Getting Brides Dress Ready: June 2012

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Should a bride starve herself the weeks before a wedding?

NO!!

At this point, after following this program you will be feeling marvelous! Your waist will be thinner, you have just had to have your dress tightened, you fiancé is amazed by your positive energy and you are pumped for your big day!

A bad mistake many women make at this juncture is starve themselves until the morning of, then have a bagel and feel rotten for their entire wedding day – NOT YOU! The following is going to be a stricter version of the meal you were following to allow you to reach your genetic potential and have sustained energy.

Rules
1. Cut out all dairy and gluten products, this will enhance your digestion and make you feel less bloated
2. If you haven’t yet, remove all other liquid out of your diet aside from water
3. Cut out all traditional carbohydrates
4. Cut out all fruit! There is sugar in fruit and it can store as fat
5. Continue to eat small meals throughout the day, consisting mostly of a protein, vegetables and red / black beans
6. Remove anything that can be a temptation out of your kitchen
7. This may sound contradictory, but plan portioned “reinforcement” when you feel as if you are having a difficult time, can help you enjoy refocusing. This can be a piece of chocolate, fruit, one serving of ice cream, and so on. The key is to plan it! The last thing you want to do is have an urge or intense craving and finish by gorging away all your hard work!

So what do you eat?
Practically the same foods you were eating before: Greek yogurt, eggs, green vegetables, raw nuts, lean protein source, red / black beans, and so on. It is only two weeks – you can do this!
If you just need more calories, veg out! Literally eat a pile of broccoli or bowl of spinach, the water and fiber will fill you up!

To Getting You in Shape For Your Wedding,

Joe Carabase

Supplements That Help Get Dress Ready

Supplementation gives your body the nutrients it needs without adding calories. It is virtually impossible to satisfy your body’s nutritional needs with the number of calories recommended to lose fat.

A whole food nutrient complex is the foundation of any complete fitness program. Additional vitamins, minerals, enzymes, essential fatty acids and antioxidants will boost your nutrient intake beyond what is available through the foods you eat. These additional nutrients allow cells to reach their potential creating the ideal environment for positive physical change. Taking other supplements before creating a nutritional foundation is like adding expensive accessories to a car that does not run properly.

Effects of altering Body Composition

It is difficult to have enough nutrients from a normal diet to support your fitness goals. During exercise, the body increases its use of nutrients. By supplying these nutrients without additional calories, the attempt is made to satisfy all nutrient needs for repair and growth without exceeding the number of calories needed to sustain the required deficit for fat loss. When undernourished, the body must shed the muscle it cannot feed – this leads to an increase body fat percentage.

Increasing Performance and Metabolism

Specific nutrients and combinations of nutrients have been found to improve exercise performance and increase the calories burned during and after exercise. Supplying the body with calorie-free nutrients can improve performance and, therefore, help with fat-loss and muscle-gain goals.
*No supplement in the world can replace eating a consistent diet of whole foods and regular, high-intensity exercise.

Recommendations

1. Prograde Protein: Boosts fat loss, increases muscle definition, and curbs appetite.
2. Prograde Krill Oil: Improve weight loss through blood sugar stabilization, removes & fight toxins, improve cholesterol, reduce risk of heart problems, increases glucose metabolism, decrease joint pain and provides relief for symptoms of PMS.
3. Prograde Multi Vitamin: Burn fat, Build abs, Strengthen your heart, Boost your immune system, Enhance your digestive function, Keep your circulatory system healthy, Increase your energy and Preserve your urinary health.
4. Prograde Metabolism

You can find all these at http://www.carabasetraining.getprograde.com

Comment below if you have any questions :)

To getting you in shape for your wedding,

Joe Carabase

Monday, June 11, 2012

Top Secret Bridal Nutrition Tricks

1. The night before your wedding, have a big dinner with ½ of the plate of a low glycemic, traditional carbohydrate like sweet potato, brown rice, whole grain pasta or quinoa, ¼ protein and ¼ of the plate vegetables. Now, I personally would take that one step further and not eat any products with gluten in it. Gluten is wheat – based protein that will cause you to feel bloated among several other bad side effects (belly fat being one).

2. Eat a light, balanced breakfast the morning of your wedding (½ carbs, ¼ protein, ¼ veggies) within thirty minutes of waking. Go for the sure thing, foods you know you love and work well with your body. Think something fresh and non – greasy!

3. Follow the Do Not’s Checklist

a. Eat fast food the night before or morning of the wedding
b. Not eat dinner the night before the wedding
c. Miss breakfast the day of the wedding
d. Have high fiber foods, like beans, the morning of the wedding
e. Try any new food the night before or morning of the wedding

Get Dress Ready is a program designed specifically for busy and budget minded brides looking to get in the best shape for their life for their wedding. Get Dress Ready is about showing brides how they can look beautiful in their dress without starving themselves and spending hours in the gym. Discover how you can own the moment and shine in the spot light on your wedding day, forever showing off your wedding photos. To check out Joe Carabase's bridal fitness blog, for more information on Joe Carabase's Bridal Bootcamps and Bridal Fitness, go http:www.getdressready.com.

Log Your Food

Now I know logging your food can be a pain but there are no excuses anymore. First, there are a zillion applications you can use to log your food intake straight into your smart phone. Even then, I can see why some people do not use them and it is because the quality is not always good. Therefore, I created a document to make logging easy – all you have to do is check a box!

General Rules to Follow When Logging

1. Eat small servings every two hours OR two bigger meals and a small dinner with intermittent grazing between (pieces of almonds or vegetables versus a handful).

2. Find time to prepare your meals, whether you spend two hours every Sunday preparing for the week or fifteen minutes each night before bed.

3. Eat low processed foods whenever possible! Find things with few ingredients and that are closest to their original form.

4. Less than five grams of anything is low; more than fifteen grams of anything is high

5. Protein should be at every feeding and about the size of your fist.

6. Fats should come from proteins OR healthful oils, use one tablespoon as serving size.

7. Traditional Carbohydrates:

a. Breakfast and early lunch: ¼ plate
b. Late lunch and Dinner: They are not invited!

8. Snacks: Pick one option in the daily log list.

9. Liquid:

a. Water 99% of the time! Drink 0.55 of your bodyweight in ounces.
b. No more than one or two Green / Black / White Tea or black coffee a day. Use a small drop of almond or coconut milk, cinnamon or a drop of real honey for flavor.

10. Shakes:

a. Protein filled: Best time for this is within thirty minutes post workout, use a half scoop – two scoops depending on your body weight and percentage of lean muscle.
b. Other fillers: Organic Peanut butter, Greek yogurt, fruit, oatmeal, flax seeds, vegetables, cocoa powder, cinnamon and ice.
c. Liquid Fillers: Water, almond or coconut milk, coffee.

*Shakes can also be a meal replacement, for example, on the go shake in the morning

What to eat the night before and morning of your wedding day

Most often, a bride will either not eat or grab something like a bagel to hold them over. Now this may not seem a big deal, but really, what you eat the morning of your wedding can dictate your entire day. Eating a proper breakfast with sustained energy sources will allow you to shake hands, kiss babies, and dance like there’s no tomorrow!

My 80-95 Nutrition Rule

People ask me constantly the best way to develop six-pack abs, as if I am going to unlock the code to one exercise that if they do, they will have abs next week. The reality is that a flat stomach comes from eating correctly consistently, not just six weeks here and there. Six-pack abs come from a comprehensive fitness program that is centered on metabolic training and includes NO crunches!

I calculated all the major holidays where you should enjoy the fruits of your hard labor and cheat, besides factoring in one “slip-up” day a month and one cheat meal a week and concluded that if you can eat correctly 80% of the time, you are golden! This way, there is no pressure to eat like a boring robot and starving yourself.

1. Holidays: New Year, Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and your Birthday,

2. A random “slip-up” per month, twelve per year

3. A “cheat” meal per week, so fifty-two days per year

4. Total: about 290 days of eating correctly

As for drinking, a glass of wine more than twice a week will cause damage around your belly! In addition, drinking anything other than water or tea will dehydrate you and cause you to gain weight and body fat.

This might seem weird, random, and overwhelming but I promise you it is not. This rule has helped me for almost a decade keep busy building people into wonderful shape and allowing me to maintain my own six-pack abs

Diet to Get Dress Ready?

Diets are not the answer! Did you know that most of weight watchers and nutrisystems customers are repeat offenders! They used the program, fell off then went back on it. Those programs and all of diets do not work long term.

Now I know what you are thinking – you are just worried about getting immediately in shape for just your wedding, but would you not want to look good for the rest of your life?

Besides, you have STACKS to do between now and your wedding, girl you need energy! Diets will make you feel lethargic. In our nutrition section, we give you a no BS approach to eating healthfully.

I love resistance training and working out and I also love helping people workout but I have a confession: what you eat and drink is the most important factor. However much you work out, you will never see real results unless you eat and drink correctly, most the time. Having said that, if you eat like crappola you had better workout or prepare for gross body fat and health problems!

Kitchen Makeover

Before we talk about what to stock your kitchen with, we must rid ourselves of the “crappola” or stuff that will make you fat.

You are going to want to talk with your household and let them know you are serious about changing your body. These conversations can be difficult, but they need to happen. If your significant other / children / roommates are not willing to start making positive changes in their life, separate your cabinets and refrigerator so you are only looking where the healthful food will be.

Check out your cabinets, if you find this stuff – remove it!

1. Diet Branded shakes for example, Slim-fast shakes are actually loaded with high fructose corn syrup

2. Any protein bars (also known as glorified candy bars) or “nutritional” bars with more than ten ingredients and ten grams of sugar

3. Any item with hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients – check all crackers, cereals, chips, oils, spreads, dressings and sauces.

4. Desserts (even reduced sugar desserts). While you will see we recommend you enjoy things you love, in proportion, once a week, if you have it lying around your house, you will eat it! In addition, reduced sugar desserts are created from artificial sweeteners that trick your brain and trigger hunger.

5. Any sodas – especially diet! Diet sodas will raise your insulin levels, cause you to become hungry and will eventually lead to fat gain.

6. Refined Vegetable oils (canola, corn, soybean, sunflower, safflower, Crisco)

Rules for Effective & Efficient Grocery Shopping

As a busy professional and would – be mom, you have ZERO time to waste. If you follow this blueprint, you will not only be in and out in thirty minutes, you’ll have ONLY the things you need around the house to help you drop body fat and you will save a load of money!

Rules:

1. Bring the list below with you, either on your phone or a printed version.

2. Stick to this LIST only! No matter what deals or temptations you see – stay away!

3. Go alone! Unless you are with someone as committed to his or her health as you are going to be, do not bring anyone else. Most people will not understand the sacrifices you are making to better your body and are not willing to do the same. Because of their insecurities and lack of action, they might crack jokes or try to pressure you to sway away from the game plan.

4. Stay around the outside of the grocery store. Few things you will find in the inside of the grocery store have any nutritional value.

5. Do not go hungry! Everything will look good, negatively affecting your buying decisions. Besides you will be eating something before you leave the store, I know I do.

6. Eat something or have a shake before you go grocery shopping.

7. Stick to one grocery store. As silly as it sounds, continuity in grocery shopping is extremely important. If you go to the same store, you know where everything is and there is less chance you will stray from your plan. Familiarity with the store will allow you to go only where you need to go, allowing you to stick with the plan and leave quickly!

8. Schedule your grocery shopping. As you know, if it is not scheduled, it is not happening. A HUGE part of fat loss is staying in a routine with all aspects of your life, not just working out. What weekday can you go in late or leave early? If the weekend is the only time that is available to you, go mid to late afternoon to avoid the crowds.

9. Ask your grocer about discount memberships. Several big grocery stores have these, they’re essentially an annual membership that pays for itself in discounts within the first few months

10. Read labels! Food companies spend billions of dollars on their packaging design and sales copy. In fact, most products you are probably eating are causing you to gain fat! Make sure to read the ingredient list. If there is a small paragraph or longer, leave the product on the shelf! IF there are words you cannot pronounce and just do not sound like you should be consuming, leave the product on the shelf. If you see one of the items on the checklist below, leave the item on the shelf!

11. “__________” free does not mean healthy! Because of the recent health craze, it seems as almost all products are “organic,” “fat-free,” “sugar-free,” or “whole wheat.” Often products that go out of their way to show how healthful they are, will make you fat. These items compensate for whatever its “free” of with more calories of something else. For example, a product that is “gluten-free” might still contain other refined – processed grains or wheat substitutes such as tapioca flour and corn flour.

12. Anything organic is not automatically healthful! Organic refers to natural, unprocessed foods that are free of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, irradiation, additives, and genetically modified organisms. Organic foods can be high in sugar and bad fats. Additionally, something can be labeled “organic,” when only a percentage of the farming follows the organic guidelines. Also, note that various countries have different standards for “certified organic.” I recommend only buying foods that are USDA.

Lean Body Way of Reading Labels

The first time you buy anything, make sure to read both the front and back of the label. As a rule of thumb, fewer than or equal to ten grams is considered a small amount, between ten and fifteen grams is considered average and more than fifteen is considered high.

When reading a label, you should be looking at the following (in this order):

1. Serving Size: Most food packages include two or more servings, yet if they feel or appeal to be reasonably small, it is easy to neglect that if you consume the entire thing, you are taking in multiple servings. This is important because if there are four servings and you eat / drink the entire thing, you are eating / drinking four times the number of calories listed.

Take a Sports drink as an example. You might buy one, look at the amount of sugar listed and see its sixteen grams of sugar (not excessive but not ideal) then drink the entire bottle. Well it turns out after drinking it you realize there were two or more servings (most have four servings in one eighteen fluid oz. bottle!) so in one sitting, you took in thirty-two or more grams of sugar! The excess sugar will surely store in your body as fat.

2. Calories per serving: This is the total number of calories the food / drink has per serving.

3. Calories from fat: This is the total number of calories the food / drink has in its serving from fat. But be careful here, if you’re looking at almonds, organic peanut butter, coconut oil or anything else that is good for you that has a significant amount of good fat, then it is all right that most of the calories are from fat because its fat that will help your body. However, here more than ever, you need to be careful with portions and the amount you consume.

4. On the right-hand column of a label, you will see a percentage. This is called the Daily Value percentage and is the percentage a ”typical person” should consume of a nutrient/ mineral based on a 2000 calorie a day diet. Therefore, your needs may be higher or lower depending on the number of calories your body needs. As it will be discussed later, we are not concerned with calories as much as we are with healthful eating habits and portions.

5. Fat: This should be low unless it is a source of good fat.

a. Saturated Fat: Society has told us to stay away here, but more and more research is showing that saturated fat is not all that bad for us. Again, it comes down to the source. If it is something processed or fried, stay away! Dairy, healthful oils and grass-fed beef tend to have a higher saturated fat with plenty of nutritional value.
b. Trans fat, also known as “The Worst” – stay away from foods with Trans Fat!

6. Cholesterol: Normally want to keep this low, but again with dairy, healthful oils and grass-fed beef, this number might be higher and that does not mean that it is bad for you. Sometimes, foods are high in good cholesterol or high-density lipoprotein.

7. Sodium: Should never be a problem unless you are eating something packaged or processed. Most of the time you should stay away from packaged food, however, something like canned black, red or garbanzo beans are fine to eat if you rinse them before consumption.

8. Total Carbohydrates is the total number of carbohydrates in the serving size. Mostly, this is based on the theory that 40-70% (depending on the source) of your total caloric intake should be from carbohydrates, as you will see in the meal plan chapter your total calories from traditional carbs will be less.

a. Dietary Fiber: The more natural fiber something has, the better! Try to consume items with at least two grams of fiber.
b. Sugars: Stay away from anything with fifteen grams or more of sugar! The following words all mean “added sugar.”

FYI: the words “syrup”, “sweetener”, and anything ending in “ose” can usually be assumed as “sugar”. If the label says “no added sugars”, it should not contain any of the following:

Corn Sweetener
Corn syrup or corn syrup solids
Dehydrated Cane Juice
Dextrin
Dextrose
Fructose
Fruit Juice Concentrate
Glucose
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Honey
Invert Sugar
Lactose
Maltodextrin
Malt syrup
Maltose
Maple syrup
Molasses
Raw sugar
Rice Syrup
Saccharose
Sorghum or sorghum syrup
Sucrose
Syrup
Treacle
Turbinado Sugar
Xylose

c. “Other Carbohydrates” sometimes is displayed on labels, if this number is high, stay away from it!

9. Protein: This is the amount of protein found in the food / drink. Make sure in every feeding you are consuming protein! Protein helps feed your muscles thus allowing your body to look toned, increases your metabolism, and aids in a healthful hormonal balance.

10. Below are vitamins and minerals I recommend, however healthfully you eat, to consume a gender-specific multi vitamin. I have found the best source from Prograde (www.carabasetraining.getprograde.com).

Ingredients to be Aware of

If you find the items below on food / drinks, I highly recommend you stay away!

1. Gluten: Gluten is a wheat protein, also found in barley and rye. Research is showing that many of us are highly intolerant to wheat and products that contain wheat, without the severe reactions. Some common symptoms are irritable bowel syndrome, chronic constipation and the constant feeling of being “bloated.” Besides overcoming those common symptoms mentioned above, I have found my clients and I effectively reducing the belly fat around our stomachs and hips, after removing gluten products. Additionally, you will have more energy and will feel healthier after eliminating gluten from your diet. Gluten is found in most available foods and drinks. There is finally a movement against gluten to which you are starting to see more “gluten” free menu choices and options at the grocery store. Just understand that “Gluten-free” or anything “____free” is not always healthy!

2. Refined or enriched “white” or “wheat” flour: Commonly found in most pastas, cookies, crackers, and bread. As flour is processed, it loses its fibrous content and nutritional values.

Foods high in starch, low in fiber will make you feel fatigued, malnourished, constipated, irritable, depressed, and susceptible to chronic illnesses and high blood pressure. High blood pressure leads to more insulin being released, leading to your body storing fat! The more insulin released, the hungrier you become, and the more calories you consume.

Insulin resistance and type 2 Diabetes are two common diseases that are usually caused by poor diets. As you eat more of these refined foods, your body has to produce more insulin to manage it. In addition, as mentioned above, insulin promotes the storage of fat – something we do not want!

We are all led to believe that eating wheat is healthful because it is a grain. However, eating wheat can make you feel lethargic and bloated, even leads to weight gain. Gluten (the protein of wheat, rye, and barley) is in almost ALL processed products, making it hard to avoid. Fortunately, there has been a “Gluten Sensitivity” movement as more people are beginning to realize the problems with gluten consumption, so now more than ever there are “gluten-free” sections at the grocery store. However, as mentioned above, even “gluten-free” products can be unhealthy.

3. High Fructose Corn Syrup: This low-cost sweetener is everywhere! This quick sugar-like substance will raise your insulin levels quickly, then immediately drop causing you to feel hungry and tired. You might expect this in soda but it is commonly found in things you would never think of such as “healthy” cereals, sauces / dressings or even peanuts.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is a chemically altered product, NOT natural! HFCS goes through an enzymatic process, which changes the compound from glucose (a simple sugar) to mostly fructose.

Glucose or table sugar enters the cells in the body through the action of insulin. Fructose enters in a completely different action that does not depend on insulin. Additionally, fructose does not provide a feeling of satiety. Because it does not transport to your brain, therefore, as you eat things higher in fructose, you never receive the signal of being full. Once inside your cells, fructose, which forms triglycerides more efficiently than glucose, turns to fatty compounds in the blood and are then stored as fat.

High Fructose corn syrup comes from genetically modified corn. Genetically modified corn has been proved to cause animals who consume it to be at risk for severe health problems thus making human beings at risk as well.

4. Splenda / sucralose, Nutri-sweet / aspartame, Saccharin or another artificial sweetener: There is an argument on whether artificial sweeteners make you fat, gain weight or actually help you lose weight; based on most research I have read these fake sugars actually increase your appetite, trick your body and stimulate insulin response. As you probably already know, sugar is also extremely addictive.

I promise, once you are “off” sugar, you will not even miss it!

What I have found happen with several clients, is when they give up sugar they automatically resort to artificial sweeteners or “diet” variations, full of artificial sweeteners and this is not the answer!

Let us think about it aloud. One thing that no one can debate is the benefits from natural food over processed food, why would the sugar we consume be any different? If you are going to use a sweetener (we will show you other healthful ways to add flavor later), why not use the real thing rather than a synthetic variety?

These artificial sweeteners mess up your natural hormonal balance, leading to weight again (among many other things).

Let us look at aspartame, zero calories but one of its ingredients is phenylalanine, which blocks serotonin production. Serotonin is a natural brain chemical that is known to promote happiness, but it also controls your food cravings. Therefore, when there is a shortage of serotonin in the brain, it will make your brain crave the foods that create more of this brain chemical. These foods are the high calorie, high carb snacks that ruin a diet.

It is difficult to ignore some of the well-documented side effects of aspartame:

Vision problems
Ringing or buzzing sounds
Noise sensitivity or hearing impairment
Epileptic seizures
Headaches, migraines, dizziness
Depression (blocking of serotonin)
Irritability
Aggression
Anxiety, palpitations, tachycardia
Stomach and abdominal pain
Itching
Rashes, hives

Research is also proving that these fake sweeteners trigger an insulin release, even when there is no food consumed. For insulin-sensitive people, these sweeteners confuse the brain. Your body thinks food has been eaten so insulin is released. However, your body discovers there is no food in your system so it creates strong cravings. These cravings can only be controlled by eating foods that raise blood sugar (high carb, high sugar!).

Remember, your body does not care what the label says. It is all just "sugar"!

Therefore, I highly recommend you stay away from:

Splenda (sucralose)
Sweet n Low (saccharin)
Equal (aspartame)
Diet Sodas
Crystal Lite / Mixes
Sugar-Free Kool-Aid
Sugar-Free Drinks of all Kinds (even sports drinks)
Sugar-Free Snacks and Desserts
Sugar-Free Ice Cream
Sugar-Free Syrups, Jams and Jellies
Sugar-Free Gum

Sugar-Free Candy

Almost anything that says, “Sugar-Free” most probably contains one of the artificial sweeteners mentioned above.

Rule of Thumb for Meats and What to Look for

Stay away from any packaged processed meats like salami, bologna, hot dogs, sausage, frozen prepared meats, or “farm raised” fish. These meats have high levels of sodium, nitrates or nitrites, and preservatives. Farmed fish are fed genetically altered food in an effort to increase the “nutritional value,” size of fish and the size of the fish population within the farm – all done to make more money. This means that when you are consuming farmed fish you are probably exposing your body to antibiotics and concentrated pesticides. Farmed fish are even dyed to improve the look of the product.

Instead, look for:

1. Grass Fed: Much of the cattle in the US are corn fed as it is a cheap way to fatten the animals before slaughter. Against common perception, corn is actually a grain, not a vegetable. Additionally, corn is high in sugar (sugar = fat gain), inflammatory omega 6 fatty acids, and Phytate (a chemical that binds to iron, can lead to anemia), low in fiber, low in minerals and protein. Research has found that animals fed genetically modified corn developed extensive health problems, making human beings who eat genetically modified corn at risk too. Therefore, buy grass fed only!

2. Free-range / Cage-free: This means that the animals could move about naturally, rather than become restrained in a cage and bulked up through being injected with unnatural growth enhancers.

3. Wild Caught fish: Wild fish have higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids (essential in that your body cannot produce it and are less commonly found in American diets) and lower in levels of omega 6 fatty acids (a typical American has high levels of it).

Get Dress Ready Grocery List

This list is designed based on the assumption you are feeding one person. If you are providing for a family who will be following the same healthful habits (which they should), multiply the quantities accordingly.

Under this is a general guideline and recommended list designed for the typical person. You might find you need a slightly less or higher number of the food choices. Adjust accordingly, within the program each week.

In addition, you will find the first time you follow this list; you will be buying more than normal. Specific things like Cocoa or hot sauce will last you more than a week.

Dairy Section

1. Plain Chobani or Fage Greek Yogurt (only these two brands) – ten

2. Vanilla Almond or Coconut Milk – two total

3. Dark Chocolate Almond milk– one (optional)

4. Organic Ground Cheese

Fresh fruit / Vegetable Section

1. Organic Mixed Greens – one large container

2. Organic Carrots – one bag

3. Organic Broccoli – one bag

4. Organic Apples – ten

Miscellaneous

1. Raw almonds or walnuts – one bag

2. Organic dried fruit (such as cherries, blueberries, or bananas) – one bag (optional)

3. Coconut oil – one can

4. Larabars – seven

5. Green, Black and White tea – one packet of each

6. Organic Salsa

7. Black, Red, Kidney or Garbanzo beans – two big cans total

8. Hot sauce or Sriaji hot sauce – one each (optional)

9. Extra Virgin Olive Oil – one

10. Lemon juice – one

11. Ground Cinnamon – one

12. Cocoa (must be at least 80% real Cocoa) – one

13. Organic Low Sodium Peanut Butter NOT just “Natural” (preferred option would be to make your own) – one

14. Plain, low sodium rice cakes – two packages

15. Organic Quinoa

16. Ground Flax seeds

Proteins

1. Grass Fed, Organic Beef or Bison

2. Grass Fed, Free-range chicken

3. Wild Caught Fish

4. Lean Bacon

5. Free-range, organic eggs

Freezer Section (can be useful for weekly meals or when your fridge is empty)

1. Broccoli

2. Peppers

3. Mixed vegetables

4. Free-range chicken breasts