2 Reasons YOU Should Strength Train To Lose Weight!

1.  The more muscle you have, the higher your base metabolism will be and the more calories you will burn even at rest. 
2.  Second reason is more important. Whenever you lose weight, you will lose some muscle along with the fat. If you don't exercise and do some strength training, up to 30% of the weight you lose can come from muscle loss, that isn't likely to be healthy over the long haul. 

Good strength and muscle tone are essential for functional living and health. You can hold your muscle loss down to 3-5% total weightloss with moderate strength training. 

Strength training helps to preserve bone density, balance, and many other important things. 

Strength train each muscle group at least twice a week--this really only takes about 30-45 minutes per workout. Better yet, try circuit training, where you lift weights without resting between sets. This method meets both cardio and strength requirements because you keep your heart rate elevated throughout your workout, increasing the amount of calories you burn per workout. 

Lifting Heavy is the Key to Weight Loss.  We know that losing fat involves increasing your metabolism. What you may not know is that muscle plays a huge role in raising metabolism. A pound of muscle burns about 10-20 calories a day while a pound of fat burns 5 calories. That means any growth in your muscle tissue is going to help you burn more calories all day long. In fact, strength training has all kinds of great effects on your body like:

How To Get Healthy, and STOP Eating Sugar.

What happens to your body when you eat sugar?

Sugar feeds cancer. Cutting out sugar cuts food supply to the cancer cells.

Soda is a significant contributor to obesity.
Drinking a single can a day of sugary drinks translates to more than a pound of weight gain every month.

Diet soda is just as likely to cause weight gain as regular, or even more -- it may sound counter intuitive, but people who drink diet soft drinks actually don’t lose weight.

Artificial sweeteners induce a whole set of physiologic and hormonal responses that actually make you gain weight.

First the body goes into a "sugar shock" spiking insulin levels and creating a brief energy rush. After the body recovers from the shock, it starts working furiously to recover its internal balance by the raiding of vital nutrients in order to process sugar.

This can lead to our bodies becoming acidic. In other words... sugar can alter our entire blood chemistry research shows that just two teaspoons of sugar can throw off your chemical balance.


Refined sugar contains no fiber, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, no enzymes, only empty calories. What happens when you eat a refined carbohydrate like sugar? Your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize the incomplete food. Calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium are taken from various parts of the body to make use of the sugar. Many times, so much calcium is used to neutralize the effects of sugar that the bones become osteoporotic due to the withdrawn calcium.

Likewise, the teeth are affected and they lose their components until decay occurs and you lose teeth!

...Refined sugar is void of all nutrients, consequently it causes the body to deplete its own stores of various vitamins, minerals and enzymes. If sugar consumption is continued, an over-acid condition results, and more minerals are needed from deep in the body to correct the imbalance. If the body is lacking the nutrients used to metabolize sugar, it will not be able to properly handle and rid itself of the poisonous residues.

How to strengthen your core! The 5 Most Effective Abdominal Exercises!

It's important for women to realize that regular strength training using heavier resistance will NOT "bulk them up" (as long as caloric intake is controlled), but rather is one of the key secrets for losing body fat and staying lean year-round.   Some of the leanest females that I've trained  are the ones that aren't afraid to work hard with the weights.

Many people spend way too much time with slow cardio exercise. I've found that interval training gives great result's.  Life is way too busy to waste time!
5 Top Abdominal Exercises

#1 Long Arm Crunch

This exercise targets the upper portion of the rectus abdominis.

*Lie on a mat and extend the arms straight out behind the head with hands clasped, keeping the arms next to the ears.

* Contract the abs and lift the shoulder blades off the floor.

* Lower and repeat for 12-16 reps.Exercise

#2 Reverse Crunch

*Lie on the floor and place hands on the floor or behind the head.

* Bring the knees in towards the chest until they're bent to 90 degrees, with feet together or crossed.

* Contract the abs to curl the hips off the floor, reaching the legs up towards the ceiling.

* Lower and repeat for 12-16 reps.

* It's a very small movement, so try to use your abs to lift your hips rather than swinging your legs and creating momentum.

Exercise #3 Full Vertical Crunch

* Lie on your back and extend the legs up towards the ceiling.

* Place hands behind your head (lightly cupping it) and contract the abs to lift the shoulder blades off the floor.

* At the same time, press the heels towards the ceiling, creating a 'u' shape with the torso.

* Lower down and repeat for 12-16 reps.

Exercise #4 Criss Cross

The BicycleThis exercise was found to be the most effective abdominal exercise to target the rectus abdominis (six pack abs) and the obliques (love handles).

* Lie face up on the floor and lace your fingers behind your head.

* Bring the knees in towards the chest and lift the shoulder blades off the ground without pulling on the neck.

* Straighten the left leg out to about a 45-degree angle while simultaneously turning the upper body to the right, bringing the left elbow towards the right knee.

* Switch sides, bringing the right elbow towards the left knee.

* Continue alternating sides in a 'pedaling' motion for 12-16 reps.

Exercise #5 Plank on Elbows and Toes

The plank exercise ranked number 10 in the ACE study and is a great way to build endurance in both the abs and back, as well as stabilizer muscles. To do it right:

* Lie face down on mat resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor.

*Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows.

* Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels.

* Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air.

* Hold for 20 to 60 seconds, lower and repeat for 3-5 reps.

Remember to train the abdominals as you would any other muscle group- with at least 24 hours of rest in between. Although these abdominal exercises are wonderful for strengthening the abdominals they won't necessarily get rid of the fat tissue. Make sure to eat healthy and perform a variety of cardiovascular activity to enhance the abdominal exercises above. Drink Plenty Of Water!

It takes a healthy diet, strength training and cardio to remove the layers of fat to show off your abs.

How To Plan Ahead So You Can Stay Healthy During the Holidays!

Here are 4 Ways YOU Can Plan Ahead For Your GOOD Health!


1. PLAN AHEAD, ORGANIZE YOUR MEALS AND WORKOUTS. If you don’t have a plan you don’t stand a chance. If you don’t plan on a day-to-day basis, what inevitably happens is that the day takes an unexpected turn, and you blow off a meal, eat the wrong thing for convenience, or skip a workout.

2.   NO EXCUSES eat five or six meals each day. The only way you will make 100 percent progress on your program is by eating all those meals. Keep shakes, protein bars, vegetables and fresh fruit readily available for snacks.
You must become consistent, disciplined eating machine.

3. You must set up an environment for keeping yourself on track. If you think you can wing it at restaurants along the way, you will be setting yourself up for failure.

4. Drink water to help you achieve a dynamic body.  Eating healthy food is essential to your progress. There is one element of nutrition, however, that is often neglected or overlooked. That element is water (or fluid intake). It is one thing that is easy to do. This simple task of drinking water if neglected, will derail your fitness goals.

Top Ten Things You Can Do To Stay Healthy!

1. Eat protein at every meal.

2. Keep carbs to a minimum but don’t cut them out entirely.

3. Eat often but never to the point where you feel full.

4. Eliminate all simple sugars, (This is a tough one, but sugar is the main culprit toward a sluggish metabolism.)

5. Learn to recognize hidden sugar. High glycemic foods such as rice cakes, potatoes, fruit juices and cereals can affect the body in a similar fashion to plain table sugar.

6. Never skip a meal or allow yourself to go too hungry. Not only does this practice slow down the metabolism, but it also increases the desire to binge.

7. Include a good amount of unsaturated fats in your diet. The body needs fat in order to burn fat. Olive oil is an excellent choice. Pour it on!

8. Drink plenty of water. Besides the obvious benefits, being in a dehydrated state is extremely catabolic (meaning you will burn you precious muscle for energy thereby slowing down your metabolism).

9. Take in adequate fiber. (Especially important when cutting carbs!)

10. Supplement with additional vitamins and minerals to guard against nutritional deficiencies.

Visit this website and learn more about healthy supplements and skin care!

100% money back Guaranteed the best you will find! Click HERE.

3 things to include in your fitness to Slow Down the Aging Process.

You can't stop yourself from growing old,

but you can keep your body in great shape as you get older!

Studies have now proven that the natural aging process can be slowed and even reversed under the right conditions. 

People between the ages of 30 and 70 with many of the symptoms; conditions that were traditionally associated with normal aging are in fact the result of sedentary lifestyles.  

Our life expectancy in this day and age is much longer.  50 is the new 30, and while you may be eligible for some senior citizen discounts, you don't have to think of this stage of your life as the beginning of the end.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have finally proven that when you are over the age of 50 you can continue to exercise with great benefits to your health.  In fact, many of the effects of aging can be slowed down through a good exercise program and balanced diet taken in combination.   

1.  Cardiovascular exercises:  take a brisk walk in the park, go swimming, dancing, jogging, recumbent bicycles  and even a few jumping jacks.  Try a fun dance class, Zumba is so popular and burns lots of calories.

2.  Strength exercises:   are an effective way to build muscle mass and maintain your body’s weight. Did you know that there are roughly 300,000 cases of broken hip bones due to elderly people losing their balance and falling over? 


Doing a few balance exercises can help to strengthen those muscles responsible for supporting you body and keeping you mobile.  It’s important that you work with a professional that can help you to put together a strength training program designed for you.

3.       Stretching and flexibility exercises are needed to keep your joints working smoothly and stop them from ceasing up. These particular exercises help to increase the amount of movements that your body can perform. Warming up the muscles and joints should be done before any workout to prevent injury and decrease the amount of pain you feel in your muscles.

I

It’s important along with exercise to have a Healthy Diet.  What you are putting into your body has a great effect on your health.   Many people believe that they don’t need to eat healthy or watch their diet because they don’t need to lose weight. This couldn’t be further from the truth! 

You should put only the best foods in your mouth no matter how much you weigh, what size you wear, or how fit you look.

What is Tabata Training Exercise? Why it works, you will love it!

Tabata is a form of high intensity interval training method that offers more health benefits than traditional cardiovascular exercise. It’s short, efficient and can fit in almost any fitness program. 
There are many different forms of workouts out there and each workout will give you a different result. Some increase muscle mass, some increase strength, others help you lose weight and so forth.
“Tabata” is the name of a particular type of workout program.  Tabata can be completed in 4 minutes.  You can also add into your 30 and 45 minute workouts.

Click here to learn more about Tabata for Sports Specific Training


Tabata is high intensity training or high intensity interval training.

Tabata training design looks like this:

Any exercise can be incorporated into the Tabata training. However the basic outline of the Tabata training method are as follows:
•     4 minutes long (whole Tabata Session)
•     20 seconds of intense training
•     10 seconds of rest
•     Total of 8 sessions or rounds

Tabata type:  40 seconds work hard 20 second rest, 30 seconds work hard 15 second rest, 20 second work hard 10 second rest.  This can be done with any strength exercise, core or cardio....it's awesome!  It's tough!

20 tips that can change your health and help lose weight!

Drink Water

One of the biggest common denominators for people who lost over 50 pounds is they all switched over to drinking water. They gave up the sodas and sugary drinks and instead quenched their thirst with water. This tip alone helped hundreds of people lose weight.

Keep a Food Journal

Write down everything that goes into your mouth. Most people were surprised to see how much they were actually eating. It wasn't until they wrote it down that they began to realize the cause and effect of what they were putting into their bodies.

Count Calories

What a boring a tedious job, but probably one of the most effective undertakings for losing weight. There is no getting around calorie balance. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less than you burn.

Control Portion Sizes

In our super-sized food culture, portion sizes have gotten out of control. Eating portions the size of your fist is a good start towards controlling your food intake. Don’t feel like you always need to finish off all the food on your plate. Leaving a couple bites will teach you self-control.

Don’t Diet

The best “diet” is the one that best fits into your lifestyle. Once you find that, it’s no longer a diet – it’s just a way of life. One of the best healthy weight loss tips people sent in was to approach weight loss as a lifestyle change, and not as a diet. Once you get it out of your head that there’s an end date, you can start focusing on the day-to-day realities of living a healthy lifestyle. Being fit is not a destination – it’s a way of life.

Be Consistent

No one is perfect. We are all going to make mistakes. However, successful people are consistently living a healthy lifestyle. Over a period of time, they are eating healthy 90% of the time, and they are exercising several times a week.  Make exercise and healthy eating part of your everyday routine and soon it will be as second nature as brushing your teeth.

Plan

A healthy lifestyle takes planning. Most mistakes occur from a lack of a plan. Plan your meals in advance so you know what to buy every week at the grocery store. Only buy what you plan on eating, and try to cook your meals ahead of time. The simple nature of reheat and eat makes it much more likely that you’ll stay on track.

Make Small Changes

Make small changes consistently until they are habit and you no longer have to think about it, and then make another change. There’s no need to completely change your lifestyle all at once. You’ll be much more likely to stick with your new healthy lifestyle if you make small changes. Try changing one thing at a time.

Educate Yourself

Learn the whys. Don’t just do something because someone said to. Understand the purpose behind it. Many people just want a meal plan or blueprint to follow for weight loss. However, the successful people that lost weight and kept it off long term started taking an interest in how nutrition and exercise impact their bodies. They learned the “whys” behind what they were doing, and they were more successful because of it.

Get Active

Nearly everyone who lost over 50 pounds added in some form of physical activity. Even if it was just a little bit, the fact that they were more active helped them lose the weight. The trick is to find an activity you enjoy. Not everyone likes the same exercise. Find an activity you love to do, and then push yourself out of your comfort zone. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

You’re going to mess up. We all do. Successful people don’t beat themselves up over it. They get right back on track. They don’t wait until tomorrow to do so either. Their healthy lifestyle and weight loss continues to move forward and make progress because they allow themselves to make mistakes, learn from them, and then end up stronger as a result.

Surround Yourself With Positive People

We are highly influenced by the people close to us. Many successful people had to move forward with their lives and leave old friends and lifestyles behind. It was a hard decision to make, but they understood how important it was to surround themselves with people who believed in their dreams.

Start

How do you expect to accomplish your goals if you never start trying to achieve them? Beginning is half the challenge. Don’t be afraid of failure. People who lost over 50 pounds stopped waiting for things to happen, and went out and made things happen.

Stop Making Excuses

Successful people made the shift and realized that the reasons for why they weren’t reaching their weight loss goals were actually just excuses. It was a hard idea to accept, but once they were honest with themselves, they spent less time making excuses, and more time finding ways to accomplish their goals.

Do It For Yourself

Make ME #1. Lose weight for Me, not because of pressure from other people. We all have our own reasons for wanting to lose weight, but a common denominator amongst the healthy weight loss tips sent in was that the successful people undertook their new lifestyle because they wanted to. They weren’t pressured into weight loss by friends or family. They did it for themselves, and as a result, they inspired others to do something for themselves too.

Be Patient

You didn’t gain your weight overnight, and you aren’t going to lose it that way either. We all want the weight gone quickly, but once you realize that weight loss is a process, you can stop beating yourself up for not reaching your far-fetched weight loss goals. Stop looking at weight loss as a day to day challenge. If nothing changes, nothing changes. This is a lifetime commitment to changing.

Stay Positive

Negative thoughts lead to negative results. You are the result of what you think. Keeping a positive outtake on your weight loss journey increases the odds of your success. You will learn a lot about yourself during your lifestyle transition. There will be many challenges and difficulties, but it’s important to understand that even though it might not be easy, it will be worth it.

Discover Your Relationship With Food

Why are you eating bad? Make the connection between your eating habits and your emotions. Get to the root of your negative lifestyle choices. Know when your body needs food and when it wants food, and find new ways to reward yourself other than with food.

Don’t Try to Be Perfect

If your goal is to be perfect, you’re already setting yourself up for failure. No one is perfect. Even the people who seem to have the most perfect bodies didn’t get there by being perfect. Perfection is something many strive for, but ultimately something they will never achieve. Do your best!

Never Give Up

Weight loss happens the moment you don’t give up. Many people don’t realize how close they were to achieving success. There comes a time when things just click, but that doesn’t happen until you’re ready to throw in the towel and call it quits. The longer you stick with it, the higher your odds of success. Keep moving forward, and don’t ever give up!

It's important to remember

 YOU are in charge of your health.

It's NOT the doctors, it's NOT the government, and it's NOT your spouse. 
YOU can change your health....only you can choose to eat healthy and exercise. A healthy lifestyle is a choice...

Change Your Life, Just 20 Minutes of Exercise a Day,

Changing Your Life

Making a change in your life!  Take control over your life and your choices. 

20 minutes a day is one of those changes that you can make and it's one that most of us - 

even at our busiest can find 20 minutes for.

Just 20 minutes of regular exercise every single day can have a profound effect on your life, your health and your lifestyle.

With just 20 minutes a day, you can promote weight loss.

With 20 minutes a day, you can decrease how much stress you experience.

With 20 minutes a day, you can achieve the goals you set out for yourself.

"Our health always seems much more valuable after we lose it." -Unknown Author

5 Ways to get motivated to walk!

1. Get a Walking Buddy
Keep each other motivated no matter what the weather or other excuses is imperative. The conversation and protein smoothie after are great ways to make even a boring walk a lot of fun.

2. Get New Gear
Nothing is more motivating then getting some brand new walking shoes, a great outfit, that new ipod to make the time go quickly. Pedometers, speed and heart rate monitors can also get you moving because we all want to know how far we walked, what our target heart rate is and how many calories we burned. Walking gadgets can make walking a little more fun and give you a reason to get out the door to achieve your next goal.

3. Get committed!
Register for a Charity Walk or sign up for a fun run (no one says you need to run, you can walk instead) so that you have a goal and a commitment. By telling others you will ten be more likely to stay the path and will be more motivated towards your goal knowing that you must train to endure the event.

4. Keep a Walking Journal
Keep track of your walking minutes, steps, or mileage in a journal. Total up each week to see how you are progressing. Set yourself a reasonable goal and you will find that attaining that goal will motivate you enough to maintain your walking schedule. There is even various software applications available to do all the calculations for you.

5. Choose the Right Time and Have Fun!
What is the best time to walk? Many people find that if they commit to early morning walks, there are fewer distractions as may commonly pop up in the afternoon or evening. But if you hate mornings and feel most energetic later in the day - that should be your walking time. To stay motivated, analyze your habits and choose the time that will work best for you. Keep it realistic and most of all fun, and you'll find walking the best route to good physical fitness and health well into your elder years.

Top 20 things you can do to lose weight!

Drink Water

One of the biggest common denominators among people who lost over 50 pounds is they all switched over to drinking water. They gave up the sodas and sugary drinks and instead quenched their thirst with water. This tip alone helped hundreds of people lose weight.

Keep a Food Journal

Write down everything that goes into your mouth. Most people were surprised to see how much they were actually eating. It wasn't until they wrote it down that they began to realize the cause and effect of what they were putting into their bodies.

Count Calories

What a boring a tedious job, but probably one of the most effective undertakings for losing weight. There is no getting around calorie balance. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less than you burn.

Control Portion Sizes

In our super-sized food culture, portion sizes have gotten out of control. Eating portions the size of your fist is a good start towards controlling your food intake. Don’t feel like you always need to finish off all the food on your plate. Leaving a couple bites will teach you self-control.

Don’t Diet

The best “diet” is the one that best fits into your lifestyle. Once you find that, it’s no longer a diet – it’s just a way of life. One of the best healthy weight loss tips people sent in was to approach weight loss as a lifestyle change, and not as a diet. Once you get it out of your head that there’s an end date, you can start focusing on the day-to-day realities of living a healthy lifestyle. Being fit is not a destination – it’s a way of life.

Be Consistent

No one is perfect. We are all going to make mistakes. However, successful people are consistently living a healthy lifestyle. Over a period of time, they are eating healthy 90% of the time, and they are exercising several times a week.  Make exercise and healthy eating part of your everyday routine and soon it will be as second nature as brushing your teeth.

Plan

A healthy lifestyle takes planning. Most mistakes occur from a lack of a plan. Plan your meals in advance so you know what to buy every week at the grocery store. Only buy what you plan on eating, and try to cook your meals ahead of time. The simple nature of reheat and eat makes it much more likely that you’ll stay on track.

Make Small Changes

Make small changes consistently until they are habit and you no longer have to think about it, and then make another change. There’s no need to completely change your lifestyle all at once. You’ll be much more likely to stick with your new healthy lifestyle if you make small changes. Try changing one thing at a time.

Educate Yourself

Learn the whys. Don’t just do something because someone said to. Understand the purpose behind it. Many people just want a meal plan or blueprint to follow for weight loss. However, the successful people that lost weight and kept it off long term started taking an interest in how nutrition and exercise impact their bodies. They learned the “whys” behind what they were doing, and they were more successful because of it.

Get Active

Nearly everyone who lost over 50 pounds added in some form of physical activity. Even if it was just a little bit, the fact that they were more active helped them lose the weight. The trick is to find an activity you enjoy. Not everyone likes the same exercise. Find an activity you love to do, and then push yourself out of your comfort zone. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

You’re going to mess up. We all do. Successful people don’t beat themselves up over it. They get right back on track. They don’t wait until tomorrow to do so either. Their healthy lifestyle and weight loss continues to move forward and make progress because they allow themselves to make mistakes, learn from them, and then end up stronger as a result.

Surround Yourself With Positive People

We are highly influenced by the people close to us. Many successful people had to move forward with their lives and leave old friends and lifestyles behind. It was a hard decision to make, but they understood how important it was to surround themselves with people who believed in their dreams.

Start

How do you expect to accomplish your goals if you never start trying to achieve them? Beginning is half the challenge. Don’t be afraid of failure. People who lost over 50 pounds stopped waiting for things to happen, and went out and made things happen.

Stop Making Excuses

Successful people made the shift and realized that the reasons for why they weren’t reaching their weight loss goals were actually just excuses. It was a hard idea to accept, but once they were honest with themselves, they spent less time making excuses, and more time finding ways to accomplish their goals.

Do It For Yourself

Make ME #1. Lose weight for Me, not because of pressure from other people. We all have our own reasons for wanting to lose weight, but a common denominator among the healthy weight loss tips sent in was that the successful people undertook their new lifestyle because they wanted to. They weren't pressured into weight loss by friends or family. They did it for themselves, and as a result, they inspired others to do something for themselves too.

Be Patient

You didn't gain your weight overnight, and you aren't going to lose it that way either. We all want the weight gone quickly, but once you realize that weight loss is a process, you can stop beating yourself up for not reaching your far-fetched weight loss goals. Stop looking at weight loss as a day to day challenge. If nothing changes, nothing changes. This is a lifetime commitment to changing.

Stay Positive

Negative thoughts lead to negative results. You are the result of what you think. Keeping a positive outtake on your weight loss journey increases the odds of your success. You will learn a lot about yourself during your lifestyle transition. There will be many challenges and difficulties, but it’s important to understand that even though it might not be easy, it will be worth it.

Discover Your Relationship With Food

Why are you eating bad? Make the connection between your eating habits and your emotions. Get to the root of your negative lifestyle choices. Know when your body needs food and when it wants food, and find new ways to reward yourself other than with food.

Don’t Try to Be Perfect

If your goal is to be perfect, you’re already setting yourself up for failure. No one is perfect. Even the people who seem to have the most perfect bodies didn't get there by being perfect. Perfection is something many strive for, but ultimately something they will never achieve. Do your best!

Never Give Up

Weight loss happens the moment you don’t give up. Many people don’t realize how close they were to achieving success. There comes a time when things just click, but that doesn't happen until you’re ready to throw in the towel and call it quits. The longer you stick with it, the higher your odds of success. Keep moving forward, and don’t ever give up!

Here are 3 things you can do now to lose weight!

Get ready to FEEL amazing!

1. Don't eat white bread, pasta, sugar, white rice, tortilla's and most milk products. 

2. Don't eat anything with the word wheat in the ingredients list. Even if it's whole wheat, absolutely no Wheat Products ZERO, ZIP!  

3.  Only drink water, and herbal teas without sugar or dairy products added. You create a total imbalance in your body when you use these empty calories.
Check out this awesome site that will help you lose weight, it's free with no cost.....click here.

• Why you should stop drinking soda pop!

You know that soda pop isn't good for you...and yet you still drink it. I understand that plain water gets boring – especially when you're having a party or gathering.

Use the recipes for "Spa Water" below and quickly turn plain water into an exciting and refreshing treat without added sugar or chemicals:

• Citrus: Slice an orange, lemon, and lime into a large pitcher of water. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving.
• Raspberry Lime: Slice a lime into a large pitcher of water, add a handful of raspberries. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving.
• Strawberry Basil: Slice 10 strawberries into a large pitcher of water, add 5 leaves of basil. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving.
• Watermelon Rosemary: Place 1/2 cup of small watermelon chunks into a large pitcher of water, add two sprigs of rosemary. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving.
• Pineapple Mint: Place 1/2 cup of small pineapple chunks into a large pitcher of water, add 15 mint leaves. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving. 

Saying “Sugar is bad for you” is an understatement.

Sugar is considered empty calories because it doesn't have any vitamins and minerals. It is no wonder you feel so sluggish and heavy all the time when this lifeless ingredient is found in so many of the foods you eat.

Sugar is rapidly converted in the blood to fat (triglycerides), which increase obesity, risk of heart disease, and diabetes. Sugar greatly increases the risk of dental decay. It is devoid of vitamins, minerals, or fibre; it is an empty food.

WHAT happens to your body when you eat sugar:  First the body goes into a "sugar shock" spiking insulin levels and creating a brief energy rush. After the body recovers from the shock, it starts working furiously to recover its internal balance by the raiding of vital nutrients in order to process sugar. This can lead to our bodies becoming acidic. In other words... sugar can alter our entire blood chemistry research shows that just two teaspoons of sugar can throw off your chemical balance.