A couple of things I really like are efficiency and great value. I like it when things are moving forward at a good clip and when the return is better than expected. Who doesn't like that though, right?This is no different than our health and fitness. For most the obstacle to better health and fitness comes down to time and finances. We don't make the time for fitness and exercise and we would rather spend our money on other things.The truth is that the fittest people in the world have the same hours as the rest of us. It's what we give our time to, or don't, that fills up our day.So with that being said I wanted to give you 11 tips to get lean. And the cool part is these things won't cost you an extra dime. Plus as your health improves you'll find you have more time in your day. You see what I did just there, right? Solve one problem and provide a solution for another as well.Anyways on with the tips. Minimize liquid calories - If our goal is to be as lean and healthy as possible we've got to be mindful of the calories we drink. This can be a chai tea in the AM, a coffee with cream and sugar, a store bought smoothie or any of the other ways we can drink calories. The truth is we only need water. Sure a red wine on occasion or a beer at a BBQ isn't going to derail your results completely. Just be aware of what you are drinking. And guess what? When we cut back on your liquid calories we'll find you have an extra $5-10 per day by opting out of the drive-thrus and coffee shops. Eat meals without snacking - Were you ever...

There are certain things we understand to be beneficial to our health. Getting enough quality sleep, getting enough exercise and eating the right amounts of healthy food are generally understood to be the foundation of healthy living. And on the first two areas there is a general consensus as to how much sleep is necessary as well as the benefits conferred by the different types of exercise options. But when it comes to nutrition there still exists some beliefs which don't have support in the primary literature. For example, there are still a number of people that maintain the position that saturated fat is bad and must be eliminated from the diet. These same people will then eliminate foods that contain this fat in an attempt to be healthier. I don't eat red meat anymore.I have egg whites for breakfast.I eat only low-fat dairy.Do these statements sound familiar? When we do a consult and assessment with a new client we go over the nutritional habits of the clients as this will play a huge role towards realizing their results. And many of them give the answers above to demonstrate the efforts they are making towards healthier living. While it's not a new position for us to recommend our clients eat a balanced diet including all three types of fat I was still out to learn more. And so I recently attended a seminar at Kelowna General Hospital on Fats by Dr. Sanjoy Ghosh from UBC-O. Dr. Ghosh presented some interesting notes during his 75 minute presentation. Some were common sense such as the fact we have increased our portion sizes dramatically over the last few generations. And some foods in particular have seen huge increases such as our consumption of soybean oil which in the 1950s was 0.02 lbs per person...

Recently I was asked to join a Program Advisory Committee for the Okanagan College Human Kinetics program by my friend Dr. Greg DuManoir. You may know Greg from Okanagan College as a professor. Or maybe you attended the Okanagan Strength & Conditioning Conference which Greg and I co-host. It could also be that you've crossed paths with Greg at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc where he trains. This is an exciting invitation as it allows us to provide feedback to the academic world as to what their graduates are doing really well at when they enter the job force. We are also able to give insights into skill sets that would benefit students once they begin their careers. And we are also able to share the trends that we are observing with respect to training in the post-rehabiliation, weight loss and athletic development fields. But that's not the real topic I'm going to cover in this post. Instead it has a nutritional theme which came to me during our first meeting yesterday. As with all meetings, our hosts at Okanagan College were gracious in offering us a variety of hot beverages as well as cold drinks in the form of juice boxes. It was at this point in the meeting that I leaned over to Greg and thanked him for the idea for my next blog article :) To be fair I know Greg wasn't the one who made the drink selection for the meeting and I'm just giving him a hard time. But it reminds me of a conference I attended in Seattle with Kayla last year. The lunch at this 'fitness' conference included cookies, potato chips and cans of pop. 'Now, hold on' you're probably thinking, 'there's no way juice boxes can be lumped in the same category as the...

 So I just got back from a conference in California. And this means flights, hotel stays and long days of sitting in on presentations. For most this is a prescription to derail one's fitness and performance efforts. But not me.No sir! I feel like Superman when I travel. What do I mean by that?    Well basically it's that I have strategies in place that allow me not lose any of the forward momentum I've achieved with my training. And since we're into spring break here and many of you may be hitting the road for vacations this is a great time to share these tips with you.Here are my Top 10 Strategies for Staying Healthy on Vacation.Tip #1 - Bring a shaker cupThe thing with flights is that you get dehyrated. And with security rules limiting the volume of liquid to 100 ml you can't bring carry a drink with you. And once you're on the flight you get a serving of water as if you were rinsing your mouth at the dentist's office.To get around this invest in a shaker cup. They cost less than $10 and often are included at supplement stores when you purchase a bulk order. Don't bring a coffee cup or water bottle. The next points explain why.Tip #2 - Bring dried veggiesHave you ever noticed how great the salad bars are in airports? And how fresh everything is? And of course the variety rivals that of a Las Vegas casino. But the best part is how reasonable everything is. I'm surprised more people don't drive out to airports for their evening meals.Obviously I'm not serious about the points above. Therefore  it is that much more important to bring a number of dried veggies in envelopes. I use Prograde Genesis because I get 5-6 servings per packet and the...