Heart Month - Healthy Tips For The Heart!

We will be focused on tips for keeping your ticker in top shape for the entire month of February.

Tip 1 - Scale down on the White Stuff!
Americans eat more than 22 teaspoons of sugar (about 350 calories worth) and nearly 2 teaspoons of salt per day, both habits can do a number on your heart. Sugar ups your weight, blood pressure and triglceride levels; excessive salt raises blood pressure by making your body retain fluid.

So what's the fix? The American Heart Association (AMA) recommends getting less than 1 teaspoon (6 grams) of salt per day; however, 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) reduction would mean 6 percent fewer new cases of heart disease, heart attacks and deaths.

Women are recommended to get no more than 6 teaspoons or 25 grams of sugar per day. 9 teaspoons/38 grams per day for men. If a women cut back on this plan by limiting foods and beverages containing sucrose, fructose or glucose, she could lose about a 1/2 a pound a week. A man would loose slightly less.

Give it a try and post your results.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We wish everyone a safe, healthy, and happy holiday!

Remember it doesn't matter what you eat or how you train between Christmas and New Years.

It matters how you eat and train between New Years and Christmas!

All the best for 2010! YOU win in 2010!

Multi-Vitamins For FREE!!

Whew! It's always a little crazy here at Rialto Wellness the week after Thanksgiving. Everyone wants to get back on track after taking a few liberties during the Holiday weekend ;-)

So today we don't have very much time to write to you - at all. But as a proud Prograde Nutrition partner we had to let you know that their Whole Foods based multi - VGF 25 + -is now available on a trial basis.

Yes, it's made from 25 veggies, greens and fruits. Hence the name, VGF!

It contains 7 nutrient classes:

Enzymes
Phytonutrients
Amino Acids
Essential Fatty Acids
Micro AND Macro Vitamins and Minerals

Again, what's really cool is you can try Prograde's VGF 25+ for FREE! (There's just a small S & H charge)
http://rialtowellness.getprograde.com/vgf25-free-trial.html

Ok, gotta run. Talk to you soon.

PS - You can see all the natural ingredients they use to make VGF 25+ by clicking here!

Delicious Protein Pancakes Recipe

It's been a great year here at RIALTO WELLNESS. And we're very grateful for you being a part of that success. This week being Thanksgiving we want to make sure we're showing you how grateful we are.

But before we do...

Let's get serious for a moment. You're going to eat a LOT of food this Thursday. You know it. We know it. And that's ok. We're sure you've been working out just a little bit harder to prepare for it, right? ;-) And we know you're going to get a good workout in on Thursday before you chow down, right?

Now, besides that, we also want to remind you one thing you do NOT want to do on Thursday is skip meals so you can stuff yourself with one big one. That's a no-no.

You still need to start your day right by boosting your metabolism with a solid breakfast. So to help you out with that I've got a gift for you from us and Prograde Nutrition. It's a delicious Protein Pancakes recipe.

Thanks to the protein in the recipe your blood sugar won't go crazy like it can just by eating a huge stack of pancakes with sugary syrup. Nope, this recipe will fill you up, nourish your body and give your metabolism just the boost it needs.

You can get the Protein Pancakes recipe by clicking here!
Be sure to let us know how you like it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

PS - Seriously, have a nutritious breakfast this Thursday and your body will thank your for it on Friday. ;-)

http://rialtowellness.getprograde.com/prograde-pancake-recipe.html

Recipe Day!! White Chicken Chili

We love Cook's Illustrated. If you don't subscribe to the magazine, it's basically "America's Test Kitchen" where they figure out the best way to make something - so the test a ton of different combinations to avoid dried out chicken or bland sauce. Today's recipe is courtesy of them.

White Chicken Chili

Adjust the heat in this dish by adding the minced ribs and seeds from the jalapeño as directed in step 6. If Anaheim chiles cannot be found, add an additional poblano and jalapeño to the chili. This dish can also be successfully made by substituting chicken thighs for the chicken breasts. If using thighs, increase the cooking time in step 4 to about 40 minutes. Serve chili with sour cream, tortilla chips, and lime wedges.

Makes about a serving of 12

Ingredients
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves , trimmed of excess fat and skin
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 medium jalapeño chiles
3 poblano chiles (medium), stemmed, seeded, and cut into large pieces
3 Anaheim chile peppers (medium), stemmed, seeded, and cut into large pieces
2 medium onions , cut into large pieces (2 cups)
6 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 2 to 3 limes)
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
4 scallions , white and light green parts sliced thin

Instructions
1.Season chicken liberally with pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook without moving until skin is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Using tongs, turn chicken and lightly brown on other side, about 2 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate; remove and discard skin.

2.While chicken is browning, remove and discard ribs and seeds from 2 jalapeños; mince flesh. In food processor, process half of poblano chiles, Anaheim chiles, and onions until consistency of chunky salsa, ten to twelve 1-second pulses, scraping down sides of workbowl halfway through. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Repeat with remaining poblano chiles, Anaheim chiles, and onions; combine with first batch (do not wash food processor blade or workbowl).

3.Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from Dutch oven (adding additional vegetable oil if necessary) and reduce heat to medium. Add minced jalapeños, chile-onion mixture, garlic, cumin, coriander, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat.

4.Transfer 1 cup cooked vegetable mixture to now-empty food processor workbowl. Add 1 cup broth and process until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add vegetable-broth mixture, remaining 2 cups broth, and chicken breasts to Dutch oven and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until chicken registers 160 degrees (175 degrees if using thighs) on instant-read thermometer, 15 to 20 minutes (40 minutes if using thighs).

5.Using tongs, transfer chicken to large plate.

6.Mince remaining jalapeño, reserving and mincing ribs and seeds (see note above), and set aside. When cool enough to handle, shred chicken into bite-sized pieces, discarding bones. Stir shredded chicken, lime juice, cilantro, scallions, and remaining minced jalapeño (with seeds if desired) into chili and return to simmer. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and serve.

Recipe Of The Week!

Jules Basic Guacamole

2-3 RIPE avocados (if you do not know how to pick out a ripe avocado, google it, or ask your friendly produce person)

(Here is where you could just add a few scoops of the above mentioned salsa, and be done with it, or you could hand chop the ingredients as follows for a more rustic guac)

Juice of 1-2 limes
About 1 tablespoon of cilantro (more or less to taste)
About 2 tablespoons chopped onion (red or white)
1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1 roma tomato, deseeded and chopped
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
A little sprinkle of cumin (optional)


Mash all together with a fork. If you are making earlier in the day and serving later, take plastic wrap and place it directly on the guac. This will help prevent browning. We personally LOVE to add some adobo sauce (the sauce contained in chipotles in adobo) for some extra zing.

Bananas Aren't Your Only Potassium Source...

NorCal Strength and Conditioning (Nicki Violetti and husband Robb Wolf's box) posted a pretty insightful blog about potassium. Ask anyone who gets muscle cramps what food they reach for, and the answer is pretty unanimous: bananas of course!

However, bananas also have a whopping dose of sugar (yes it's a naturally occuring sugar, but it's still sugar).

So what to do? How to get potassium? Get your guac on, and get some avocados!


Here's the blog posting from NorCal and a nifty recipe to go with it:

(note: in their recipe they reference 1/4 cup orange juice...again, make sure this is the fresh-squeezed stuff, not from concentrate).

Orange & Avocado Salad with Jicama
4 oranges, peeled and sectioned
3 avocados peeled and sliced
1 jicama, peeled and cut into strips
1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing (preferably homemade)
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tbsp orange zest
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Toss oranges, avocado and jicama in a large bowl. Mix dressing and orange juice and pour over salad. Sprinkle with cilantro and orange zest. Serve immediately! I served this with grilled burgers.