Pizza, Pull Ups and The Perfect Sub

Question: I love pizza 🙁  Do you have any alternatives so I can still enjoy it guilt free? Sort of like having my cake and eating it too, (but only pizza). Martin

Answer: Martin, here’s an interesting alternative that may solve your pizza dilemma, it’s definitely guilt free given that it’s dairy and gluten free and full of protein. Give it a try…

Pizza Chicken Roll

For the Dairy Free Cheese Spread

• 6 oz (about 1 cup) raw cashews, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon water
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
• ½ clove garlic
• dash of pepper

For the Pizza Roll

• 4 organic chicken breasts
• 30 slices pepperoni
• ¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
• 2 cups pizza sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a casserole pan with olive oil.
2. Wash the chicken breasts and pound out to ½ inch thickness. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Spread 2 Tablespoons of the Dairy-free Cheese Spread on top of each chicken breast. Sprinkle with basil, then arrange pepperoni on top of the chicken breasts in an even layer. Roll each breast and place, seam side down, in the prepared casserole pan.
3. Pour the pizza sauce over the rolled chicken breasts and sprinkle with the remaining basil. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until cooked through.
4. Slice each chicken breast roll and serve warm.

You don’t need to feel guilty and you won’t get ‘fat’ and bloated from this meal. You can have ALL of your favorite foods with ZERO GUILT because all of the recipes in this cookbook are gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, and soy free.

And, in honor of author, Diana’s birthday, you can get it until tonight for half price. She has a ton of recipes so you can eat delicious foods and still burn belly fat all day long. Even I can make her recipes and they’re definitely worth the effort since they’re so healthy and yummy.

Check out the meals (and desserts) you can enjoy guilt free here.

*************************************************

Question: I’m on day 10 of the 21 Day Challenge Diet and I’m doing great. I have a function this weekend, would a couple Canadian 67 beer really hurt me at this point?  I had 10lbs I wanted to lose, I’ve lost 3.5 this week.  Chris

Answer: You need to ask yourself what your goals are and if you mind being set back a few days. It’s a slippery slope to not hitting your goals. If you can enjoy the weekend and a few beer and then get right back into the swing of things, then just realize that you’ll be a few days behind with your goal. It’s up to you. My purpose for you in doing the 21 Day Challenge Diet is to develop lifestyle skills that will be ongoing.

It’s all about finding a healthy balance, only you know what that is for you. I hope that helps your decision making. There will always be an event or occasion where food/drink is a temptation. It’s healthy to give in SOMETIMES, especially when you plan for it. Perhaps you’ll make this part of your treat meal that’s suggested in the program.

*************************************************

Question: If you could give ONE tip, what would you say to help me get from 5 to 10 pull ups? Don

Answer: Don, you’re doing the first thing already and that is to actually DO pull ups. Some folks do too many other movements, like pull downs and assisted machine pull ups and expect to increase their pull up power. This won’t work. Do more pull ups to increase max pull ups.

Now, to increase your max pull ups, here’s a good strategy.

1. Do a max pull up test when you’re fresh. 
2. Let’s say that on a good day, you get 6 clean pull ups.
3. Every time you come across a pull up bar, do 1/3 of your max reps. (Just one set.)
4. So you’ll do multiple sets of 2 reps all the time through out the day when ever you see a bar that you can pull yourself up to (at the gym, on a door frame, at the play ground, where ever you can!).
5. Do this for 4-6 weeks.
6. Re-do your max test.
7. You should see an increase in your maximum reps without having over trained or risked injury to your joints.

Grab my Pull Up Challenge program for a dedicated plan to increase your pull up power. The cool thing with this program is that it’s very balanced so you’ll increase your strength and power in many lifts. You’ll also transform how you look and impress others 😉 cuz doing pull ups is bad @ss)

*****************************************************

Question: I am unable to perform high impact exercises. Do you have any substitutions for jumping exercises that I can do?

Answer: The perfect non-impact exercise to replace burpees, jumps and more is the Total Body Extension.

Answer: I love getting your questions but make sure to be asking questions and commenting on the Facebook group page where you’ll get a ton of support and encouragement.
As far as the 21 Day Challenge Diet workouts go, the whole point is to MOVE every day with intense workouts that are short. My intent is that you do something EVERY DAY, if you have your own workouts that you do, then that’s fine, but they need to be of the nature that mine are to experience the results that others in the Challenge Diet community are experiencing.

If you go for a 40 min run, you won’t get the same results as if you do a burpee workout for 20 min.

I’ve included 18 workouts, but some will be repeated depending on your fitness level, access to equipment and preference. Try to do some kind of workout daily, this is really the ‘challenge’ with the 21 Day Challenge Diet since you’ll see that the eating part is a piece of cake – well, not quite ‘cake’, there’s no real cake on the plan, but you know what I mean 😉

I was fortunate to be able to attend the Patriot Tour featuring Marcus Lutrell and several other ‘heroes’.

Four speakers took the stage prior to Marcus to share their stories of serving their country and what it means to them. The crowd was receptive and there were several standing ovations. Then Marcus and his dog, Rigsby took the stage.

Now I’ve read the book Lone Survivor and I’ve also seen the movie; while these were incredible, they just didn’t do Marcus justice. This man is truly a modern day hero. He comes across as a humble and modest man, really the reluctant hero.

If you’re unfamiliar with the story, basically four Navy Seals were dropped into the hostile mountains of Afghanistan with the mission to capture a known terrorist. The team encounters the Taliban and a 3-hour gun-fight ensues. I’m not really spoiling the story by telling you that Marcus is the ‘lone survivor’. The story is beyond tragic but filled with inspiration and hope.

During his talk, Marcus clarified some points that were somewhat misrepresented in his movie. (If anything, the movie downplayed the situation that Marcus and Team Red Wing endured.) He spoke a little of his purpose to serve, all the while, his dog Rigsby sat on stage lazily.

As a Canadian, it was a little strange to be surrounded by all these American patriots on stage and in the audience. I have the utmost respect for Americans and particularly those that serve and protect (from all walks of life).

It was an honor to be able to shake the hand of Marcus, a man that was pushed to the limit doing the right thing.  He rose to the ‘ultimate challenge’ on the mountain. From what I can tell, every day since that fight for his life has been a challenge since. He’s driven to be a testimony to the men that died on the mountain that day. Please keep Marcus, and the families of the fallen men, in your prayers, I know I do.