Did you know that some foods pack a more powerful nutritional punch if you eat them with other foods?

Apricots and Almonds are one of these super-food nutritional combinations because they work in concert to give you balanced calories and help you process the vitamins each one provides.  A baggie of almonds and dried apricots is one of my stables.  And then of course there is the magical Quinoa that everyone raves about for it’s high protein content!  Here is my favorite quinoa salad.  I especially love it now when the weather is warmer and I crave hearty salads.

If you want to read more about great food pairs here’s an article chocked full of other super-food combinations: http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/nutrition/7-super-powered-food-pairings-125087

Ingredients

2 cups water

1 cup quinoa rinsed

1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1/4 cup organic extra virgin olive oil

3 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tbsp. honey (optional)

2 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme

1/2 tsp. salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Directions

Cook quinoa like rice and cool.  Whisk together ingredients and add to quinoa.  Season to taste.

Enjoy! It’s even better with a little time to marry all the goodies.

-Contributed by Becka Tilsen

Type of workout: This will be a simple full-body workout including cardio. Intensity is variable, can be easy or hard. I’d recommend keeping it low to medium intensity, good for recovery following Week 4.

Warm-up: Plant your mat at the bottom of the hill or the stairs with your band. Start with a light warm-up, walking up the hill. Do at least 5 minutes of cardio and a typical warm-up that your trainer leads you through every morning (arm circles, drinking birds, squats, etc.).

Workout:

• 20 weighted squats using band. Loop band under feet while completing squats.
• 10 pushups on mat
• 20 band rows. Loop band under feet, bend knees slightly & hinge forward with a straight back. Row band, squeezing shoulder blades together.
• 1-2 minute plank. Hold as long as you can.
• Run or walk up the hill! Do 3 rounds of the hill. Recover as you come to the bottom of the hill or stairs.
• Repeat this up to 3x.

Stretch & cool-down afterwards!

-Contributed by Trainer Melissa

Jenn calls herself a loyal on-and-off booty camper since SSBC began (that 5 years – whoa!).  She lives in Columbia City and works in Business Development for Geocaching.  If you are one of the few who haven’t heard Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunt where players try to locate hidden containers using a smartphone or a GPS device. Geocaching’s mission to inspire outdoor play.  Sound familiar?  Intrigued?  I was.  Look below for Jenn’s friendly challenge for you.

But FIRST The Booty Profile:

1. Which camp is home to you? “Stephanie’s 6:15!”
2. Booty Camp = ”Strong Women. Like you!”
3. Camp exercise I would actually do on my own? ”Push-ups on the dock.”
4. Favorite Booty Camp Memory? ”When the eagle visits us in the morning.”
5. 5.     Camp exercise I would never do on my own?  ”Tabata” (high intensity cardio interval training, for example: 20 seconds of high cardio with 10 second rest…blech!)
6. What’s your secret for ensuring that you make it to camp?  “I commit the night before. I say I AM going. I remember that when I don’t go I really regret it.”
7. One way Booty Camp positively impacts your life? “There are a lot of ways. This is the only ‘gym’ that has ever worked for me. And that’s because it’s not a gym, it’s outdoors.  A 10K would have been impossible without booty camp.”
8. Favorite Jam to listen to while driving to camp?  “NPR. At the 10K I had This American Life podcast playing. It kept me company.”
9. How did you feel after you ran that 10K? “Pumped and pleased. It was an inspiring location. I thought ‘My God! We can run a 10K in our neighborhood that shows us The Olympics, the Cascades, Mt. Rainer! Amazing. Nicely chosen route! I look forward to the next one!”

10. Little fun fact about Jenn: “I have found almost 1000 geocaches.”

A Challenge For You From Jenn

Go out and find the geocache nearest to your house.  As of this posting there are  2,085,461 in the world, one of them is sure to be near your house. Go here: http://www.geocaching.com/ and find out!

-Contributed by Becka Tilsen

Today I would like to share some info about how to proportion your plate and the overall timing of when you eat. Much of this information I have gathered from Kathy Abascal’s excellent book called ‘ To Quiet Inflammation’. Her book contains a lot of detailed information and is an awesome resource. I am going to distill down a few of the concepts that I think are particularly interesting and relevant, but if your interest is peaked I encourage you to get her book and or attend one of her class series. Many campers have already benefited from this style of eating – check it out -   http://toquietinflammation.com/

1. EAT BY PROPORTIONS NOT CALORIES

Eat as much as you want but build your plate so that it contains 2/3 fruits and vegetable and 1/3 combined grains and protein.

The vegetables and fruits are densely packed with nutrients and are also loaded with antioxidants and balance the acidifying nature of the grains and protein.

2. EAT EARLY AND STOP EATING 2-3 HOURS BEFORE BEDTIME

Research shows thatt when people wait until later in the day to eat, they eat more calories than if they spread them out over the day. It can be helpful to think of your body like a wood burning furnace – you need to fuel it for your energy needs during the day, not for when you are sleeping.

‘ Eat like a Queen for breakfast, a Princess for lunch and a kitchen hand for dinner’

Kathy Abascal talks at length in her book about the 2 main reasons for not to eating at night- the impact on 2 major hormonal cycles:

• GROWTH HORMONE – is responsible for growth and repair and helps us maintain muscle mass as we age. As adults we only get one predictable burst of growth hormone and it is at night several hours after we fall asleep. If we eat before going to bed our bodies release insulin which in turns prevents the release of growth hormone. Not good right??!! We work far to hard at camp to build our muscles to make this mistake.

• LEPTIN – works with the brain to effect appetite and metabolism. It has natural cycles and ideally it is at its peak at night so that we don’t have an appetite and at its lowest in the morning so that we wake hungry and take in fuel for the the day. Unfortunately when we eat later at night this cycle tends to get flipped, and in turn flips our Melatonin cycle ( a hormone that helps you sleep well) . Leaving us sleeping poorly, waking not hungry and then getting sleepy in the afternoon.  Also not a good scenario, but a familiar one I think?

3. EAT OFTEN BUT AVOID GRAZING

By eating 3 meals and 2 snacks a day your glucose levels stay even and you avoid reaching a state of intense hunger when you are apt to over eat and or make poor food choices. However, it is important to avoid grazing all day because each time you eat something your pancreas secretes insulin, and with out time to digest and regulate glucose levels through all the proper channels, your body becomes ‘stuck’ in an insulin state.  Eventually the body becomes insulin resistant and that is a very unhealthy state to live in. It causes the body to store more fat. to create more inflammation (think muscle and joint pain, osteoarthritis)  and it promotes cell growth (favors cancer) and is the precursor to diabetes.

-Contributed by Trainer Stephanie

Now that you know all that, it won’t surprise you that Lisa spends most of her time working with the movement that brought you the weekend.  Yes that’s right Lisa is a Lead Union Organizer at SEIU local 925. What is she working on these days? Lisa organizes family child care providers and center staff working hard to make sure we have strong services especially for low-income children.  Look below for how YOU can take action today to support a powerful and progressive labor movement.

Here’s some fun facts and some tips from Lisa about how to rock camp:

How long have you been at camp? 

Lisa JUST celebrated her 5-year anniversary with Booty Camp this month!!

Why do you come to camp?

“I love my class, the other women in the class, it’s a very welcoming place.”

How has Booty Camp impacted your life?

I work a lot of hours, I work late in the evenings, and morning is the only time I have.  Booty Camp keeps me connected to doing things that keep me healthy.

What’s one Camp exercise you would actually do on my own?

“Can’t think of one. That’s why I come to camp!”

What’s one Camp exercise you would never do on my own?

“Who likes the burpees??”

What’s your secret to making it to camp?

“Make it a habit. I don’t think about it. I just set my alarm for 6:45 everyday. I just get up and do it. And I’m always happy I got there.”

Favorite jam to listen to while driving to or from Booty Camp?

NPR – The Stephanie Miller show.

Booty Camp =

“Physical and Mental Health”

Take Action:

Lisa asks us to call our senators and tell them this:

“Close tax loopholes and fund early learning and education.”

Lisa says if we could just make that call, “that would be huge.”  Sounds hard? Here’s a quick and easy way: Call  1-800-562-6000.  It’s the legislative switchboard.  You give them your message and your address and they will route it to your legislators.  Easy-peasy.  I just made the call and the whole thing took under 2 minutes.

Thanks for being super awesome Lisa and keeping it real!  See you at camp!

-Contributed by Beck Tilsen

Yams, turkey, Jalapenos! Oh My!  But don’t run the other way just because the combination seems a little unusual- ok, downright odd!  I’ve made these for my family (which includes three teen/early twenty something’s) and everyone gave it a thumbs up.  I do cut back on the jalapenos (typically only use 1) and since I’m no longer eating gluten we use corn tortillas.

I first used this recipe when I was taking Kathy Abascal’s To Quiet Inflammation series.  The class is all about quieting inflammation in the body so you can recognize food sensitivities, allergies, intolerances and simply feed yourself better.  The diet can lead to weight loss, better health overall and increased energy but you begin with a three week elimination phase (no pork, beef, corn, wheat, sugar, dairy, alcohol, soy, or canola oil) and that’s when I went looking for some new recipes that were filling, spicy and savory and this hit the spot!  Now it’s just another family favorite for us so give it a try for you and yours.

Enjoy!

- Trainer Theresa

Ingredients:

Directions:

You’re going to alternate between two exercises A & B, doing each one 10x before switching and you’ll keep going for 4 minutes.  After each 4 minute set you’ll add a cardio piece.  If you need to stay put then do the cardio exercise listed for 60 seconds but if you’re outside or want more then change it up and run to the end of your block and back, steep driveway and back, you pick.  Remember if you’re walking to swing the arms and use your core to pull the arms back down.

Always begin with about a ten minute warm-up including some dynamic/active moves to warm-up the whole body.  (standing toe-touches with opposite finger tips, jumping jacks, torso twists with knee lifts, etc).

Set 1

Exercise A:  Slow Burpee, no jumping here- reach overhead, drop hands to ground, step each leg out to plank,, step back in and stand. Repeat.

Exercise B: Squat with lateral raise, wide stance squat, arms coming up from sides to overhead as you drop down into your squat, release arms back to sides as you stand, squeeze glutes to finish.  Focus on nice long line from tailbone to fingertips as you extend arms overhead in your squat.

Cardio: jumping jacks (can make these low impact but stay low in the single leg squat, no head bobbing as you transfer from leg to leg!

Exercise A:  Hi-Lo extension, standing, lift right knee high, extend leg out (try to pause in this hold) then lower leg to standing.  Alternate legs.  Try not to lean back as you lift the leg out front.

Exercise B:  Slow Mountain Climbers, from plank, bring right foot up near right hand and touch the ground as close to hand as possible, extend back to plank and repeat with opposite foot.  Focus on keeping hips low and really getting the foot as close to your hands as possible.

Cardio:  Tick Tocks.  As though you are on the face of a clock swing arms to the right as you lift left leg out to the side.  Repeat opposite side.

Exercise A:  Side Plank with Leg Lift, forearm side plank  from either lower knee or stacked feet, with toe pointed- lower/lift top leg without touching the ground.  Strong engaged core, upper hand reaching to sky.

Exercise B:  Opposite side

Cardio:  Steam Engines, standing with fingertips behind hears, touch opposite elbow to knee, alternating sides.

Exercise A:  Plank With extension, from plank extend right arm forward, replace hand on ground and reach left arm forward.  Can spread legs apart for wider stance and balance.  Remember to keep hips flat so if a plate was balanced on the back of your hips it would not slip off.

Exercise B:  Leg lifts resting on your forearms/elbows, leaning back resting on your elbows/forearms, fingertips touching your ‘cheeks’, lower/lift both legs without touching the ground, higher/lower you go- the more challenging.

Cardio:  frontal kicks with step back to lunge, kick right foot forward then step right foot back to standing as you lunge back with left leg and touch the ground with fingertips.  Keep repeating right foot for 30 seconds then switch to left leg.

Finish with some stretching, twist might feel good and some slow cobra with your breath as your interval.

Contributed by Trainer Theresa

It has been commonly known that a high carbohydrate diet is not a healthy diet. Some reasons include a propensity to gain excess weight, more energy plunges throughout the day, and a struggle to feel full (because of the lack of more filling fats & proteins). However, research is proving links between high blood glucose (blood sugar levels) and cardiovascular disease. I’d like to share some of what’s being found with you, and talk about a few tips to avoid high blood glucose.

A couple statistics for you:

• Only 20% of men aged 75 years and above with heart disease had “high cholesterol”. This shows that most people with heart disease were considered to have low cholesterol.
• In a 2006 study covering 52 countries, the total number of deaths related to higher than optimum blood glucose was comparable to the number of deaths from smoking.
• There is almost a linear progression in the risk for heart disease and death as blood glucose levels are increasing.

The presence of too much glucose in the blood can actually impair the normal functioning of endothelial cells. More specifically, high blood glucose can keep blood vessels from dilating, obviously making it harder for blood & oxygen to flow to and from the heart. This affect can happen even with people who only have slightly high blood glucose levels, and do not struggle with diabetes.

So what can we do to improve our blood glucose levels? I’d like to share a few tips that have worked well for me in my struggle with gestational diabetes, as I’ve learned to manage my own blood sugar throughout the day.

1. You are more sensitive to carbohydrates in the morning than the evening. Avoid large amounts of carbohydrates in the earlier half of the day.
2. Always eat a carb (fruit, piece of bread, etc.) with a protein and/or a fat. Example: an apple with almond butter. Cheese with crackers (preferably whole-grain). Protein & fat act as semi-trucks in your bloodstream, slowing down the absorption of blood sugar in your body, keeping it from spiking and then crashing.
3. Begin to read food labels to find out how many servings of carbohydrate you eat at a time. 1/3 cup of cooked rice is 15 grams (1 serving). It’s incredibly easy to eat higher amounts of carbohydrates without thinking about it!
4. Eat frequent, smaller meals throughout the day. Avoid large meals. This keeps your blood sugar levels more stable.
5. Exercise! Move! Particularly if you just ate a large meal with more carbs than you probably needed! Even 20 minutes of walking can help regulate your blood sugar following a meal.
6. Strength train. This builds sugar-storage cells in your muscles, which, in the long run, helps your body store excess blood sugar.

Contributed by Trainer Melissa

It is always great to have a quick snack in your gym bag for before or after workout. Remember it is important to eat something as soon after your workout as possible, when your muscles are like sponges. Your body uses the simple carbohydrate to replace your muscles glycogen stores and the protein to feed and build your muscles.
I have been eating a Larabar  between workouts and am happy to have found something else that will be fresher,  provide more nutrition, save me money. I gathered a few recipes for bars off the internet, and then customized this recipe with ingredients that I like. What I learned, is that you can really put in just about anything you like, so use the following recipe as a guideline, and make it your own! My 2 classes tried them on Monday morning and gave them the thumbs up – let me know what you think .

3/4 cup peanut butter ( you could try other nut butters
3/4 cup honey or Brown rice syrup ( I used mostly brown rice syrup)
1 cup chopped, pitted dates
1/2 cup other dried fruit (I used chopped apricots and cranberries)
1 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds and walnuts – other seeds would be great too!
1/2 cup chocolate chips (definitely optional but yummy)
3 cups brown rice crispy cereal
1 cup  oats ( I ground them a little in the food processor)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Heat peanut butter and liquid sweetener in a sauce pan to soften and combine.
Meanwhile, blend dates in a food processor (or just cut up finely), and then transfer to a large bowl and
combine with other dried fruit, nuts, vanilla and salt. Add melted honey/peanut butter mixture – it gets pretty goopy here- and then fold in the rice cereal and oats.  I gave up and just used my hands! You can add the chocolate chipsat this point or wait for the mixture to cool more so they don’t melt. Once you have it thoroughly mixed press into a lightly oiled 9 x13 pan (or smaller for a thicker bar) and let it harden at room temperature, and then store in the fridge or freezer.

-Contributed by Trainer Stephanie

This break week marks the transition to our outdoor locations so I thought I would create a simple workout that you could do outdoors.
The Seward Park and Capitol Hill neighbor hoods have many magic stair cases, and hills and all you will need for this workout is your bands,
a watch and a hill (about a block long should do) or a set of stairs at least 25 steps.

There is a great Seattle stair map resource here  if you want to grab some friends and explore more stair climbs!

WARM UP

Loop your bands around your waist and jog 5-10 mins to the base of the hill or stair case that you have chosen to do your workout at.
Continue by warming up your individual joints like we do in class with movements such as arms circles, leg swings, ankle rotations.

For this workout you will do some strengtheners and then a cardio segment, and repeat this sequence 2-4 times depending on how much time you have available and how hard you want to work out. It can be a quick blast, or quite a test of endurance – your choice.

STRENGTHENERS

12 Squats with overhead press – loop the band under your feet and hold onto the handles, as you stand up from the squat raise your arms over head

12 Rows – find a street sign or railing and loop the bands around. Standing with bent knees,  lean your upper body forward with a flat back . As you pull on the handles of the bands draw your shoulder blades together as you draw your elbows back. Release slowly so you get the work in both directions

12 Push ups or chest presses-   If you are at a set of stairs and are comfortable putting your hands on the stairs do push ups. If not,  stand between your bands (still looped around the pole) facing away from the pole with one foot in front of another. Press the handles forward and up, return slowly with control

CARDIO

Walk, jog or run up the hill or stairs (you are trying to get your heart rate up here)
and then walk back down.  repeat for 5- 10 minutes depending on how much time you have and how hard you want to workout.

WARM DOWN

Jog or walk back home or where you started from and stretch using a bench or your mat
include stretches for the fronts and backs of your legs as well as hips and chest.

ENJOY!

Trainer Stephanie