While recently nosing through a friends kitchen, I found my new favorite cookbook!! The title is "Fast & Healthy Recipes", and the recipe ideas are timeless (it was published in '95). The book includes many creative meal options using a large variety of ingredients, which we can all appreciate in the somewhat unexciting world of "healthy" cooking.

I tried the Warm Stir-Fried Salad for a late lunch over the weekend. Warm salads are a great summertime meal, blending cool and crisp with warm and hearty. Trying this quick and yummy recipe will get you instantly curious about the rest of the book.

WARM STIR-FRIED SALAD

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 tbsp fresh tarragon
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 8 oz)
2 in piece ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 Napa cabbage
1/2 chicory lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1 cup unsalted cashews
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into fine strips
salt and pepper

1. Chop the tarragon.
2. Cut the chicken into fine strips and place in a bowl.
3. To make the marinade, mix together in a bowl the tarragon, ginger, soy sauce, sugar and seasoning.
4. Pour the marinade over the chicken and leave for 2-4 hours.
5. Strain the chicken from the marinade. Heat the wok, then add the oil. When the oil is hot, stir-fry the chicken for 3 minutes, add the marinade and bubble for 2-3 minutes.
6. Slice the Napa cabbage and arrange on a plate with the chicory. Toss the cashews and carrots together with the chicken, pile on top of the bed of lettuce and serve immediately.

You can prep this meal ahead of time by marinating the chicken and chopping the veggies, which will let you make a super quick dinner when you're ready. I always like to know about the foods that I'm eating, so I did some research on tarragon, which is in the marinade, because I rarely eat it. It does a lot of great things for the body including healing of the stomach and liver, and aid of digestion. Check out this link to a complete article about the benefits of tarragon.

As a health professional, I am always trying to freshen up and study the latest research. However, this week I decided to go back and review the material that I’ve already collected on my bookshelf.. I singled out two books which focused on anatomy and dove in, then read from beginning to end. When I was finished, it turned out to be pretty cool to go back through what I learned before having experience as a trainer and reprocess what lessons are actually key for the majority of clients I train.

This blog goes through some key points in anatomy we all should remember.

1. No matter what any trainer tells you, doing incline presses will not tone the breasts or prevent their sagging. Our breasts are made of adipose (a.k.a. FAT tissue) and that fat simply rests on top of the pec majors. My personal experience is that good posture will enhance your breast appearance.

Try reverse flys on a stability ball, great exercise for posture:



2. Your triceps brachii (muscle in the back of the arm) is the muscle that jumps in to help when your lats fatigue, so if you have arms that keep on shaking when you wave goodbye, take up rock climbing.

(Chelsea Piers has a great wall to climb, check out the website!)



3. Back pain is the most common problem of the lumbar spine, the painful cramping limits movement that might tear or increase tearing of the small deep muscles.

My favorite stretch is the baby cobra, for lower back mobility:

4. Disc herniation is a serious concern for any person performing weightlifting. The cause is almost always incorrect back position. After a heavy workout, stetch the back by hanging from a chinup bar, this will allow the muscles to relax and recreate the space between the vertebral discs.

5. During lifting for the lower body the hamstrings are the muscle most often torn or injured. As with any muscle injury, they are usually injured due to an improper warmup.

One of my favorite warmups is the inchworm, click for a full explanation of exercise.


Cutting this blog in half, last of the top ten to come!