I loooove soup…..no reallly…I really, really, loooooove soup. What I love even more is finding new soup recipes. I ran across this one, while checking my email today, and thought I would share it. I think my vegetarian and vegan readers will really enjoy this recipe as well, especially if you love edamame as much as I do. What’s your favorite soup and/or soup recipe? Please share it with us in the comments section.

EDAMAME SOUP

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon olive oil 1 potato, peeled and cut into small cubes

750g frozen edamame beans, defrosted

2 tablespoon crème fraîche Salt and pepper to season

1.2 litres/2 pints of vegetable stock

In a pan, saute the onion and potato on a medium heat, stirring frequently. Cover and allow it to soften for about four minutes, till they are both softened. Stir and make sure it doesn’t burn. Add the beans and the vegetable stock. Put the lid on and simmer on a medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the beans are tender. Liquidise in a food blender or with a handheld blender. Stir in the cream and serve. Don’t forget to share your favorite soup recipes and, let us know what you favorite soup is, below in the comments section.

It’s the weekend, and this is usually the time most kick back and relax. It is also a time when a lot fo folks try to cram in errands they did not accomplish during week, spend time with friends and family, or are venturing out on a vacation. With so much going on in a 48 hour period, who has time to focus on their workout program? Ummmm….if you are reading this, YOU DO! Don’t worry, you won’t have to go to a gym to do this.

In fact, I put together a little gem that can be done with minimal equipment or bodyweight only. However, the one thing everyone can get from this workout is a body full of sweat, major calories burned, and a bundle of energy to get your weekend started off right. Did I mention, this will get your metabolism racing as well. Ahhhhh yeah!

I know you are saying, “Well bring it on Trainer-Boy!” No worries. One last thing, don’t think this 10 minute workout is confined only to the weekend. Feel free to toss this in on any day during your training program.

Remember you can pick either workout. One uses a medicine ball, kettlebells or dumb bells, and the alternate does not. Perform each exercises for 1 minute with only 30 seconds rest between each. Once you have completed all 5 exercises, rest for 1 minute and perform another round. There you have it, 10 minutes of work, 5 minutes of rest, and a lot of calories burned. let the madness begin!

1. Medicine Ball Slams
2. Double Kettlebell Clean & Front Squat (can also be performed w/ dumb bells)
3. Mt. Jumpers
4. Double Kettlebell Jerks 9can also be performed w/dumb bells)
5. Burpees
No Equipment/No Problem Alternative:

1. Push Ups
2. Jump Squats
3. Mt. Jumpers or Mt. Climbers
4. Reverse Stick Up Lunges (perform a reverse lunge w/ your arms raised high above your head)
5. Imaginary Jump Ropes

How do you get a quick workout in when you are pressed for time? Please leave your favorite quick workouts in the comment section below.

Q: What exercises do you think I could do to reduce the size of my tummy to make it flatter, because its getting bigger. It’s really embarrassing wearing a dress and your tummy protruding.

Anonymous~

A: Hello. That’s a great question, and often asked by many. It would be safe to say so many people are confused on how to get a flatter stomach, due to so much misinformation in health & fitness magazines, late night infomercials, and tons of silly TV ads with fitness models, pushing their exercise products in order to fool you into thinking its the magic pill to creating a flat stomach.Read my lips….It’s All B.S! The real key to begin creating a flatter stomach, is eating more sensibly, with the exception of some medical conditions. However, eating a lot of food as a means to making you feel better, as if it is some kind of aspirin, is not the type of "medical" condition I am speaking of here.Let’’s just say, before you do more sit ups, spend more time putting the food-laden silverware down. Since, I don’t have the specifics as to how often and what you eat on a daily basis, I can give a few quickies that should really help get you started on your way to Flat Tummyville.

1. Eliminate as much sugar as possible from your food and drinks. Sugar comes in many forms so read the labels of everything you consume. Watch out for key sugar cronies such as: high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup solids, cane juice, sucrose, fructose, lactose, glucose, sorbitol, dextrose, honey, and maltose, just to name a few. In fact, it seems just about any ingredient ending in "-ose," "-tol" or "syrup" is sugar in disguise. so beware.

2. Watch out for foods with sugar and salt in the first 6 ingredients of a food label, and reduce or eliminate those foods from your diet.

3. Eat more natural foods. Basically, avoid eating food in a box, bag, or can. These foods are usually full of saturated fats, estrogen enhancing chemicals, which enhance belly fat, and high in salt that dehydrate the body, causing water retention and bloating. The less ingredients on the label (or lack of a label) the better.

4. Eat organic fruits, veggies, dairy, wild caught fish, and free range lean meats. There was a time when organic foods were far more expensive than the pesticide laden, hormone induced foods sold for far less. However, recently, prices for natural, organic foods have become more affordable. Going organic may cost you a dollar or two more than its non-organic counterpart. However, the price you pay from eating unhealthy food, over time, outweighs the cost of any organic food. Yet, I noticed that when you eliminate buying the groceries that work against your tummy-flattening mission (i.e. junk food, soft drinks, sugary juices, and processed foods, which do not fill you up, leave you hungry, or you overeat in order to feel full), you tend to have a lot more money to purchase nutrient dense organic whole food.

5. During the day, eat mostly fresh, organic fruits and veggies. Not only do these foods have far less calories than processed food, but these foods also give you energy to carry on throughout your day, give you the vitamins and minerals your body needs to function at its best, speed up your metabolism, while burning more calories, and reduce the signs of aging, just to name a few of the benefits.

6. Reduce stress. It’s true that stress increases the production of the stress hormone, cortisol, which tends to spend its lovely days residing in your belly area. take the time to relax, rejuvenate, and just breathe. Spend more time with people who don’t stress you out. Get a massage at least once a month. However, I truly suggest twice. Take a walk, Take a mini-vacation, but leave your crackberry, iPhone, and laptop behind. Find a quiet spot, alone, and have some "me" time and meditate/sit in silence. If the word meditate sounds hokey to you, then find a quiet spot, and "do nothing!" Don’t talk, don’t think, just don’t! Relax and enjoy the silence.

7. Exercise intensely at least 3-4 times a week for at least 20-30 minutes. No one is saying go out and train for the Olympics. However, find exercises that challenge you, get your heart rate up, and includes some form of resistance training. Cardio is good for the heart; however, resistance training builds the lean muscles you need to burn fat and help speed up your metabolism need to burn more fat. In a nutshell, you can’t have one without the other. Be sure to mix it up though. 2-3 days of resistance training, and 2-3 days of cardio interval training, will definitely help flatten your tummy. Examples of tummy-flattening activities are: sprinting, hill sprinting, interval sprints on the treadmill, hiking, jumping rope, weight training, kettlebell training, playing various sports, bodyweight training (calisthenics and plyometrics), cycling, martial arts, skipping, hula hooping, and the list goes on.

8. Don’t drink your calories! Most sodas, juices, energy drinks, flavored coffees and teas, designer water, and alcoholic beverages are full of sugars and sugar alcohols that promote excess calories. In addition, they leave you feeling empty soon after consumption, which leaves you to finding more food or drinks to fill you up. Therefore, you consume an excess amount of calories in a short amount of time. thus, the belly fat dilemma continues.

9. Eat more, but eat less. What? Confused? Well, this is what I mean. If you are starving yourself all day, because you are afraid that eating too often will make you fat, yet you eat one big meal a day, that’s not going to work. You are making your body think you are starving. (well, in a sense, you are). So, in order to protect you, your body stores more body fat, so your vital organs are protected, and you don’t wither away. If you are feeling hungry, EAT! However, start by eating mostly fiberous veggies and fruit, and drink plenty of water. On the other hand, I am going to say something that will tick a lot fo so-called experts, and misinformed trainers off. The "Eat 6 Meals A Day" plan does not work for everyone. If you are eating 6 meals a day, because you read it somewhere or heard it on TV, yet you are not active….you are never going to lose any fat! Yeah, I said it! Look, if you are taking in all of these calorie (good or bad) and are not doing any regular, intense activity to utilize those calories, your body will store it as fat. The key here, is to treat food for what it really is….fuel! You wouldn’t continue putting oil in a car everyday that was already filled with oil. If so, your car would not function well, and eventually, your engine would shut down. Your body is not any different. Use your fuel, then add more when your body (not your brain or your emotions) signal you need more. In others words, "Move More/Eat Less." Less, in this case means quantity, not quality.

10. Eat fat to lose fat. kick all of that "low fat" nonsense to the curb. You body, especially your cells and muscles, need fat in order to function properly. Heck, even the brain is mostly fat. Plus, most "low fat" processed foods, pay you back by giving you even more sugar, and chemical preservatives, which promote even more calorie consumption. Be sure to get more foods rich in Omega 3 and 6 in your diet, in order to help reduce fat, heart disease, cholesterol, increase energy, and even enhance sexual activity. Raw, unprocessed nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios, and seeds should be included in your daily diet. Also, various oils such as extra virgin olive oil, flax seed oil, and fish oils. Just be sure to consume your fats with veggies and lean proteins, and not grains, in order to keep the calories under control. Also, make sure to buy your oils in glass bottles, in order to avoid contaminating your oils, as they would if purchased in plastic bottles. Over time, the chemicals used to make plastic react negatively with the oils and contaminate them. when consumed, this chemicals have an estrogenic effect on your body, and aids in promoting fat, especially in the stomach area. These 10 tips just scratch the surface on ways to get a flatter stomach. However, I definitely want you to see it takes more than a simple exercise such as sit ups, crunches, or even running on a treadmill, to reduce unwanted fat. I suggest focusing on a couple of these tips for a couple of weeks, in order to make them a "good" habit, and them move on to a new tip. Remember, this is a lifestyle, and does not happen overnight.

I wish you the best, and would love to hear about your progress. Have a great week.

So, what are your favorite tummy-shaping exercises? Please share them in the comments section. If you have a question, please share it below as well.

I often receive emails from you all, in regards to finding the motivation to workout. I know sometimes it can be hard. However, while there many ways to get the motivation to get off your tukas, and get a workout in, fitness expert, Craig Ballantyne drops these 7 quick jewels to get you going. I’m sure, after reading these 7 tips, you will be ready to go sweat it out, especially tips 2 and 6. Check it out, and share how you get motivated to workout, in the comments section.

Sincere~

7 Ways To Get Motivated For Your Workout

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS www.TurbulenceTraining.com There will be days (everyday?) when you don’t feel like doing your workout. Sometimes you don’t want to get out of bed. Sometimes you don’t want to leave your office because you feel like there are too many deadlines (but this is when you need a workout the most!). Sometimes you don’t want to end story time with the kids only to head down to the basement gym. It even happens to me. But I knew how I’d feel like a million bucks after the workout. And in the end, I know I can’t let myself become "soft" and start skipping workouts. I have to lead by example. But if you are set on achieving a goal, then when it’s workout time, come heck or high water you’ve got to bear down and do the job. So here are 7 ways to get motivated for your workout and to get you inspired to get through your workout.

1) Reward yourself. Finish your workout and treat yourself to a magazine, a TV show, some extra time with your family, some new songs for your IPOD, or even a little extra time for yourself. 2) Or set up a punishment for missing workouts. Skip the workout, put $20 into a jar to spend on home repairs. Make sure your spouse controls the jar. 3) Review your goals everyday and every night. Keeping your goals fresh in your mind will help you stay on track. 4) Realize that the hardest part of the workout is often getting your butt to the gym. Once you get 5 minutes into the workout, you will be over the hump. So tell yourself, "I’ll just go in and do 1 set of the first 2 exercises, then I can go". Next thing you know, you’ll have done the entire workout. 5) Visualize yourself doing a great workout and finishing strong. Get yourself mentally prepared and you will literally have better workouts each time. 6) Crank the tunes. Seriously, nothing motivates like music. 7) Get social support. If you have a workout partner, you’ll feel like crap if you let them down. Or become accountable to everyone in the Turbulence Training workout forums…if you don’t post your workouts, they’ll track you down and demand to know why you’ve fallen off track! So online or offline, get everyone on your side!

Now get out there and kick the fat to the curb, Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS About the Author Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

I came across this tasty little number on foodfit.com, and had to share it with you all.

Grilled Chicken with Tomato-Avocado Salsa

Ingredients For the salsa

4 ripe plum tomatoes, chopped or 12 cherry tomatoes
halved 1/2 small red onion
finely chopped 1 jalapeño chili pepper seeded and diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 avocado

1/2 cup non-fat, plain yogurt
1/2 small red onion
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts,
about 4 to 6 ounces each salt to taste freshly ground black pepper

1. In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, red onion, pepper and cilantro.
2. Chop the avocado and sprinkle it with 2 tablespoons of lime juice to keep it from browning.

Add the avocado and remaining lime juice to the bowl and toss to combine. (This can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.)

1. In a small food processor, puree the yogurt, red onion, lime juice and cilantro to make a yogurt marinade.
2. Transfer the marinade to a shallow bowl or a plastic bag. Add the chicken and coat well with the marinade. Refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 8 hours.
3. Preheat the grill to medium-high.
4. Remove the chicken from the marinade, discard the remaining marinade and season the chicken with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken on both sides until it is cooked through, about 6 minutes per side.
5. Serve the chicken with tomato-avocado salsa.

This dish serves 4. What are your favorite healthy dishes? Please share them in the comments section below

So, what are you, a champ or a loser? Life is an on-going tournament, that you play everyday, to the death. The day you stop playing the game, win or lose, you are dead. Death is a choice you don’t have. However, the choice you do have is whether you choose to be a champion in life, or a loser. There is no "in between."

Before you declare which term describes you, do you even have a clue what the characteristics of a champion and a loser truly are? Well, let’s take a quick look at both before you stake your claim. A champion focuses on what he/she is going to do to win. A loser focuses on what will happen to him/her, good or bad (usually bad), and remains stagnant, due to fear. Which will you choose to be today, a champ or a loser? There is no gray area.

Just like life, it’s "either/or." Anything other than those two choices, are pretty much nothing but excuses, various forms of fear, and most importantly, the choice to be a loser. Here’s a simple process to be a champion in any aspect of your life, whether it be your health, relationships, family life, career, or any other aspect that matters to you.

Make a decision about what you "really" want, have the courage to take action, and commit to achieving what you want, know matter who or what. When what you really want means that much to you, then this 3 step process is not difficult at all. Not even "fear" itself can stop you from getting what you really want. If you are too afraid to claim what you want, then you need to question just how bad do you want it. Saying you really want it, is not enough.

Talk is cheap. In fact talk is just noise. remove the noise, and move toward your prize right now. I guarantee, not a week goes by without me hearing someone tell me how they have heard great things about my one of my training programs from friends, relatives, or my blogs. They go on to say how much they want to train with me; however, they want to "make sure they get in shape first" before starting a program with me.

Que? What? What part of the game is this? That’s like Amy Winehouse saying she would love to check herself into rehab, but she has to stop smoking crack first. It doesn’t make any frickin sense. I’m sorry, there is no pride in being a indecisive, non-committed, coward with no hope for their life. In fact , such characteristics is not living at all. Whoever, said winning isn’t everything, was a LOSER!

Stop following the path of losers, because their path, if they are lucky, is only a couple of steps long, due to their inability to make a decision, take action, and stick with it, during good or bad times. Today, should be the day you become the champion of all the things you want for your life. Decide on what really matters to you and what it is you want no matter want.

Take action to use the resources needed to make it happen, and do what ever it takes to see it through, despite any and all obstacles. Remember, if you are busy moving forward with your plans to win in life and are focused on what you are doing to win, you do not have time to deal with the fear of what you are not doing or whether you will fail. What is your immediate goal that you "must" accomplish, and what steps are you doing "today" to make that one thing happen, no matter what?

Are you more focused on being the biggest LOSER, or the best champion of what matters to you? Share your comments below.