With all the BBQs and cookouts I’ve hosted or attended in the last little while, I try and bring something a little unique to the table each time because you can always count on someone else to bring the staple potato salad or shrimp ring.

It always amazes me the number of people who have never tried or tasted grilled vegetables on the BBQ?

[I always end up with a boatload of compliments on my recipe below. Word to the wise: Anything bigger then the zucchinis above is difficult to grill]

It’s primarily a Mediterranean recipe, that can be found on most Italian kitchen tables all summer long. Personally, I love the way grilling gives vegetables a smokey almost primal-like flavor. They’re aroma becomes more robust, but they still retain their vibrant colors and natural sweetness.

Doing a little research, I’ve also learned from the American Institute for Cancer Research, that the grill does not produce carcinogens in plant-based foods the way it does in meat. Furthermore, quick exposure to high heat means the veggies won’t lose vitamin and mineral value.

Speaking of nutrional value, this recipe is bullet proof. Unless of course you have hefty out-of-control servings of these toppings on your meat.

So is it hard to make?

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Life can be down right cruel sometimes. Various roadblocks and challenges are put in front of us on a regular basis and depending on how we perceive these experiences they can create a tornado of emotions with stress occupying the center.

There are many stress-relief techniques to choose from to cope with these situations , and we’ve covered quite a few here at the Fat Loss Authority:

Coping with Stress During the Holiday Season

Stress Reduction for Better and Longer Sleep

Relieving Negative Emotions and Stress Through Exercise

How Do You Spend Your Time? Keeping Life in Balance

Why Meditation Can Help You? 5 Tips to Relaxation

But not all of these are necessarily the best ways to maintain your productivity for the rest of the day. Music on the other hand can be incorporated into anything that we do throughout our day.

Here are a few ideas on how you can incorporate more music into your life to make your day a bit more enjoyable!
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“I need expensive fat loss and muscle building supplements now that I’m exercising regularly!”

People believe there is a shortcut or a faster path to burning fat or building muscle especially when they have incoporated some exercise into their daily lives. Congrats, you’re active again but the second part of the equation needs to change as well-> Diet.

By now you’re probably thinking I regularly eaves-drop on conversations (see Want to Lose Weight and Build Muscle? Don’t Use Supplements!) but I can’t help but think that more people are falling head over heels for the glossy ad prints in today’s popular magazines.
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I recently got together with Brad Pilon, Eat Stop Eat author and we decided to put together something specifically for the readers of The Fat Loss Authority.

If you’ve followed any of Brad’s workings, you know that he’s discovered a major flaw in today’s way of thinking about nutrition.

Pulling the curtain back to the supplement and food industry’s impact on us, we’re now offering:

The DIRTY DOZEN – The Top 12 Most Common and Destructive Obsessive Compulsive Eating Habits.

Read about all the obsessive compulsive eating habits we’ve been brain-washed to believe was necessary for losing weight or building muscle like drinking 8-10 glasses of water every day, drinking Green Tea to help burn fat, and why obsessing overeating multiple small meals every day is just plain stupid.

Claim Your Free Report ——>  HERE

OR enter your email address in the box (top-right corner) and you too will re-think your position on the crazy eating habits we inflict on ourselves.

Eat Stop Eat has been featured on national television and helped thousands of men and women around the world break their food addictions, and lose fat without sacrificing the foods they love. For more information on Eat Stop Eat, check out our Eat Stop Eat Review .

I’ll be the first to admit complete skepticism about this ancient cross-legged activity but through a little reading and practising it’s probably the simplest and most effective way to reduce and/or manage stress in my life currently.

The benefits are numerous and if you don’t have a daily practice established yet, I strongly encourage it based on the following reasons:

During meditation the heart rate and breathing slow down, your blood pressure normalizes, you use oxygen more efficiently, and you sweat less. Also, your adrenal glands produce less cortisol, your mind ages at a slower rate, and your immune function improves. It is also known to help improve creativity (think Steve Martin as the new age Boss in Baby Mama)!

So, now that you know the benefits, you have no excuses to not give it a try?

5 Easy Steps to Meditation:

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Remember Olivia Newton John? Who couldn’t with the catchy song “Physical” from 1981 and other hits before and after. And who could forget her performance in the smash hit movie “Grease”? I’m starting to hum “Summer Nights” out loud right now! So where am I going with this? I bet very few people remember her as a breast cancer survivor who is now a tireless advocate for breast cancer research and other health issues. So in tribute to Olivia, here are some general guidelines for everyone to consider when determining your health. Note, there are additional tests (ie. prostate) for both males and females so use the following recommendations as a starting point.
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How we spend our time is just as important as how we spend our money. You have a finite amount of both so most of us know that to stay financially well, we need to set a household budget. The same practice can be applied to the game of life where we are juggling multiple roles and we need to schedule our time and allocate that time according to what’s most important to us. Although many commitments you may have are worthy of your time and speak to your goals or ideals, it can be difficult to say no to them. But too many of these commitments can cause unnecessary stress.

Here are 15 questions to consider when examining your own work/life schedule:

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Does concern for the economy have you tossing and turning? Stress can have a big impact on how well you sleep. It’s often suggested that we need a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep every night. How many of us can honestly remember getting that much sleep in one night?

To help you reclaim some of those ZZZs, try these suggestions:

1. Do a little yoga before bed to relax and gain balance. A light walk on a treadmill to burn off any negative energy accumulated from the days activities works well too.

2. Lie in bed and breathe slowly, allowing your abdomen and chest muscles to relax. Concentrate on your breathing and you’ll soon find yourself on top of pillow mountain.

3. Read a book. Something light-hearted that doesn’t require you to increase your mental compacity (this is not the time for advanced calculus or newspaper reading as it might make you more tense).

4. Try a warm beverage such as herbal tea (especially chamomile, which helps your body relax), warm milk, or something else you like that doesn’t have too much sugar or caffeine. Green tea can also be consumed at this time even though it has a very modest amount of caffeine compared to regular tea or coffee. It may be helpful to someone trying to ease back their consumption of caffeinated beverages during the day.

5. Adjust your environment by darkening the room, adding some white noise (soothing sounds such as the ocean, rain or crickets) or blocking out noise entirely with earplugs.

For more practical life-extending suggestions, take a look at our review of Suzanne Gudaknst’s The Top Secret Fat Loss Secret program. It is brainlessly simple to follow!

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To Find A Fat Loss Program that’s right for you, click the button below:

He has the power to hear everything women are thinking. Finally… a man is listening.

Yes, you remember this movie. Hard to believe it was released back in 2000 but Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt were hiliarious and I found myself watching this again over the weekend.

So how does this translate into a fat loss tip you say?

A survey done by IRON MAN magazine set out to question a number of women about their likes and dislikes concerning the male physique.

The results were very interesting…

One of the key questions was:

What is the physical attribute that first attracts you to a man?

Well, you would want to know the answers because those would be the sex-appeal bodyparts you should concentrate on.

What were those bodyparts?

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Many of us also spend a lot of time at home sitting or laying down. Not the guy in the picture though. I applaud his enthusiasm, but I don’t suggest hoisting barbells over your head during the NBA playoffs. So, how do we incorporate activity into our routines at home? It’s simply a matter of how we choose to spend our time. We can lay on the couch and watch T.V. or we can choose to stretch instead (and still watch our favourite show!) Whatever you choose, be sure it’s simple and fun (for yourself and/or the whole family!)

 
Here are a few tips on building physical activity into your home life:

1. Begin/end your day with a 10-minute walk around the neighbourhood, maybe start a neighbourhood walking group!

2. Come up with a simple bending and stretching routine while you watch TV.

3. Do household chores like vacuuming or washing windows.

4. Create a garden or use planters on your balcony.

5. Do active outdoor work. Pull weeds, rake leaves, trim hedges, and use a push mower.

6. Wash and wax your car.

7. Dance 15 minutes to your favourite music.

8. Run up and down stairs several time a day just for fun.

9. Reduce the time spent in front of the TV/computer.

10. Keep the “parent taxi service” to a minimum. Walk your children to visit friends, to the library and to sporting events.

11. For trips less than 2 kilometers leave the car parked and walk, rollerblade or cycle.

12. Purchase your daily newspaper from a variety store and walk there.

13. Walk your dog or your neighbour’s dog twice a day.

14. Avoid the television/stereo remote control.

15. Walk around the house while talking on your cordless phone.

16. Make one night of the week family activity night.

17. Go grocery shopping at a local market, buy only what you need for the next couple days and walk home with a couple bags.

For more information about staying active, check out Jon Benson’s and Tom Venuto’s Fit Over 40. Benson describes his personal struggles with weight loss and the setbacks he endured during his quest for optimal fat loss.