New World Marathon Record!!!

Haile Gebrselassie set a new mark in the Marathon running 2:04:29 in the Berlin Marathon. This record was Haile Gebrselassie's 25th world record in a running event. The only question remaining in this event is will anyone ever run below 2:00:00 for the 26.2 mile distance.

The Swim Workout

Almost anyone who grew up around the water knows how great it feels to swim in the lakes during the hot summer days. But come fall, we once again migrate back to the swimming pools and the chlorine to get our swimming fix.

Here is a nice little swim workout that will let you get in shape and build your endurance for the other sports.

Stretch -- 15 minutes
10 x 25 (5 x 50 in the 50 meter pools)
5 x 100 with the kick board
5 x 100 with fins and kick board
500M Swim (20 laps)
Stretch -- 15 Minutes
Total Swim: 1750 Meters

One warning about this workout. You will feel a bit tired afterwards but it can definitely enhance your output with other sports. it can also be adjusted for those who are either more advanced or not quite as advanced.

Sports Equipment -- Where to buy?

Over the years I have found that many shops have very limited equipment shelves when it comes to specialty equipment. This includes items for field events in Track and Field, Football, and any other sport you participate in. While places like Big 5 and The Sports Authority claim to have almost anything you could ever want, if you really want something like throwers shows or Discuses or Injury Pads for football or Kick boards for swimming, you have to go to a specialist.

For Track and field, there is Everything Track and Field.
http://www.everythingtrackandfield.com/default.aspx

For Football, the best place online to order equipment is Football America:
http://www.footballamerica.com/football/home.do

For Swimming, You can try the folks at Swim 2000:
http://www.swim2000.com

Running through an Injury

When I was a college athlete, I had an injury which sidelined me for about 8 weeks. The injury to the knee, specifically a collateral ligament tear, was caused by running a 400 meter race on a flat 160 meter track. This type of track was something my body was not used to, thus it was not prepared for the stress caused by running on a flat short track.

What ensued for me was two months of sheer hell, having to give up everything that I had worked for through the winter. But this doesn't have to be. One of the greatest training methods we have is resistance training. What is resistance training one may ask?

It is the ability to put stress on a muscle by pushing or pulling against the motion that it is taking. In the case of a leg or knee injury, we can achieve this type of resistance training by walking or running in the pool. The water provides the resistance, while the entire exercise is low to no impact on the body. The muscles still get worked but the lack of impact protect the injury allowing the leg to become stronger while the injured area heals.

I have since used this methodology when ever I have had a leg injury and each time, I have usually come out stronger than before I injured the leg or knee.

Recent Injuries in Pro Footbal

Over the past several weeks, we have seen a number of major injuries in Pro Football. I have always wondered why these injuries become so prevalent during short spans of time. And then it dawned on me, it was because we look at the injuries with a microscope after one major accident.

The recent neck injury of Kevin Everett of the Buffalo Bills has not only put the scare in everyone, but it has made trainers, coaches and athletes alike re-evaluate their position in football. I even have had my own injury which has put a damper on my training schedule.

Keeping in mind that it is early in the season and many players have not yet gotten to 100 percent fitness which lends itself to injuries. But we continue on and keep looking at ways to make the equipment and the rules safer in turn protecting the athletes that take part in the sport. But as we always say in sport, where there is physical aggression, there will be the occasional injury.

The only way to prevent injuries is to train and to make yourself stronger, faster and more flexible.

Baked Beans

In a previous article, I talked about protein replacements. Since Baked Beans is one of my favorite foods, I decided to post the recipe I found which makes the beans taste the best as far as I am concerned.

I can't claim this recipe as my own, but I hope you will find it as enjoyable as I do. It has the sugar reduced to 1/3 what the original called for, I find that it is plenty to add just the right amount of sweetness to it. I also tend not to use as much garlic in mine as some folks like, but anything here can be changed according to your taste.

Items Required:

1 1/2 cups dried pinto beans
1 1/2 cups dried kidney beans
1 1/2 cups dry great Northern beans
14 cups water
1/2 pound salt pork, cut into 1/8" strips
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cups ketchup
1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3 cups water
3 teaspoons dry mustard
3 tablespoons molasses
11/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound bacon, chopped
1 cloves garlic, minced

Pick over and wash the dried beans. Wash the beans well and then drain. Combine the beans and water in a large Dutch oven or cast-iron pot. (This is important to bring out the flavor of the beans.) Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the beans from the heat, cover and allow to stand for one hour. Drain the beans and return them to the Dutch oven.

Stir in the remaining ingredients, leaving the salt pork near the top of the mixture. Cover and bake at 300° for three hours. Uncover the beans, and bake them 30 minutes more or until beans are tender.

While this recipe makes a nice sized pot of beans, I would recommend that you serve the beans in a small bowl as a side dish rather than as the main dish.

Working through injury

Over the years, I have played many a football game or ran track meets when I should have stayed at home. Injuries are just a fact of life when it comes to sports. But it is how we deal with these injuries that makes us better athletes.

While the NFL players can go inject themselves with pain killers and go right back into a game, most of us are not playing at that level, nor are we being paid the multi-million dollar salaries. The ordinary Joe goes back to work on Monday morning whether he is injured or not.

Thus it is important to know how to deal with injuries. The first thing is to get any injury checked out by a trained physician. While that ache in your shins or elbow may just seem to be a muscle strain, it can be a minor fracture. Unfortunately, I ran many track meets with stress fractures for the better part of two years. Most doctors I know would tell you this is not a smart idea.

The best way to deal with an injury is with RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Rest is one of the most important ways to treat an injury. You should allow yourself enough time to heal.

Ice slows blood flow and provides pain relief. Ice should never be placed directly on the skin as it can cause skin damage if left on too long. A good general time frame is 10 minutes

Compression keeps the swelling from increasing too much. There are several methods for compressing an injury but most trainers I know use an ACE bandage or stretch tape.

Elevation helps to reduce the swelling. The injured ares should always be elevated higher than the head.

If you remember these four things and learn to take it slow when getting back to action, you will find that injury time outs will be greatly shortened. What ever you do, don't try to jump right back in the action.

How Many Push Ups can you do?

I suppose unless, you are having to take physical fitness tests or having to do an actual push up test somewhere along the way, then you probably could not answer this question very readily.

There are two methods which can help to increase your push up count and increase your chest strength at the same time.

The first method is through the bench press. Using a weekly training on the bench and going from a light to medium to heavy routine and repeating, will will find that you will increase the number of push ups you can do.

The other methodology is training yourself to do the number of push ups through multiple sets. I tend to do mine in sets of 25 or so and do 6-8 sets every other day. This will allow you to get used to the idea of doing a lot of push ups.

Over a few weeks you will find that you can go from being just average to being extremely strong in the push ups. If you can do 100 without stopping, that is a pretty decent test and will pass most military and school push up tests.

Protein Replacements

If you are eating lots of meat with your meals, you will find that losing fat will take a long time to accomplish. Replacing that meat with other proteins is sometimes a challenge for those of us who like that nice 2 lb Kansas Sirloin steak.

Here are some alternative protein sources which will not only be delightful but will give you those building blocks for the muscles.

Tofu -- This white soy bean based gooey looking stuff can be pure heaven with a bit of chopped green onion, ground ginger root and soy sauce.

Peanut Butter -- I love this stuff. My mother fed it to me everyday when I was a kid and I lost a taste for it at one time, but a peanut butter and honey on whole wheat sandwich can go miles in the satisfaction category.

Beans -- This one has more jokes about it than a stack of monkeys. But it can be rather nice when fixed the right way. My favorite is the Indian Daal curry but I always enjoy those baked beans. (Don't use so much sugar when fixing them. Cut the sugar requirements in half or even 1/3.)

Soy Burgers -- This replacement is not my favorite in spite of my love for tofu. But it is possible to get a good tasting soy burger with the right condiments.

There are other protein replacements, but this is a starting place for you.

My Favorite Books

One of my favorite books of all time is the Healthy Runner's Handbook. This book covers 31 injuries associated with running and how to deal with them. The book was written by Lyle J. Michelli, MD along with Mark Jenkins. The two of them have put together a book that will not only be interesting to just read but it is also a great guide for when you do happen to get injured.

It also covers other topics such as hydration of athletes and other topics important not only to runners but athletes of all sports. Check it out if you get the chance or you can order it from Amazon by clicking on the link.

Another Speed workout

Here is another speed workout which I use for my own training. I have written this in my speed workout book which is available on my football blog at (http://outlaws-football.blogspot.com).

Excerpt begins:
The Ladders

This is a very tough sprint type workout, which gets longer with each sprint.
You do 10 x 2, 20 x 2, 40 x 2, 80 x 2 and finally 100 x 2 without stopping. The total distance of the sprint is going to be 500 yards non-stop.

During this exercise, you will focus on your running technique, making sure to run the distances as if you were running in a race. The speed at which you run these distances will be ¾ speed during all of them. This means that you will are not running them as fast as you can as you have to cover 500 yards.

Rest 2 minutes between each one, performing three of these runs. They will help you build the endurance necessary to get through the games when they come up.

Be sure to warm up and stretch before performing any speed workouts.

Workouts are too hard

I was told today by my business partner that my workouts are way too hard for the average person to do. I responded with the axiom that I will remind all of my readers of my blog with.

Only do what you can. If a workout is too hard, halve it. That means you don't have to do the animal sets if you are not a professional athlete. If you are Joe average, then take it easier and get to a point where you can do the whole workout. But like anything, training your body to do something takes time. It is not something that you will be able to do tomorrow. But next month, it is possible.

Whatever you do, don't give up. Keep at it. Consistency in staying the path leads to positive results in any activity whether it is work or it is working out.

A quick meal # 2

For me, the easy way is sometimes the only thing I have time for in my busy day. But doing it always makes me feel good later. Todays quick meal is vegetable curry. I love this stuff because it is filling and healthy.

Items Needed

2 Onions
1 Head Broccoli
2 Carrots
4 Potatoes
1/2 cup rice per person
4-6 cups of water
1 pack of Curry Mix (SB Golden Curry is great)
1/2 cup fresh strawberries
2 cups Fat-Free Plain Yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil


Wash and chop all of the vegies. Put the olive oil in a cooking pot on high heat. Place the chopped onions and carrots into the pot. Cook on high heat stirring frequently until onions begin to brown. Add the potatoes and just a bit of water. Allow them to steam for 1 minute stirring three or four times and then add the broccoli and the remaining water. Turn the heat down to medium.

Allow the mixture to boil/simmer for about 15-20 minutes and then add the curry mix. Stir the mix into the vegetable mixture and cook over medium low heat for 10 minute or until the curry mixture begins to thicken. turn off the heat and serve with the 1/2 cup of rice in a bowl, adding 1-2 ladles of the curry.

Chop the strawberries and add them to the yogurt. Serve in a small desert bowl.

A little Sprint Workout

In football, we use a nifty little sprint workout that really takes its toll on the body fat. This an excerpt from my Speed workout book which is available from my football blog (http://outlaws-football.blogspot.com).

The Sprints

The first part of the workout is the sprints. These are done in measurements of 5 yards, 10 yards, 20 yards and 40 yards.

With the short 5 and 10-yard dashes, your purpose is to work on your starts. The 5-yard dashes in particular are just a bunch of starts.

Each distance will be done in sets of 10 each with 10-20 seconds rest between each sprint. The five-yard dashes can be done with 5-10 seconds of rest between each. The 40-yard dashes can has 20-25 seconds between each dash.

At the end of this section, take about a 5-minute break and hydrate your body. If you are working out out in extreme heat, be particularly mindful of your bodies’ hydration, making sure to get plenty of water. You can even drink a quick sip of water during a sprint set if you feel your body so requires it.

Be sure to warm up before doing this sprint and always stretch.

The pre-workout snack

In yesterday's post, we gave you a smoothie which will work as a great post workout drink. But today, we look at the pre-workout snacks.

You can try out the following snack which is not only fat free but will also give you a bit of fuel for the burn in the gym.

Items Needed:

1 cup milk
1 tbsp Ranch Dressing or Thousand Island Dressing
10 pieces of cut carrots and celery (3-4 inch cuts), 5 each

All of the items should be fat free items. You can use the dressing as a dip for the veggies and the milk to wash it down. If you use whole milk or regular dressing, you will not be reducing the amount of fat intake.

A Delightful Treat

After those hard workouts in the weight room, I always like to have something that will help me continue burning the fat but at the same time giving me something substantial. For that, I use what I call the smoothie from hell.

Items Needed:

1 cup fat free milk
1 cup yogurt
1 chopped kiwi fruit
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup fresh pineapple
1 banana

Mix all items in the blender until smooth. You can add your protein to the mix if you are doing protein.

This makes for one refreshing mixture and is actually healthy.

The Track & Field Middle Distance Speed Workout

Over my years as an athlete, I probably had the most fun when I was a freshman in college running under Tommy Robinson. Tommy's claim to fame was setting the NCAA record for the marathon as Washington State University in 1972 at 2:22. These days, while some college students still run the marathon, it is not officially an NCAA sanctioned event.

But we weren't running the marathon. We were running the 800 meters. A tough event to boot and even harder to train for. But here is a sample of those workouts that we ran.

5K warm up
Warm up Exercises 40M x 2 each exercise
High knees
Butt Kicks
Over strides
egg shells (run at the end of the exercise)
3 sec slow, 10 seconds fast, x 3 sets x 2
Run at the end of each 3 sets 40M
80M x 8
120M x 8
170M x 8
30 Minute run to warm down

The schedule for the workouts was as follows

Monday -- 8 Miles LSD
Tuesday -- Speed Workout
Wednesday -- 8 Miles LSD
Thursday -- Speed Workout
Friday Rest / 3-5 mile run
Saturday Race day
Sunday 5-6 miles easy

* LSD = Long Slow Distance

This is a tough workout but we used to have a lot of fun with it like racing in the last mile of the warm up or doing backwards running on some of the fast runs just to break up the monotony of just training all the time. Try this if you are running 400M to 5km.

BMI Caclulations

I recently had the idea of trying out some of the Body Mass Index calculators. The answers I got were not exactly pleasing. At 6'4 and 240 lbs, I was told by most of these calculators that I was overweight and by another that I was obese. Only one problem with that. My body fat is at 16-17%. Not exactly what I would call obese or even fat. In fact it is pretty average for a 18-30 year old male.

Of course, being in my 40's that is pretty good. And with it improving each week as I work out, I find it difficult to believe that there could be any single index which tells whether a person is overweight.

A great example is my body building friend John, who weighs 210 but is 5' 9". These calculators would have said he was mortally obese. Problem is, his body fat is only about 7%. So what would we tell him? He's overweight? I don't think so and if you did tell him that, I would not want to be in your shoes.

All kidding aside, when using something such as the BMI as a guide, keep in mind that it is just that; A Guide! The best way to tell how healthy you are besides body fat content is your cholesterol. Mine was recently found to be way to high and the first thing I did was change my diet. This is important in any type of measurement. Make sure you eat healthy and exercise. After that the BMI and other indexes won't matter too much to you.

The 40 Mile a week workout

Back in high school, I had a great coach by the name of Larry Seferovich. He was one of the best running coaches I have ever known. He had a great workout which allowed us to get in shape for track without killing ourselves. It was the 40 mile a week workout.

You may think 40 miles is a long distance, but for guys and gals who are supposed to be distance runners to start with, it wasn't bad. Thanks to this workout, we were able to get in shape in about 2-3 weeks each season.

Week 1

Monday -- 8 miles LSD
Tuesday -- 5 miles, weight workout
Wednesday -- 8 Miles LSD
Thursday -- 5 Miles, weight workout
Friday -- 8 miles LSD
Saturday -- 6 Miles Fartlek
Sunday -- Rest

* LSD = Long Slow Distance
** Fartlek = Sprint between sets of power poles, jog next set.

Week 2

Monday -- 8 Miles LSD
Tuesday -- 5 Miles, Weight Workout
Wednesday -- 5 miles, 12 x 400M @ 75 seconds
Thursday -- 5 Miles, Weight Workout
Friday -- 6 miles LSD, Hills x 10
Saturday -- 8 Miles LSD
Sunday Rest

* Hills = 100M hill x 10 sprinted

Week 3

Monday -- 5 Miles, 12 x 400M
Tuesday -- 5 Miles, weights
Wednesday -- 4.5 Miles, 8 x 800 at 2:40 each
Thursday -- 5 miles, weights
Friday -- 8 miles LSD
Saturday -- 6 miles Fartlek
Sunday -- Rest

While this mileage may sound like a lot, you will likely find that if you cut it in half, you will be able to do it easily. By the end of three weeks, you should be in pretty decent shape if not close to racing shape if you are running track and field.

We will talk about cross country work outs in another posting.

Losing the weight

Many years ago, when I was a young distance runner in college, I figured no one could just walk. I just never understood it. That was until I tried race walking. That was the worst nightmare of my life.

I walked a 3000 meter race and my gut was killing me afterward. Also, my feet hurt, and my hips hurt...oh to heck with it, I admit it, my whole body hurt! My attitude about walking changed right then and there. I never criticized those race walking guys again. I had been a victim of that "Doctor Detroit" walk that Dan Akryod did and laughing at the whole appearance of it. But never again!

That brings me to my point of the day. For those starting out, walking can be a great way to lose unwanted weight and body fat. But most people think going for a walk is just going and walking for an hour through the park. But that is not walking the weight off.

When you go out and walk, set a goal of more than twenty minutes per walk. Start out walking slow to let your body warm up and speed things up after you feel your body warming up. As you speed things up, move your arms. This will help propel your body and also help to burn more calories. If you use this as a guide, you will find yourself walking faster and further every day. The pounds will come off but it will take effort and just because it is a walk does not mean that you can't make a good effort. Just remember, walk fast!

Jazzing up that morning yogurt

I mentioned in a previous post about the fact that sometimes plain yogurt tastes like it should not be fit for human consumption. Luckily, fruit does add some flavor to it, but this might not be enough for some folks.

This is where my favorite food comes into play. Granola can not only add flavor but it can also turn a bowl of yogurt and fruit into a complete meal depending on how much granola you add.

While I personally have always preferred my granola with milk in it just like cereal that I grew up eating, the yogurt is a really great change. You can also change up the fruit in the yogurt.

Strawberries tend to be sweeter than raspberries and Japanese mandarin oranges than oranges. if the mixture is not sweet enough for you, than try one of these changes in the fruit.

Ingredients of food

I went to the store for my weekly shopping today and got quite the shock when I started looking at the ingredients of some of the pre-processed items that are for sale. While I understand the need to preserve items, some of the ingredients sound like they could be used for embalming instead of preserving food or even cooking.

As much as possible, I try to cook with real ingredients that I can see. About the only ingredient that I use outside of the normal items is a bit of salt. Things always seem to taste better if it is fresh. With fruits, I find this particularly true and vegetables should always be fresh. No frozen goods here.

Unfortunately, when we eat things like chips and Twinkies, we get empty meaningless calories that we don't need. If you eat things like this all the time, then that is where a good portion of your fat intake is likely coming from. This is the kind of thing that your doctor will shake his head at. Reduce the cholesterol, the bad ingredients, the fats and think FRESH!!!

A healthy breakfast # 1

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I am sure you have heard this before, but it cannot be over stressed. It is the most important meal of the day. This is because it gives your body the fuel and the energy to get through the first half of the day.

Items needed for this meal:

1 cup of strawberries or raspberries
1 cup of milk
1 cup of plain yogurt
2 egg whites
1 egg
1 slice of whole wheat toast

First, mix the strawberries or raspberries with the plain yogurt. Note that fat free yogurt and fat-free milk are in order on this one. I personally don't like the taste of fat-free milk, so I usually reduce the amount of milk. The thought of plain yogurt also may repulse some tastes but the natural sweetness from the strawberries or the raspberries will off set this.

Cook the eggs and egg whites in a non stick pan with no oil until hard. place on plate with the slice of toast. You can use a touch of margarine with the toast if you don't like dry toast.

Serves 1 person

Building Muscle Faster

Are you one of those many people who work out on a daily basis and spend tons of time in the gym, yet find that the muscles you have been looking for are not coming as quickly as you thought it would? Well, there could be a problem with the way you are working out.

While you can spend a lot of time in the gym doing the same exercise and getting no where, you could be spending as little as 30 minutes in the gym or working out if you follow these two small tips.

1) When you do an exercise, do it slowly. Lighten up the weights by 10-20 pounds and do each rep as if it were the last rep in the world. This means that instead of doing all 10 reps in a set in 15 seconds, make that set last 60 seconds plus. This allows you to work the entire muscle and to fatigue it.

This applies to almost any muscle set you are doing. To make it bigger, make the reps last longer.

2) Be sure and eat. This can not be over rated in any fashion. If you are trying to lose weight, the fat is always the big issue. But the actual calorie intake should still be high as you are burning those calories when you are building the muscles. The low fat content of the food will allow you to not only burn more of the fat from your body but the high calories will allow you to have fuel for the muscles. Men in particular should eat more calories in a day.

Healthy Fried Rice

One of my favorite foods is what the Japanese call chauhan or a bowl of fried rice. It is not only healthy but it is easy to fix.

Items Needed for this dish:

3 cups of cooked rice
3 egg whites
1 whole egg
15 shelled pre-cooked shrimp
1/4 onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of sunflower oil
1 tablespoon olive oil

Using a cutting knife, smash the garlic cloves and remove the shells. Slice the garlic cloves. Put the egg whites and the whole egg into a bowl and beat together using an egg beater or a fork. Chop the 1/4 onion into nice small pieces.

Using a small omelet pan, add the sunflower oil and place over med-hi heat. Once the pan is heated, put in the egg and egg whites mixture. Scramble the eggs using a wooden spatula. Cook until nice and fluffy. Place the eggs in a bowl.

Put the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and heat to med-hi. Put the garlic in the frying pan for 30 seconds and then add then onions and the shrimp. Cook for about three minutes or until the onions are just starting to turn brown. At this point, add the rice and cooked eggs. Using a wooden spatula, chop up the eggs and the rice in the pan, stirring slightly so that the mixture does not stick. Using the flip technique is the best way to turn the rice. Salt to taste and cook and flip for about 5 minutes or until the rice is just starting to get crispy.

At this point, place in large serving bowl and serve. This dish should easily serve 3-4 people. Remember, portions are important, so keep them at about 1-1.5 cups per person or less.

A short easy workout

One of my favorite workouts is my squat workout. While most people stand around all day or sit all day, you can easily do a 10 minute workout of your legs just by doing basic half squats.

The half squat starts with the legs approximately shoulder width. Put your hands behind your head with clasped fingers. Squat until you are about 6-10 inches lower than you were fully standing. Repeat.

You can get a decent workout by doing these in sets of 30-50. For those who are first starting out, do 3 sets of 30 and work up to 5 sets of 30. For those in a bit better shape, do 5 sets of 50.

You will not only burn calories, but you will build stronger leg and butt muscles as well as a stronger lower back.

This is a workout that is not only quick, but really effective.

My afternoon snack. # 1

Some afternoons, I come home and am a bit hungry. While I could go ahead and fix dinner, it is much nicer to have a nice little sauté of mushrooms or spinach. In today’s outline, I show you how in 5-10 minutes, you can have a healthy light snack which will tide you over until the next meal.

Sauteed Mushrooms

In this snack, I always use either Shimeji Mushrooms or White Button Mushrooms. You can use almost any mushroom but that is purely up to the tastes of the cook.

Items needed:

2 cups of mushrooms
1 large clove of garlic
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil

Wash and chop the mushrooms. Using a large cutting knife, smash the garlic clove using the flat side of the knife. Remove the shells from the clove of garlic and chop the clove into small chunks.

Use small sauce pan. Put the pan to medium heat. Place oil in the pan. Add the garlic. Cook the garlic for 20-30 seconds and then add the mushrooms. Cover the pan and let cook for 3-5 minutes. Stir once a minute so that the mushrooms don't burn. Place in a bowl and enjoy.

A quick Meal # 1

Today, I will talk about cooking. One of my favorite things to do is to cook and work in the kitchen. Even though I hate to do dishes, I still do them, as it is a good workout, which accompanies making the food.

Many of you may be eating things that were prepared before they even left the factory. But for me, this is no fun and usually tastes like an old shoe. So for the first thing I will teach you, is the one thing that many people have a hard time with. That is white sauce. For this meal, you will need the following items:

Meal # 1
2-3 decent sized cloves of garlic
3 cups of milk
¼ cup of butter (this can be margarine)
1 pack of shimeji mushrooms or White Mushrooms
2-3 tablespoons of flour
1 whole tomato
½ head of lettuce
6-8 rounds of fettuccine
1 can of cream corn
1.5 cups water
1 tablet of consommé
1 head of broccoli

This meal consists of three components. A salad, pasta and soup.
For the salad, we like to keep it simple. We wash the lettuce and tomato thoroughly removing the outside layers of the lettuce. Chop the lettuce in 1-inch squares. Cut the core out of the tomato with a paring knife. Cut it in half and then cut the halves into ½ inch squares.

Place a portion of the lettuce in a dinner bowl and then sprinkle the tomatoes over the top. Repeat this for the number of people in your group. You can put a light Italian dressing over it or mix up the proverbial vinegar and oil with a touch of pepper. The salad is now ready.

The corn consommé soup is nice and simple. Put the can of cream corn in a saucepan. Add the 1.5 cups of water and the consommé tablet. Heat and stir the mixture. Let the pan cook over a medium heat until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and serve in small bowls.

The final thing is the mushroom cream sauce and fettuccine. You can put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. While the water is boiling, you can prepare the garlic and other things. First, place the cloves of garlic on a cutting board. Using a large cutting knife, smash the cloves slightly by laying the knife on the clove and hitting the flattened knife with a closed fist. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS. Repeat this for each of the cloves of garlic.

Remove the shells from the cloves and chop them in nice small chunks. Now place a small amount of olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Turn on the heat until the pan is hot then turn to medium. Add the butter or margarine and the garlic to the pan.

Once the butter is melted, add the milk and bring to a decent bubble. While the milk is heating, wash and cut the mushrooms. Add to the mixture after about 5 minutes. Continue cooking the mixture for about 5 more minutes, stirring generously.

You can now wash and cut the tops of the head of the broccoli. Start a pot of water boiling. The water for the pasta should be boiling by this time. You can add the fettuccine to the water and be sure to set a time for the allotted time of cooking. Be sure to stir the pasta occasionally while doing the other things.

Now add the flour to the cream sauce mixture, gently sprinkling it over the mixture and stirring at the same time. Continue stirring and cooking it. The sauce should begin to thicken. At this point, add salt and pepper to the mixture as desired. Don't over salt. The person eating the food can always add salt.

It will likely take about 10 minutes more for the sauce to form to a decent consistency. By now the pot of water for the broccoli should be boiling. You can put the broccoli in the water. Cook for about 5 minutes

At this point you should have the pasta cooked and drained. Add it to the cream sauce and mix it up good. Take the broccoli off the stove and drain good. Place in a bowl and salt lightly.

Serve the pasta in small to medium portions on a pasta plate. Add 3-4 pieces of broccoli to the plate. While the contents of the pasta are a bit fattening, it is the balance of the meal and the portions that matter. You can add a bit of fruit to the meal as a desert or a combination of yogurt and fruit.

This meal serves 3-4 adults.

Welcome to the Diet House

I was in the middle of my 2007 football season when a friend of mine asked me to write some of the recipes, workouts and other things that I did to lose weight and get into shape. The result was this blog. Here you will find cooking, workout, and general healthy living tips which will help you get rid of flab and build muscles.