Club KO Kickboxing & Fitness Blog

Iced coffee and Chinese noodles!

Jennifer Nicole Lee’s Get Slim Fast Plan

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, says Jennifer. “I eat breakfast like a queen, lunch like a princess, and dinner like a pauper – dwindling my calories down from morning to night.”

Breakfast: Cage-free egg whites with spinach, mushrooms, olive oil and garlic. Half a cup of cooked multigrain hot cereal (blend of rye, barley, oats and wheat) with two tablespoons of coconut oil and two tablespoons of wheat germ.

Mid-morning meal: Protein shake blended with water, two tablespoons ground flax seed, one tablespoon of coconut oil, one tablespoon enriched flax oil and one tablespoon of evening primrose oil.

Lunch: Either grilled chicken or four percent ground beef burger, served as an open-face sandwich on dark-sprouted German wheat bread topped with hummus, alfalfa sprouts, spinach, matchstick carrots and Roman tomatoes.

Late-afternoon meal: Protein shake blended with water, two tablespoons of ground flax seed mix, one tablespoon of coconut oil, one tablespoon enriched flax oil and one tablespoon of evening primrose oil.

Dinner: Steamed wild cod marinated with soy and wasabi, served with mixed steamed veggies, and a side salad with ginger dressing.

*Late night snack: “If I get super hungry and can’t sleep, I’ll have a protein shake made with water,“ Jennifer says.

Jennifer Nicole Lee’s weekly training schedule:

Monday: Legs

“Leg day is always the hardest for me,” she says. “I love to work out my lower body with weights, but I also push myself to the max with plyometrics to see the results I want.” Perform 3 sets, 8-12 reps of each: lunge, squat, leg extension, weighted step-ups. Perform in a circuit: snap jumps (an alternative for jumping rope), lateral jumps, box jumps.

Tuesday: Back and Biceps

“Nothing is sexier than a toned back, especially if your dress is backless,” she says. “Make sure your posture is perfect when you’re training your back!” Perform 3 sets, 8-12 reps of each: bent over row, cable row, cambered bar lying row.

“When working your biceps, make sure you squeeze at the top of the curling motion, slowly lowering to work the entire move.” Perform 3 sets, 8-12 reps of each: incline dumbbell curl, barbell curl, cable hammer curls.

Wednesday: Cardio and Core

“I train for speed and agility,” says Jennifer, who will do cardio and core work for 45 minutes each week. Perform in a circuit: hanging abs, reverse crunch, twists.

Thursday: Shoulders and Calves

Jennifer says she loves having “sleek and sexy muscular mushroom caps” for shoulders. “They’re essential to creating that perfect symmetry and V-taper. I aim to hit my supraspinatus and anterior, medial and posterior deltoids each time I work my shoulders,” she adds. Perform 3 sets, 8-12 reps of each: Arnold press, lateral raise, lying row, cable raise.

Calf muscles are stubborn and often neglected. Stick with it – you’ll see gains soon, Jennifer says. Perform 3 sets, 8-12 reps of each: standing calf raise, seated calf raise.

Friday: Chest and Triceps

“There are many benefits to working chest, including an instant lift! Perform 3 sets, 8-12 reps of each: bench press, incline press, incline dumbbell flye.

“You’ll get jiggle-free arms with these moves,” says Jennifer. Perform 3 sets, 8-12 reps of each: kickback, triceps extension, triceps press, dips.

Saturday: Cardio and Core

(Same as Wednesday)

Sunday: Active Rest

“I don’t necessarily work out per se,” says Jennifer. “However, I stay active by swimming in my pool or kicking the soccer ball around with my sons.”

Get Sexy Full Seductive Lips with Celebrity Sexy Lips Plumper

In the last decade or so the popularity of Cosmetic and Plastic surgery has increased. It’s not just celebrities or the rich who are getting work done anymore either! Everyday people - men, women, and even teens are having procedures done to fix problem areas or in some cases to boost their self esteem.I’m a nurse and I used to work for a plastic surgeon. After seeing so many people come in to everything from signs of aging to lopsided breasts treated I even began to consider the possibility of having some work done. I never did have any treatments, but I did consider trying Botox to get rid of a few lines and some of the other products that fill in lines or that are used to plump lips.

One of the reasons that I never tried any of the popular treatments while I worked with the plastic surgeon was that I really didn’t need it at the time nor could I justify the cost. Sure I probably would have had a great discount since I worked at the clinic, but it still would have been expensive!

I wasn’t that big on the idea of having injections in my lips either. Ow! I can only imagine how painful that would be! Plus, what if the treatment went wrong? We’ve all heard stories of people with lumpy lips or frozen expressions after some of these treatments. I’ve even seen the results of treatments gone bad! Oh not by the doctor I worked with … no, it was clients coming in to see if a treatment that they’d had done elsewhere could be fixed.

Luckily for those of us who want to have fuller sexier lips there’s a topical product that we can try. Think about it … you can have fuller lips without the pain of having injections! Oh and the price is more than reasonable too.

So what product am I talking about? Well, it’s called celebrity sexy lip plumper. It will give you a sexy pout just like many of your favorite celebrities. Think perhaps Angelina Jolie’s lips … full, beautiful and very sexy.

I’ve never tried any of the lip plumping products that are on the market, but I’ve heard that some can cause a stinging or cause dry chapped lips. Luckily this lip plumper doesn’t cause any drying or chapping nor does it cause burning or irritation. Just apply it as you would lip gloss and the active ingredients will draw moisture in to plump your lips while also protecting and nourishing your lips at the same time.

Sounds like it’s worth trying, doesn’t it? The website states that Celebrity Sexy Lips is the only plumper with both immediate and long term results. They also have a fantastic guarantee. If for any reason you aren’t completely satisfied with their lip plumper you can return it for a full refund. No questions asked.

Celebrity Sexy Lip plumper has also been discussed over at Something Stylish, OH! Oxygen, E Entertainment Television, Extra, Ok! Weekly, Style and VHR. This lip plumper must be gaining in popularity if all of these celebrity and entertainment related companies are buzzing about it.

This review has been sponsored via ReviewMe and Celebrity Sexy Lip Plumper.

What Happens to Your Body When… You Carb Binge?

Another day, another co-worker’s birthday (and the obligatory cake in the break room). Elaine Benes was right: this is insanity.

You’re into the Primal style of eating, so it’s easy to resist this stuff, right? You ignored the dirty looks when you turned down that piece of fudge-smothered bundt cake offered by your boss’s wife at their employee open house. You don’t mind gnawing on the few anemic carrot sticks left at the annual holiday party. Dessert just isn’t part of your vocabulary.

But would it hurt to indulge this once? This guy’s birthday? Well, you like him well enough, and the cake is a lemon cream after all. And it’s the end of the work day. Seriously, it’s not like you’ll suddenly burst into flame and melt in a fiery, torturous death, leaving nothing but a smoldering spot on the carpet. You’re disciplined. You can more than make up for this later. The worst that can happen is a sugar rush, and you spent half your time at summer camp walking (well, running) around in that state. Those were good times. Oh what the heck, gimme a slice. Yeah, sure, a little ice cream too.

So, what will happen? To your body, we mean. Once the plastic fork (with its spongy contents) hits your mouth. What goes on in there anyway? And why are you suddenly thinking of Willy Wonka and that kid who gets sucked down the garbage chute?

First off, the good news. There’s no purple suited man to pull an ominous lever. Nor is there any other permanent fate awaiting you. You’ll leave work a live, generally functional human being. They’ll be no curse or pox on your house or even truly long-term risk elevation for that matter. Nonetheless, you’ll likely regret your decision.

Within a matter of 10 quick forkfuls, you’ve gone from small doses of quality carbs wisely spread throughout the day to possibly 100 or more grams of pure sugar in one sitting. O.K., some guilt is setting in…. But that’s not all that’s happening.

The Domino Effect

Within a few minutes, your pancreas kicks into overdrive and sends out a flood of insulin to try to sop up all the excess glucose that’s suddenly rushing through your bloodstream. Remember, while glucose is muscle fuel when it’s in the muscles, it’s toxic sludge when it stays in your bloodstream. Your body knows that and does everything it can to get it out of there. Perhaps you’re feeling flushed, a little high, spastic, or nauseous depending on how much you ate, how big you are, what your normal carb load is, and how acutely you tend to “feel” the effects of sugar and other substances. Ironically, if you were insulin resistant, you might not even notice these sensations, but you’re not. You’re a clean-fuel-burning primal specimen.

And it continues. The gush of insulin now creates a see-saw effect. If your glycogen stores have room, some of the sugar goes into muscles. If there’s no more room, the excess goes into fat cells, where it is stored as fat. In reaction to this quasi-emergency that looks like another life-threatening stress, the body steps up its efforts to achieve homeostasis by releasing both epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol from your adrenals. Your heart is racing, and you’re starting to feel uncomfortable, maybe even sweating. And we’re still likely within the first hour after you finished off that cake!

A bit more time passes. Burnout settling in yet? That’s called a sugar crash - when all the glucose is gone from the bloodstream and you start to feel sluggish, off-kilter, like the internal circuits are all fried after sparking in a heap of now smoldering wires. Hmm. Maybe that spontaneous combustion image wasn’t so far after all.

But there’s more…. The havoc that sugar rush set off - the swing of glucose and insulin, the cortisol and adrenaline - they’ve sent your immune system into a tailspin. Research has shown that the function of immunity-related phagocytes is impaired for at least five hours after intake of simple sugars. Free radicals have their heyday as well within the first few hours after sugar increases oxidative stress on the body. Your blood even thickens as a response to the stressors.

Wait, you aren’t out of the woods yet. You get home and try to sleep it off, but you toss and turn as your heart continues to beat faster than normal. Hmm. Little surprise there. The old hormonal system is confounding in its interconnectedness. You lay there cursing not just that cake but the entire cultural custom of birthday celebration. As the sun comes up and you roll out of bed, you think you should be done with this sugar business by now. Maybe. Maybe not. Unfortunately, a hefty dose of sugar can compromise the immune system for more than 24 hours. Groan. The images flash before you. The flu your daughter brought home earlier this week. The miserable cold (that incessant cough!) your boss has. Passing plans or reports around the meeting room. Shaking hands with the new clients who came by yesterday. Your toddler’s insistence on drinking from your cup last night. Suddenly you’re seeing your week in a new (and dimmer) light. Your immune system might have handled it all quite easily before the sugar incidence/insult. That’s one birthday cake that keeps on giving!

As bad as this sounds, it could be worse. If you follow the Primal Blueprint regularly and the lemon cream was just a detour, you’re a generally healthy person. You’ll experience the effects, and you may feel them more acutely than you did before you chose the low-carb path. (This isn’t a bad thing.) Nonetheless, after the dust settles, the worst thing you can end up with is maybe a cold you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Your system will realign itself pretty readily. Within a couple of PB style days you’ll be as good as new.

But if this is a normal day? Sigh. This presents a much bleaker picture. That see-saw of insulin and glucose? The process breaks down in your body until you develop insulin resistance. That rush of adrenaline and cortisol? That hormonal havoc over time fries your adrenal system. Your body is constantly in a state of “fight,” and inflammation becomes a constant state of affairs. Enough sugar over enough time (with the lack of exercise to boot), and you’ve gotten yourself into quite a pickle. (Maybe a pickle would’ve been a better snack choice….)

The Primal Blueprint offers up a plan to help guide our everyday choices as well as information to help us weigh the compromises we choose to make along the way. How we take care of ourselves each and every day can ameliorate the more taxing damage from occasional concessions we make for personal and social reasons.

And so we conclude the Willy Wonka journey.

What are your thoughts on sugar shock? PB compromise? Questions? Stories to share?

Will Cocoa Soon Be Used as Medicine?

Specially formulated cocoa very well might soon be considered part of a treatment plan for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in diabetics. According to new research, after diabetic patients drank a special high-flavonol cocoa for one month, blood vessel function went from severely impaired to normal. Flavanols are natural plant compounds also found in tea, red wine, and certain fruits and vegetables. They are responsible for cocoa’s healthful benefits. The improvement was as large as has been observed with exercise and many common diabetic medications. The cocoa used in this study is not sold in the supermarket. Sources: Eurekalert May 26, 2008 Journal of the American College of Cardiology June 3, 2008; 51(22):2150-2 (Free Full Length Article PDF) Journal of the American College of Cardiology June 3, 2008 Editorial Comment (Free Full Length PFD)

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Fruit Can Keep Your Arteries Squeaky Clean

A study on juices made from apples or purple grapes showed that both the juices and the fruits themselves can help prevent clogged arteries.

Researchers fed hamsters fruit and juice along with a fatty diet. The animals who were fed grape juice had the lowest risk of developing artery problems. The benefits came from the fruits’ high levels of phenols, a potent antioxidant. Antioxidants in various foods are already known to be beneficial to heart health. In this case, the team wanted to see how juicing affected the phenol content, because most studies have looked at raw fruit.

The hamsters were given an amount of fruit equivalent to three apples, or three bunches of grapes for a human weighing 154 pounds (70 kg), and drank the equivalent of four glasses of juice daily.

Compared to the control group that was given water, those given fruit or fruit juice experienced several health benefits, including:

• Lower cholesterol
• Less oxidative stress
• Less fat accumulation in their aorta

Purple grape juice was the most potent, followed by purple grapes, apple juice, and apples. Other antioxidants, such as vitamin C and carotenoids may also contribute to their overall effect.

Why Fish Oil is NOT the Best Omega-3 Source

Callum Roberts, professor of marine conservation at York University, predicts that by 2050 half the world population will have to go without fish; all that will be left for them may be “jellyfish and slime”.

Ninety years of industrial-scale exploitation of fish has led to an ecological meltdown, and whole biological food chains have been destroyed.

North Atlantic fish stocks have been in decline for well over a century. Fish catch records from the 1920’s onwards show that, despite the enormous improvements in technology, catches of the great Atlantic species have remained constant or slowly declined.

Why has the international community failed so badly in its attempts to stop this long-heralded disaster?

“Quite simply,” Roberts says, “agreements and deals brokered by politicians will never be satisfactory. They always look for the short-term fix.” Quotas for fishing fleets are on average 15 to 30 percent higher than those recommended as safe by scientists. And often, for less threatened species, the quotas are set 100 percent higher than the science recommended.

10 Ways to “Get Primal”