Lynbrook | New Hyde Park | NY

Hydration

Recipe of the Week: BALSAMIC CHICKEN AND ROASTED VEGETABLES

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

  • 6 chicken thighs skin on, bone in
  • 24 oz baby gold potatoes halved
  • 1 large red onion
  • 1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme, remove the leaves
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 5 cup cherry tomatoes

Marinade

  • 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic crushed
  • 2 tbsp dijon mustard

Instructions:

  1. Turn on your oven to 400° F
  2. Mix the marinade together and add the chicken, toss it around to coat it and put it in the fridge.
  3. Get out a half sheet pan. You can line it with parchment for easy clean up.
  4. Toss the halved potatoes and onions in a small amount of olive oil, and then place the potatoes only on the sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes. Put the onions to one side.
  5. After 15 minutes, remove the sheet pan and add the red onion and the chicken along with the marinade, then sprinkle on the chopped rosemary and thyme and a little salt and pepper, and put it back in the oven.
  6. Cook for a further 25 minutes, then take out the pan again to add the cherry tomatoes, and cook for 20 minutes more.
  7. After 45 minutes the chicken thighs should be fully cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F
  8. Plate and enjoy!

Note: You can use skinless boneless thighs, or skin on boneless variety too. The skinless boneless thighs will not take as long to cook as the bone in versions so you will need to adjust the cook time to compensate for that.

Nutrition:

Calories: 394 cal
Total Fat: 23g
Total Carbs: 22g
Sugars: 5g
Protein: 22g

https://www.noshtastic.com/paleo-balsamic-chicken-roasted-potatoes-red-onion-tomatoes-herbs/

Peak’s January Goals: Christine

Team Peak is ready for the New Year! Like many of you, our gym members have been setting goals for themselves in 2018. Since the start of the month, we have been sharing our personal health and fitness goals for the month of January. Check out our Goal Board!

Christine has been a member of Peak Performance for several months. She made great strides in creating good nutritional habits as a part of the 12 Week Weight Loss Program. In addition, Christine has lost several pounds and improved her fitness level! As she continues her fitness journey into the New Year, there are a few healthy habits she would like to improve.

1. Drink more water

2. Avoiding eating at my desk

3. Progress my strength training exercises

Christine has set some great goals for the month of January! We will be following up with her in February to see how she is doing with all three.

Fast Facts for Successful Resolutions

The New Year is here and New Year’s resolutions have been made. Stay healthy, get in shape, lose weight. These are all very common goals for most “resolutionists,” but too often these goals don’t make it past January. Fitness is a journey, so here are a few quick tips to get you on your way and help you fulfill your new year’s resolutions.

  • Set attainable short term goals. Sometimes, looking down the road at your long term goals can be can be intimidating. Making short terms goals allows you to track your progress and stay positive on your journey.
  • Don’t hesitate. The quicker you begin the process, the faster you will be able to reach your goals. Start today!
  • Create your diet. It is not necessary to “go on a diet.” Small alterations can have an exponential effect on losing weight and attaining your fitness goals.
    • Decreasing meal size- focus on portion control to avoid overeating.
    • In conjunction with the previous point, increase the amount of smaller meals throughout the day. Eating something every 3-4 hours helps create a more efficient metabolism.
    • Exchange simple carbohydrates or sugars for complex carbs. Try having whole wheat/grains instead of white bread or brown rice over white rice.
    • Decrease (not necessarily eliminate) sweats and treats, and try to replace them with fruits and vegetables.
    • Increase protein intake from lean meats and plant based sources.
    • Increase water intake- one of the easiest tasks which can be done throughout the day!
  • Exercise. Both cardiovascular and resistance training are recommended for achieving your body transformation. Cardiovascular exercise increases our endurance and conditions your body to burn fat more effectively. Resistance training preserves lean body mass and builds up muscle and joint strength.
  • Stay determined and stay positive. Surround yourself with positive people and stay away from negative environments that will hinder you from reaching your goals. Focus on completing each short term goal and realize that each step brings you that much further on your journey.

 

By David McCalla

Lowering Your Blood Pressure

The word “cardio” refers to the heart, a muscle that pumps blood to our entire body. When you are doing any cardiovascular exercise the goal is to strengthen your heart and make it work more efficiently. Cardiorespiratory exercise is often associated with running and weight loss. Yes, running is one form of “cardio,” but there are many options like the elliptical, biking, swimming, walking, and basically anything that keeps your heart rate elevated. Cardiovascular exercise can help with weight loss, but it also helps the body in other ways, especially by decreasing high blood pressure (BP).

Blood pressure is the force of your blood pushing against the walls of your blood vessels. High BP is when the pressure is consistently too high; BP can be classified as “too high” when either your resting Systolic (top) or Diastolic (bottom) numbers are 140/90 mmHG or higher. High BP is often referred to as the silent killer because of not regularly checking you pressure. High BP typically cannot be felt, but over time the pressure causes damage to the walls of your arteries and can damage some of the organs in the body as well. If cardiovascular exercise, as well as, a better diet is introduced slowly to someone with high BP, they have the ability to lower it. Normal blood pressure is considered 120/80 mmHG at rest. BP and heart rate (HR) don’t coincide; because your HR is low does not mean your BP is low.

To manually take a blood pressure reading, you need a sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) and stethoscope for a trained individual to obtain your BP. There are also automated devices which can be used to take a BP reading. If you already have high BP it is not recommended to do intense cardiovascular exercise, because BP increases with increased intensity. If you have high BP, be sure you speak to your doctor before starting an exercise program. When you are cleared to exercise then low-moderate intensity cardio to start and slowly increasing the intensity of the exercise program can help lower your BP over time.

During exercise it is normal to have the systolic number increase and see a reading of 160/80 mmHG and this is not considered high BP. Even in healthy individuals the systolic reading can exceed 200 mmHG; however diastolic BP changes very little during exercise. This increase will only occur during exercise; when you stop exercising, BP will decrease maybe even lower than pre-exercise levels. Cardiorespiratory exercise is good for individuals with high blood pressure because it will help to lower it over time.

Cardiovascular exercise has great benefit on the heart and in turn makes your body more efficient. When your body works more efficiently your heart doesn’t need to pump as heard during rest thus you will have a lower BP. Another benefit to having a more efficient heart is that the same mile you walked on the first day will become easier over time; it won’t feel as challenging to obtain the same goals. As your body becomes more efficient, you have to make your exercise a little more challenging to keep thosenseeing results.

 

By: Corynne Duprey

Beating the Dog Days of Summer

If the hot weather is getting to you, heading to the beach or pool can be a relaxing way to escape the brutal summer heat. Immersing yourself in the cool water can help to reset your body temperature to normal levels, especially after exercise. Going for a swim in a pool or in the ocean is a great way to exercise while avoiding the heat. However, it is important to understand two things: you still sweat (a lot) while in the water, and despite being fully immersed in water you can still become dehydrated!

It may be hard to tell because your skin is already wet, but just like any other form of exercise, you still sweat while swimming. Swimming is a taxing, total body workout and comparatively is one of the top calorie burning exercises you can perform. Burning calories raises internal body temperatures which causes us to sweat. Cool water can initially combat the rise in body temperature but only to a certain point, then the body has to cool itself down by sweating.

We lose a tremendous amount of water and electrolytes when we sweat. Our bodies can’t soak up the water around us, hence we must drink enough fluids in order to replace what is lost. You should fill up on fluids before and after a water workout (and depending on the duration of the workout, you may need to hydrate during). Dehydration can cause symptoms such as cramping, dizziness, and fatigue; so it is important to continually hydrate throughout the day. Here is good formula to estimate how much water to you should consume daily:

–        Body weight (lbs) divided by 2 = ounces of water you should drink each day

o   Ex. 200 lbs/2 = 100 , recommended to drink ~100 ounces of water/day

Remember, even though you are cool in the pool it’s necessary to put some water back in your body!

 

By David McCalla

Exercising in the Heat

A nice, sunny day might give you a little more motivation to do your workout outside. However, for some people being outside in the sun can be exhausting and you’ll find yourself drained by the end of the day. This can be a bad combination especially without taking proper hydration precautions. More often than not, people are suffering from some degree of dehydration yet think their daily water intake is more than adequate. Hydration is not something that comes from same day water intake; hydration is a consistency of proper fluid intake from days prior.

Simply, warmer weather and higher humidity can cause your body to sweat more. The more you sweat the more fluids your body is losing which can cause dehydration if you are not replacing them. If you’re already dehydrated before heading outside, then you may find yourself lethargic and losing energy more quickly. This can easily be prevented and should be taken quite seriously. The general guideline is that you should be drinking 8 8-ounce glasses of water each day. However, this may not be enough for some people; aim for half your body weight in ounces or .5oz-.75oz of water per pound of body weight. For example, if you weigh 150lbs you should be consuming 75oz of water per day.

Especially when you’re exercising outdoors, it is important to be properly hydrated before heading out the door. Regularly consuming the proper amount of water will help you feel better, more energized, and have successful outdoor workouts!

 

By Tyler Palmquist