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Weekly Recipe - Dark Chocolate Banana S'mores

Since camping season is quickly coming to an end I thought I would offer up this delicious alternative to campfire s'more.  They are easy to make and delicious and best of all they still have the chocolate!  Plus, for you non campers out there (hi Mom!) you can do this in the safety of your kitchen! 

Dark Chocolate Banana S'mores (makes 6 servings)

Non stick cooking spray 

2 just - ripe bananas, peels on, halved lengthwise and stems trimmed

2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted

12 graham cracker squares

1 3 oz bar dark chocolate, broken into 6 square

1. Heat a grill or skillet to medium and mist with cooking spray.  Place bananas cut side down and heat until lightly marked, about 3-4 minutes.  Flip bananas and brush tops with the melted butter.  Grill cut side up 3 more minutes.  Transfer bananas to a plate, remove peels, and cut into 1/2 inch slices

2. While bananas are grilling, top each graham cracker square with a square of dark chocolate .  Arrange 4 to 5 banana slices on top of each chocolate square and cover with remaining graham crackers.

3. Grill or cook for 1 more minute until chocolate is melted

Nutrition Facts per serving:

190 calories
2 g protein
28 g carbs
8 g fat (3.9 g saturated)
2 g fiber

Enjoy this tasty treat!!!
* found recipe in the Fitness Magazine June 2010 issue



4 Common Strength Training Myths...

It's time to get down to business and separate fact and fiction when  it comes to our gym habits.  I want to take some time right off the bat and clear up some common misconceptions believed by many gym goers.  Buckle your seatbelts, because its time for 4 Common Fitness Myths....

 

Myth #1 - Strength Training will make me "bulk up"  

Nope not true.  I hear so many women tell me that they're afraid to strength train because they don't want to bulk up.  Someone once said to me that "the chance of a women accidently bulking up is about the same as me accidently becoming a millionaire."  Women just don't have enough testosterone needed to bulk up. Resistance training will actually help you gain lean muscle and burn calories giving you the toned lean look you want so go ahead, get off the treadmill and pick up a weight.  I promise it will be ok! 

Myth #2 – Spot Reduction

Contrary to what you hear on most fitness infomercials you can’t reduce fat in one particular area of your body.  Spot treatment only works in the laundry!  In order to gain muscle in your problem areas you are going to have to lose overall fat and the only way to do that is by maintain a caloric deficit (simply put, burn more calories than you eat).  Also, where your body loses fat first is going to be determined by your genetics so doing hundreds of sit ups isn’t going to help you get that six pack any quicker, especially if there is a layer of fat over it! 

Myth #3 – Muscle Soreness = Results

Muscle soreness is NOT an indicator of a good workout.  Muscle soreness is just an indicator that your body is doing something that it hasn’t done before.  Remember when you first started doing lunges, the next day was not so fun (ok horrible), but the more you do lunges the most accustomed to it your body gets and the less sore you become.  It doesn’t mean your body isn’t burning calories and isn’t changing.  Use your clothes, a tape measure or your workout log to judge your success not your amount of soreness.

 Myth #4 – Static Stretching before a workout is a good warm up

Static stretching (where you hold a stretch for 20-30 seconds) actually cools the muscle off and tells it that it is done with exercise so it’s not good to do before you work out.  The best way to warm up is through active stretches, such as jumping jacks or squats, or 5-7 minutes on a piece of cardio equipment.  This type of warm up increases the heart rate and blood flow to the muscles, thus increasing body temperature and getting you ready to workout.

Hopefully this clears up some common confusion and helps you get more from your workouts!

-E

Welcome to My Blog!

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the very first post of my blog!  As I said in the "About Me" section, Bella Vita means beautiful life in Italian and my goal when training is to help people feel great and lead a much more healthy and beautiful life. 

I'm really excited to get this started since creating a fitness blog is something I've thought about doing ever since I first became a personal trainer.  I wanted to create a place where I can share the knowledge (both fact and crap!) I've learned over the last couple of years.  I plan to cover a variety of topics, from workouts to nutrition, goal setting and everything in between.  I'm hoping through your visits you'll learn a little something and maybe have another place on the web to go when you want to kill some time at work (we all do it!).

Enjoy!!
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