keep score by counting how many lifts or movements or distance or whatever you do in each of the 20 second rounds.  You can either add up the total of all your work done or make the round with the smallest number your score.

Credit for this simple and powerful training method belongs to its namesake, Dr. Izumi Tabata, and a team of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan.  Their groundbreaking 1996 study, published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise provided documented evidence concerning the dramatic physiological benefits of high-intensity intermittent training.  After just 6 weeks of testing, Dr. Tabata noted a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity in his subjects, along with a 14% increase in their ability to consume oxygen (V02Max).  The conclusion was that just four minutes of Tabata interval training could do more to boost aerobic and anaerobic capacity than an hour of endurance exercise.

Although Dr. Tabata used a mechanically braked exercise cycle machine, you can apply this protocol to almost any exercise.  For example, a basic Tabata workout can be performed with pushups.  The greater the range of motion done for each exercise, the better, so make sure your arms are locked out fully at the top and that your chest touches the ground at the bottom.  Perform pushups non-stop for 20-second intervals, followed by 10 seconds of rest.  Repeat for a total of 8 cycles.

Tabata Suggestions: 

• Push-ups
• Sit-ups
• Running (sprint)
• Swimming (sprint)
• Rowing
• Squats
• Jump rope
• Mountain Climbers
• Pull-ups
• Thrusters
• Burpees
• Lunges

Got it?  Now get moving!

Further reading and references:

Chronic Cardio Vs Short Interval High Intensity Exercise
Short Interval High Intensity Workouts Burn More Calories
Best Way to Improve Your Body Composition

Zieman E, et al. Aerobic and anaerobic changes with high-intensity interval training in active college-aged men. J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Apr;25(4):1104-12.

Laursen PB, Jenkins DG  The scientific basis for high-intensity interval training: optimising training programmes and maximising performance in highly trained endurance athletes. Sports Med. 2002;32(1):53-73.

AIR  ~  Movement of the Day:
Add some resistance to your Lunges this week and grab some weight! Dumbbell Lunges engage more of your upper body and who doesn’t love (and need!) a full body movement?! [Click here for additional Workouts]

SPARK  ~  Thought of the Day:
Quote of the Day:  I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
 ~ Helen Keller

Essential Element: Successful change agents have taught us some powerful best practices for adopting new behaviors. Ultimately, you have the power to create incredible positive, lasting changes in your health and life with the right skills and know-how.  [click here to read Spark Insight: Creating Change]

Journal:  In your journal – list three habits you have adopted over the last month – either intentionally or unintentionally.  How have they impacted your life?  What influence have they had  on your head space?  Have they afforded you greater capacity to be present in the moment? Now consider a habit you haven’t had the courage to put into practice. THIS is your week… Make it happen.  [Click here for additional Journal exercises]

Salt is good. Salt is bad.

Fat is good. Fat is bad.

All true statements, in a way.

Our bodies need all three, but probably not as much as you might be eating … or in the form you’re eating … OR more importantly, the source they’re coming from, etc.

Boy, are we confused in today’s culture. Studies now show that people are so confused about what’s good to eat and what’s bad to eat, they’re simply giving up. This isn’t a case of a little is good and too much is bad. The truth is that sugar, salt and fat are all good under certain conditions or when they meet certain criteria; and not simply because a little sugar (or salt or fat) is good and a lot is bad. It turns out the quality and type of sugar, salt and fat are the critical issues.

Good Sugar
There are sugars found naturally in foods such as bananas, dates, and honey. They are part of the natural food supply within our environment and can be considered good or healthy sugars. Because these “natural” sugars, when found within whole foods, are bound to fiber and combined with enzymes, vitamins, phytonutrients, minerals, co-factors and other natural nutrients that allow or cause the body to digest and metabolize them through healthy pathways and timelines, they are considered healthy sugars.

However, what’s not natural or healthy is an unlimited supply or overindulgence, even of natural or “healthy” sugars. Over the past five hundred generations as human biological requirements were being formed, abundance wasn’t a concern; famine was. Therefore, our bodies are designed to withstand famine but not indulgence or overconsumption of any foods, including healthy sugars found in natural foods. Early man did not have an unlimited supply of bananas, honey or strawberries (nor did those fruits resemble some of the hybrid fruits grown today to accentuate their sweetness). It should also be mentioned that because fruit juice comes from a natural source does not mean that it qualifies as a good or healthy sugar – it’s no longer bound to the fiber and other nutrients that are the hallmarks of a healthy food – it has become a refined sugar product with the same negative health effects as refined sugars.

Bad Sugar
A general statement can be made that any sweetener added to food is almost always going to be a refined, processed concentrated sugar of some sort; the exceptions being raw honey, dates (not date sugar) molasses, xylitol, and Stevia. It’s been only recently (in the last 3-4 generations), that man has devised ways to create highly concentrated “unnatural” sugars such as sucrose (table sugar), high fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose and the myriad of sugar derivatives. Similar to the risk of overabundance, during the eons of time when the current human genetic code was stamped into its present form, humans never experienced these unnatural, man-made, concentrated sugars. They are very toxic and deleterious to our health. These manufactured, super-sweet sugars cause the body to react in unhealthy ways resulting in damaged organs, tissues and cells in the form of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and obesity.

Good Sugars:

• Whole fruit
• Raw honey
• Whole dates
• Blackstrap molasses

**Even natural good sugars should be consumed in moderation, even fresh fruit.

Bad Sugars:

• Sucrose – table sugar (including dextrose, fructose)
• Corn syrup
• High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
• Crystalline fructose
• Extracted, filtered, pasteurized fruit juices
• Fruit juice concentrates

When we eat any foods that cause an abnormal spike in our glucose levels, which in turn causes abnormally high insulin levels, we put our bodies on a path to destruction. The foods that cause these abnormal conditions to occur are unnatural, concentrated sweeteners, such as those listed directly above. Eating unnatural concentrated sugars causes:

• Insulin resistance
• Impaired glucose tolerance
• High insulin levels
• High triglycerides
• Hypertension
• Weight gain

NOTE: Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (Nutrasweet, Equal) or sucralose (Splenda) are an entirely different topic with their own story to tell, none of it good.

NOTE 2: Grains act like sugar when we eat them – meaning they too cause high insulin levels.

Worth Your Salt?
In ancient Rome, soldiers were paid part of their wages in salt (the modern word salary is derived from the Latin word “salarium” – salt money); that’s where the term, “He’s not worth his salt” came from.

Salt is an essential substance used by nearly all living creatures, including humans, and is vital for survival. Salt, in solution with water, provides many regulatory metabolic functions within our bodies. Proper health is in part determined by the delicate balance of mineral salts and water that exist inside and outside our cells.

Salt as a food additive or seasoning has been around for nearly 6,000 years and has always been valued as a spice or condiment.  In its natural form (i.e. unrefined sea salt), it provides necessary minerals and trace elements and can therefore be considered healthy – but with major qualifiers: (a) unprocessed; and (b) not over consumed.  Unfortunately, table salt used commonly today is not natural and does not contain the valuable nutrients common to natural unprocessed sea salts.

Salt Found in Foods Naturally – GOOD
Salt, also known as soduim, does contain natural minerals including magnesium, calcium, sulfur, silicon, potassium, bromide, borate, and strontium and trace elements. What most people don’t realize it that all of the salt that you need is already found in many natural foods like fruits and vegetables. There is no need to add additional salt to foods.  In fact, too much salt can be deadly. You can easily get enough salt through eating a whole foods based diet.

Processed Table Salt – BAD
Most American’s grow up with Morton’s Iodized Salt – salt that typically contains 98% sodium chloride and 2% chemical additives and has been processed using high heat (1200°F), chemicals, and finally iodine added to it. This industrial processing changes the chemical structure and strips away valuable nutrients that are naturally occurring and health promoting. The end product is simply sodium chloride with added fillers (sugar and aluminum silicate , anti-caking agents) to stabilize the added iodine and to make the salt flow better.

The USDA says that people 19 and over should have no more than 2400mg of salt per day.  Based on what we know about the USDA, use this number as and extreme upper limit for salt intake. The problem is that most Americans are eating many times this amount per day, mostly from processed foods. Up to 75% of the extra salt that Americans are eating is from processed foods, with 20% coming from table salt. Only 5% of salt is coming from natural, healthy sources.  For instance, one McDonald’s Angus Bacon and Cheeseburger contains 2070mg of salt.  That is 85% of the absolute maxium amount of salt you can consume each day. The lesson here is to stick to fruits, veggies and healthy meats.  And kick the Morton’s to the curb.  For the foodies out there, if the thought of tossing your table salt makes your culinary ego cringe, do not fear.  Much like salt, a squeeze of fresh lemon can bring out the natural flavors in food, not to mention, the vitamin C will help you kick your squelch your salt cravings.

The Skinny on Fat
If there’s one thing health science has learned over the past 25 years, it’s that sufficient intake of quality fats is essential for health; this even includes saturated animal fat, long considered a taboo amongst so-called health experts. But don’t let the simplicity of that statement mislead you – it’s not an endorsement to eat any animal fat, deep fried foods, milk shakes, chips made with oils and the like; far from it – the quality AND source of fat is critically important.

First, the concept that eating fat will make a person become overweight is not an accurate statement. In fact, the current obesity epidemic began when Americans adopted the low-fat, non-fat, dietary regimen in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s that still persists today. Unfortunately, this “myth” of ‘avoiding fat because it will make you fat’ extends to the present, and as a culture, we’re paying dearly for it. What’s at the center of the obesity epidemic is not the need to avoid fat, it’s the consumption of grains, sugars, and processed vegetable oils which elevate insulin, the “fat storage hormone” that’s making our culture obese (in combination with sedentary lifestyles and chronic stress, which also cause abnormal insulin and fat metabolism).

As it turns out, our bodies utilize fat for nearly every metabolic process including brain function, immune system, and hormone production and regulation, to name just a few. These important bodily systems require a consistent supply of good fuel throughout each day in the form of fat (along with quality protein, and abundant complex carbohydrates in the form of vegetables). There are a special group of fats called essential fatty acids (EFA) which like the name states, are essential – our bodies can’t manufacture them, they must be consumed. The most important fat our bodies need in good supply (and are almost always lacking) is omega-3 essential fatty acids, commonly found in wild (not farmed) fish, grass- or pasture-fed animals, walnuts, avocados, and other raw nuts and seeds. The other principle essential fat is omega-6 fats which are found primarily in processed vegetable oils and grains, which unfortunately predominates the Standard American diet. Here’s the rub: for optimal health, we should eat a balanced 1:1 ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 EFA; however, today, scientists have calculated that most people are eating a diet giving them a ratio of 1:20 or even 1:50 in favor of omega-6 because the average American eats a diet dominated by grains (breads, pasta), cereals, chips, fried foods, baked goods, etc. that contain or are made with omega-6 vegetable oils and worse – hydrogenated vegetable oils which are very harmful to the body, causing heart disease and cancer.

Good Fats:

• Extra virgin olive oi
• Walnuts
• Avocado
• Wild caught fish
• Pasture-fed, grass-fed meats
• Fish oil supplements

Bad Fats:

• Deep fried foods
• Processed vegetable oils (found in nearly all packaged foods such as chips, snack foods, breads)
• Hydrogenated oils
• Grain-fed meats
• Cured meats (deli or “lunch meats”)
• Processed dairy (pasteurized, homogenized milk, ice cream, cheese)

Mastering these three critical food groups is similar to learning how to successfully merge onto an interstate highway – if done correctly, your journey to health will be smooth and uneventful; done poorly, it can be fatal.

Related Resources:

New England Journal of Medicine Study on the Effects of Salt Intake on Cardiovascular Disease

MSNBC: American’s Consume Too Much Salt

How To Manage A Salt Addiction

Why Salt Addiction is Hard to Kick

25 Suprisingly Salty Processed Foods

CDC: Few Americans Meet Salt Guidelines

FUEL  ~  Dish of the Day:
You don’t have to wait for lunch (or dinner!) to add a little Mexican spice to your day! Try our Salsa Scramble and add your favorite flavors to your eggs! [Click here for additional Recipes]

SPARK  ~  Thought of the Day:
Quote of the Day:  Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. … Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life.
 ~ Mary Manin Morrissey

Essential Element: Most people cannot readily describe what they want – what they would like to experience, become or create. This is exactly why most change efforts fail. [click here to read Spark Insight: Creating Change]

Journal:  If your spouse or closest friend was asked “What does (insert your name here) consistently complain about” – what would they answer?  How about if they were asked “What is (insert name) moving towards/ actively making happen in their life” ?  Answer both of these in your journal.   [Click here for additional Journal exercises]

AIR  ~  Movement of the Day:
Your Goat  It’s goat time – what do you avoid when exercising? Running? Sit Ups? Push Ups? It’s time to kill that goat.    [Click here for additional Workouts]

SPARK  ~  Thought of the Day:
Quote of the Day:  Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. ~ Steve Jobs

Essential Element:  Set a positive goal, and move toward what you want – rather than focusing on what’s wrong with what you currently have. [click here to read Spark Insight: Creating Change]

Journal:  Where can you make a change? List the top three things that have been irking you about your workplace – those things that have been driving you nuts. Look at the list and circle the one you know you have power to influence. Consider what actions you can take this coming week  (a conversation with your boss or co-worker, an earlier arrival time, etc) that will move you toward a better work week –  and ultimately a happier you!  [Click here for additional Journal exercises]

FUEL  ~  Dish of the Day:
Happy Mother’s Day! Treating Mom today doesn’t have to mean sugary, processed desserts! This Raw Cherry Pie will satisfy her sweet tooth AND leave everyone feeling great! Now that’s a good gift! [Click here for additional Recipes]

SPARK  ~  Thought of the Day:
Quote of the Day: When you make a mistake, don’t look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power. 
~ Hugh White

Essential Element: It is critical to “own” the reality that our behaviors have natural consequences and that these outcomes are remarkably predictable. [click here to read Spark Insight: Creating Change]

Journal:  What small thing have you done repeatedly over the last week that’s resulted in a predictable outcome? Is it something you’d like to repeat? Why or why not? Sunday is a great day to refresh, reset and repurpose yourself for the week.  Jot down the answers to these questions in your journal – and start your week on purpose.   [Click here for additional Journal exercises]

AIR  ~  Movement of the Day:
Check out Brandon’s video of Low Lateral Sliders today! Side to side or lateral movements, are vital for coordination, agility, and healthy hip joints. [Click here for additional Workouts]

SPARK  ~  Thought of the Day:
Quote of the Day: The great dividing line between Success and Failure can be expressed in five words… “I did not have time.” 

Essential Element: A best practice for ensuring an enriching start to your day is to allow 20 – 30 minutes for yourself. [click here to read Spark Insight: Morning Rituals]

Journal: We make time for the things we value. By valuing ourselves – making time for our own physical, mental and spiritual nourishment – we grant ourselves the capacity to be fully present during the most significant parts of our day.  Use your journal to write down 3 ways you can create space for yourself  to be nourished tomorrow morning.   [Click here for additional Journal exercises]