Naturally Intense High Intensity Training™ Health & Fitness Blog

Alma- Great views and great food

 

Cuisine of the week: Mexican Food

One of the first misconceptions about staying in great shape is that you have to sacrifice any semblance of a normal family or social life. That simply isn’t the case and with this restaurant series review I would like to help people realize two things: firstly that food is not the enemy and secondly, that there are almost always great choices that you can make while dining out. I maintain a bodyfat level of 5% at  or less at a weight of just about 220 lbs all year round, but not from killing myself following a restrictive diet, or from any genetic gift that allows me to eat whatever I want (I had my time doing that and I blew up to 252 lbs just like everyone else!). The way I do it is by training the way I train, (using the brief high intensity workouts of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise- which by the way also allow me to have a life outside of the gym since I am only training for about an hour or less a week in total) and by eating in a manner that my body actually wants to eat. To me being healthy has to combine the physical, mental and social aspects and anything less is just a temporary fix.  So read on for some great tips on eating out in this week’s review:

 My mother-in-law’s boss, was coming into town from France, so my better half and I decided to use the opportunity to meet up with him and his girlfriend for dinner. He was passionate about eating as the French say, ‘en plein air’- in the open, and so we did a search for a good New York restaurant that had great views and great food. The choice was Alma, located in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn. (187 Columbia Street-corner of Columbia & Degraw Streets). It looked like a great choice and so, my fourteen year old and 4 month old in tow, we set out to meet them there. From the outside it may not look like much, but after a steep stair climb three flights up you are greeted with a magnificent view of downtown Manhattan.

Alma is a Mexican restaurant, and the food was second to none. After greeting our guests, the menus came and there were many selections for those of the health conscious ilk. I chose to skip the appetizer, (cardinal rule- smaller meals throughout the day, so for dinner I will usually forgo an appetizer and stick with a main course- for lunch, if I am going to be active later in the day or workout, I certainly go for it.) That evening I had a the Steak Fajitas- an Angus skirt steak fresh from the grill and served with an avocado sauce and fresh corn tortillas. I asked for the sauce on the side, as it was late in the day, but I had no problem with the fresh corn tortillas. As a rule I avoid commercial wheat products, but traditionally made corn tortillas are very much on my menu. Beef, by the way, is not a dietary no-no if you are active enough and eat in moderation. A steak won’t  make you fat either, and you can almost always fine a selection of steak on any menu and as long as it is not burdened with high sodium sauces, it is always a great choice!

My West Indian nature always calls for my steaks to be well done (there is no medium or rare option in the islands) and I can say that the selection was delicious. The steak was done just right and the corn tortillas were truly right out of the oven. Stephanie, who is just as Naturally Intense as I am, had the steak as well, but from the looks of it the Mahi Mahi, with the rice cake on the side would have been excellent as well. There were many other great choices on the menu:

Pollo Asada- a grilled chicken breast with chipotle mayonnaise, guacamole, lettuce and roasted tomatoes, served on a freshly baked roll. Ask for the mayo on the side and depending on how strict you want to be, you can skip the roll and voila- a perfectly diet friendly meal!
Ensalada Verde- A green salad with your choice of grilled shrimp or chicken- a wonderful choice. It comes with vinaigrette- which you can always pass on to keep your sodium levels on the lower side and ask for some lemon to squeeze over your salad.

There are many other choices and I invite everyone to check out the menus on their website- the rules according to my way of eating would be to simply skip the cheese and bread additions, have the sauces on the side- so if you do have them you only have a little bit and presto- you can eat out, have a great time and without any guilt! The evening was really one well spent, with great service and they were kind enough to accommodate our little one. It was also great to spend an evening speaking French as well, and I always welcome the opportunity. I hope this review and diet column helps you in your eating out choices as well.  See you next week for our next review!

Overview: Alma
Food Type: Mexican
Price: Not too pricey, and the value is worth it.
Rating: I give the food 4 and stars out of 5 and the décor and ambiance 4 stars.
Health Rating: Ask for the sauces on the side, mind the rolls and the cheese and you have enough selections to have a healthy and hearty meal! 3 stars and Naturally Intense Approved!

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Mexican Food Rules For Staying In Shape:

1.  Ask for sauces on the side, freshly made salsa is okay in moderation if it isn’t too salty, as is guacamole. Guacamole is a bit high calorie, but not a problem if you don’t overindulge
2. Pass on the cheeses. ‘Nuff said!
3. Choose grilled foods over fried ones. Chicken, fish, shrimp, and even beef and pork are fine as long as it isn’t fried.  Keep in mind that  ’Crispy’, is code for fried!
4. Have the corn tortillas- it has a higher fiber content than wheat products.
5. Keep in mind the time of the day- feel free to have an appetizer if it is in the middle of the day, but load up more on salads and vegetables if it is later in the day or on days when you will be inactive.
6. Have water as your drink- you’ll save money and your waistline.
7. Always leave feeling like you could still eat a little more.  Never leave a restaurant feeling stuffed!
8. Enjoy yourself!

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Lose weight, build real muscle and get Superfit training only 10 minutes 3 times a week! That’s the slogan and the 100% guarantee of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™ created by visionary NYC personal trainer, internationally renowned natural bodybuilder and fitness expert, Kevin Richardson. Get a copy of Kevin’s free award winning weight loss ebook here!

Can Glucosamine Stop Arthritis Pain?

Supplements are always a bit problematic in terms of figuring out what works and what does not, as the placebo effect is so strong if someone thinks that a substance has a health benefit. As a personal trainer over the past 18 years and working with a lot of individuals with osteoarthritis, I can say that my opinion is mixed. I do not and never do advocate any unproven supplements, but when my clients use something, I take notes to see if there is any validity to the claims.  What I saw with 8 clients using glucosamine- some of them used glucosamine with chondroitin,  all but one reported an initial sense of relief, but as the months went all of them said symptoms that they had were doing better. (Keep in mind as well that this is just what I saw, the dosages and other control issues were not in any way controlled). The problem with taking this into consideration is that they were all doing supervised resistance training, focused on helping them improve their joint mobility and increasing the strength of their surrounding muscles (6 of the clients had knee issues, 1 had elbow issues and 1 had problems with his fingers).

Was the glucosamine responsible, or was it the training? I am inclined to go with the conclusion that it was the training, as many other clients who did not use any supplements had similar relief over time.  What I recommend everyone to use as an authoritative tool in evaluating any supplement claim is the Cochrane Review. They essentially are a well established peer review group that evaluates and confirms the results of thousands of studies in many fields. Their findings were that glucosamine’s effects on humans are thus far questionable at best.

Hope this helps.

NOTE: If you liked my blog post and are able to forward it to a friend, or give me a Stumble thumbs up or review, Digg it and add it to a few other social networking sites or link it to your blog, I would very much appreciate it!  Thanks for reading!

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a prominent health and fitness writer and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™- a system designed to help you do everything from lose weight to build muscle using 10 minute workouts.

Get weekly reviews of healthy restaurants in the NYC metropolitan area from fitness writer and NYC’s most sought after personal trainer- Kevin Richardson. A great resource for everyone, as the tips and guides in food selection can help everyone make better choices when eating out- regardless of where they are!

The question always come up with my personal training clients- can I stay on my diet and still be able to eat out? You see, most of the time we equate eating out as an activity that is not necessarily good for you. Staying on the right track diet wise brings to mind the idea of a Spartan and isolated existence- where food becomes fuel, and taste and satisfaction is secondary to eating according to several preset rules. My philosophy, and that of the Naturally Intense System, is that being healthy has mean eating foods that you want to eat, not just foods that you have to eat, and too often we fail in our attempts to lose weight or improve our health because we see this as being impossible. The good news is that it isn’t. Just because Fettuccine Alfredo may not be the best idea for you when you go out, doesn’t mean that there are not several other selections that you can enjoy.

One great aspect about living in New York City is that there are so many restaurants that offer wholesome and weight loss friendly menu items. It may come as a shock to many that I eat out on at least a weekly basis and stay within the parameters of my ‘diet’- although at this point it really isn’t a diet, it is just a way of living to be honest. But the point is that you just have to know where to go and of course, what to order. My goal is that these weekly blog posts will highlight some of those health-friendly restaurants in the New York City area, as well as provide a template for anyone interested in knowing what to eat, and what not to eat when they go out for lunch or dinner. The way it works is that every week I will post a review of a new restaurant complete with the menu items that I ate, and the ones that fall in line with the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise. (Kind of like a Zagat for eating right.)

The restaurants and food categories will vary from lunch items to dinner items, Mexican cuisine to Asian Fusion- you name it, I will cover it- and the best part is that I have one more excuse to go out with my better half and the kids.

Be sure to subscribe to my blog for the weekly updates (look for them every Friday- so you’ll have some ideas for the weekend) and you can follow along on Twitter as well! Thanks for stopping by and I hope these posts go a long way in helping people overcome any ideas that eating healthy means not being able to enjoy a normal life.

Next Friday log in for our first review- Alma-  a true landmark NYC dining spot. You’ll learn just what you can order guilt free. See you in 7!

Updated Reviews:

 Healthy Restaurants In NYC Reviews- Blue Ribbon Sushi- Japanese Cuisine

NYC Healthy Restaurant Reviews- Tamarind Indian Cuisine- Indian Cuisine

NYC Healthy Restaurant Reviews- Nice Green Bo- Chinese Cuisine

NYC Healthy Restaurant Reviews- Alma- Mexican Cuisine

Healthy NYC Restaurant Reviews- Nyonya- Malaysian Cuisine

Is The Food At Subway Really Healthy?

NOTE: If you liked my blog post and are able to forward it to a friend, or give me a Stumble thumbs up or review, Digg it and add it to a few other social networking sites or link it to your blog, I would very much appreciate it!  Thanks for reading!

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a prominent health and fitness writer and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™- a system designed to help you do everything from lose weight to build muscle using 10 minute workouts. Get a free copy of his popular weight loss book here!

Tony O- Truly Naturally Intense!

Ordinarily I don’t say much about the accomplishments and going ons of my personal training clients, (and as a rule I stick to a code of ethics that relegates all matters related to my clients to a position of utmost confidentiality), but in this case I have my client’s permission to talk a bit about him and his accomplishments and I am certain that it will be an inspiration to many.

Tony O (as we will call him) started training with me in the summer of 2008 at the tender age of 52. Tony is an incredibly motivated type, one whose tenacity and dedication serves to inspire me on a daily basis. Last winter Tony was diagnosed with a sever tear in his rotator cuff (an old injury that he sustained years prior that simply would not go away) and would have to undergo surgery to correct the tear. Unfazed, he trained around his injury right up to the day before the surgery- with me ensuring that the workouts would not in any way exacerbate the problem. After a two week convalescence, tony was back in the gym with a vigor, arm in cast, but with no break in his stride. We trained everything but his left shoulder, and as time went on, the impairment grew less and less and he was cleared to train the injured side.

I can hardly describe how happy he was when we were able to complete a workout without his shoulder being an issue. The Naturally Intense workouts revolve around the idea of constant change and a huge selection of movements to work individual muscles and is ideal for anyone with an injury as there is always a way when you have an extensive repertoire of exercises! Tony’s joy, however was somewhat short lived, as he learned several weeks after getting back on track with his shoulder that he had a torn meniscus in his knee- another old injury coming back to haunt him.

Again, he trained right up until the day of the surgery and the day after, Tony was back in the gym. Slight limp, but the sparkle very much in his eyes! Tony had also lost 22 lbs over the course of a three week period when he finally decided that he would give the dietary guide that I provided him a try. (He promises to release the ’before’ pictures as well very soon!

 I would like to congratulate him on his continued success and commend him on his fantastic sense of dedication. Tony, you truly are Naturally Intense!

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a prominent health and fitness writer and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™- a system designed to help you do everything from lose weight to build muscle using 10 minute workouts.

When I was 17 years old, I tore my rotator cuff and I had a numbing fear that all that I had accomplished in terms of bodybuilding and martial arts, would be relegated to the past because of that injury. But I did not let it stop me, I went to the gym nevertheless and trained my legs and whatever else that I could without causing too much pain to my shoulder, all while going to therapy for it every day for weeks.

My shoulder healed, and then I herniated two lumbar discs in my lower back doing bench squats with 495lbs. I was going down and my partner didn’t stop me in time from sitting right on the bench with almost 500lbson my back. I heard a click and then I was in excruciating pain. I went to the doctor and they said that I would never be able to deadlift and squat the way I used to, and that herniation was a lifelong injury. The experience and determination that I learned when dealing with my shoulder kicked in, and I would not hear it. I was in agony every second of the day, and could hardly even sleep or cough for three months straight, but I dragged myself to the gym and did what I could and never missed a day.

It hurt like hell, but a year later I was 100% back, with no problems whatsoever- to this day I have never had any lower back pain, and I did my all time max squat of 695 a few years after the injury, as well as my all time best deadlift of 695lbs.

All went well for years afterwards, since I learned over time how to train to avoid injury, until in 2001 while doing cable curls with 250lbs, a guy doing pullups behind me, slipped and fell, falling on me while I was just pulling the weight up. His elbow hit my neck and I heard a snap. I could not move the next day, and the MRI showed severe herniation of two of my cervical vertebrae. Again, I was told that I would never do this or that again, and again I ignored them. I went right back to the gym and worked my way back to full strength. Through all of those episodes, I never used painkillers (I don’t like drugs and I don’t use them in any form- I have also been a lifetime drug free athlete and I don’t even use supplements) and I accepted each incident as a chance for me to grow as a human being.

The traditional martial art that I teach and devoted my life to studying calls for every experience to be seen as an opportunity for self improvement, and regards adversity as an inevitable consequence of life itself and that it must be endured and accepted, and in that way it becomes a tool that we harness for our own enlightenment. It is this philosophy that I pass on to you. Remember that there is a part of you that is untouched by the pain and the adversity that you are going through right now, a part of you that is unstoppable and is thoroughly motivated towards the accomplishment of your goals. It is there, find it and go out there and be the best that you can be.

NOTE: If you liked my blog post and are able to forward it to a friend, or give me a Stumble thumbs up or review, Digg it and add it to a few other social networking sites or link it to your blog, I would very much appreciate it!  Thanks for reading!

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a prominent health and fitness writer and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™- a system designed to help you do everything from lose weight to build muscle using 10 minute workouts.