What To Do With Your Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey To Create Healthy, Fat Blasting Meals

Tomorrow is the day that the Thanksgiving turkey comes out of the oven and onto the dinner table. We’ll enjoy family and friends while we eat and eat some more.

People tend to associate Thanksgiving dinner with sinful excess and guilty holiday weight gain.

Yes, it’s easy to blame Grandma’s homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes with loads of butter and gravy, and pumpkin pie for that, but leave the sexy turkey out of it!

After all, turkey is packed with lean protein that simultaneously elevates metabolism and promotes fat burning and lean muscle growth. It is also a lean protein, meaning there is very little fat in it, as long as you remove the skin.

Everyone knows that protein is the sole macronutrient responsible for building and repairing your body’s tissue stores (fat and carbs simply provide energy).

More specifically, regular protein intake is vital in accelerating the repair of muscle damage from high-intensity activities like strength training and cardio interval training. In addition, adequate protein intake every two to four hours is essential in maintaining your current levels of lean muscle mass.

This is important because the more muscle you have, the larger your metabolic engine, thus the more calories (and fat) you burn on a daily basis since muscle tissue requires lots of energy to sustain itself.

Bigger muscles burn more calories!

Even if it’s just an ounce of added lean tissue (muscle).

Protein is also the least likely macronutrient to be stored as body fat and the mere act of digesting protein requires more than double the energy to digest than carbohydrate and dietary fat.

So, if there is any food choice that you can truly get away with overeating this holiday season, it will be turkey.

Another key benefit to eating turkey is that it is easy to prepare in bulk and thus will save you much needed time in meal planning and preparation during the busy holiday season.

You can roast a big old turkey and then have tons of meal options for days. Just think of what you can do with all those Thanksgiving leftovers!

To inspire your turkey consumption efforts I have put together some awesome “lean body” recipes that you can create with turkey as your lean protein foundation.

Enjoy!

Turkey Salad

Ingredients:

- 6-8 oz. Turkey Breast chopped into small cubes

- 1⁄4 red bell pepper

- 1⁄4 green bell pepper

- 1⁄4 red onion

- 2 Tbsp canola or olive oil mayo

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy over a bed of greens.

Makes one male serving and two female servings.

Turkey Cranberry Cream Cheese Roll-up

Ingredients:

- 6-8 oz. Sliced Turkey

- 1 Tbsp Fat Free Cream Cheese

- 1 Tbsp Dried Cranberries 1⁄2 Clove of Roasted Garlic Salt and Pepper to taste

- 2 Whole Grain Tortillas

Directions:

Soak cranberries in water for 20 minutes or microwave until soft if you are short on time. Mash the 1⁄2 clove of garlic. Mix cranberries, garlic, and cream cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the mixture into the inside of the tortilla(s). Add turkey breast. Fold up sides, roll up, and enjoy!

Makes one male serving and two female servings.

Turkey Medallions With Cranberry Glaze

Turkey Medallions:

- 6-8 oz. Turkey

- Non-stick spray Turkey Seasoning

Cut Turkey Breasts into small medallions, sprinkle lightly with seasoning. Reheat in a pan sprayed with non-stick oil on medium heat until lightly browned on both sides. Drip Cranberry glaze (below) over the medallions.

Cranberry Glaze:

- 1 Cups Dry white wine

- Turkey or chicken stock, as needed

- 1 1⁄2 Cups Dried cranberries

- 1⁄4 Cup of Pine nuts, toasted

- Pinch of Salt

Add 1⁄2 cup of white wine and 1⁄2 cup of turkey stock to pan. Add other 1⁄2 cup of turkey stock, cranberries, pine nuts and pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat until reduced in volume by half, about 4 cups.

Makes one male serving and two female servings.

Turkey Shepherds Pie

Ingredients:

- 2 cups cubed cooked turkey

- 3⁄4 cup turkey gravy

- 1 small can whole kernel corn

- drained 1 cup of chicken stock

- 1 cup of water

- 3 cups steamed cauliflower

- 2 cups celery, chopped 2 carrots

- chopped 1 onion chopped 2 cloves garlic

- minced 1 bell pepper, any color

- chopped Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. First you must make the gravy. Take the garlic, 1 cup of celery, carrots, onion, bell pepper, chicken stock, water, vegetables, salt and pepper to taste. Add to a pot, boil until vegetables are soft and blend in a blender or food processor.

Next, you will take the steamed cauliflower and mash it, or place it in a food processor until the consistency is like that of mashed potatoes.

Next, in a baking dish, layer the turkey, gravy, corn, remaining celery and mashed cauliflower. Bake, uncovered at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Makes 2 male servings and one female serving.

Turkey Florentine

Ingredients:

- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach

- 2 tablespoons smart butter

- 1 cup cooked whole grain fettuccine

- 2 cups diced, cooked turkey

- 1 cup turkey or chicken stock 1

- (8 ounce) package fat free sour cream and onion dip

- 1⁄2 teaspoon onion salt

- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

- Non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

Cook spinach according to package directions; drain. Stir in smart butter. Place noodles in a non-stick sprayed baking dish; top with spinach. Combine turkey, stock, onion dip and onion salt and spoon over spinach. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees F for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Turkey Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

- 1 bag of frozen green beans

- 6-8 oz. of cubed cooked turkey breast

- 1 can of organic cream of mushroom soup

- 2 cups Kraft all natural fat free cheese

- Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients into a casserole dish and bake for about 30 minutes or until completely hot.

Makes one male serving and two female servings.

“We Get You Fit…Faster!”

Scott York

www.fullforcefitness.net

512.233.0756

Your Soon To Be 7 Favorite Moves for Quick Fat Loss and Lean Muscle Gain

As a former fat kid (250 lbs at a height of 5 feet 9 inches (my wife says 5 feet, 8 inches) and a real world fat loss expert who has helped hundreds of people lose thousands of pounds of fat, I believe I understand a thing or two about exercise selection. Because of this, I am continually asked what the best exercises are to lose fat AND gain muscle fast.

I’ll keep this quick and to the point.

(Go ahead and click here to view the video)

The best moves for fat loss are also the best moves for muscle gain and visa versa. These exercises all have one thing in common: they provide a UNIQUE challenge to your body AND involve as many muscles in your body as possible.

The idea is to get as many muscles involved as possible thereby increasing our total caloric burn.

Both the scientific research and the real world case studies have shown that total body workouts are superior for maximal fat loss and muscle gain.

But let’s take this one step further…

Let’s dramatically accelerate results by preferentially selecting TOTAL BODY EXERCISES within each TOTAL BODY WORKOUT!

For example, squats are well known for being one of the best muscle-builders with a serious fat-shredding effect.

However, the squat goes from great to UNSTOPPABLE for a quick body makeover when you make it a combination movement by adding an upper medicine ball throw row or toss to each squat rep.

It’s obvious that you can reap more benefits this way since you have now involved your upper body into the king of lower body exercises.

It’s as simple as the Dream Body Equation below:

Performing Total Body Exercises Within Each Total Body Workout

More Muscles Involved =

More Calories Burned + Greater Muscle-Building Stimulus =

Greater Fat Lost + Greater Muscle Gain

I must be honest in that I have a true love-hate relationship with a couple of the following movements I am about to share with you.

I love to implement them because of the unparalleled fat-melting, muscle-building results they provide to help maximize my time.

I hate them because they provide a “no excuses” gut check to me every single workout by leaving me gasping for air and just plain “gassed out.”

In other words, these are not for the weak of mind, body, or soul!

I’m primarily talking about the Broadjump Burpees and the Dynamax Ball Toss with a jump onto a 16 inch high box (you’ll see what I’m talking about in the short video highlight link below).

Without further adieu, here is the official top 7 list of my favorite boot camp exercises in the world for fat loss and lean muscle gain:

Exercise #1- Lunge + Dynamax Medicine Ball Throw

Exercise #2- Lunge + Goblet Dumbbell (holding a dumbbell as if you were drinking from a goblet and lunging)

Exercise #3- Lateral Hop + Dynamax Medicine Ball Throw

Exercise #4- Bosu Ball Hold + Side Dynamax Medicine Ball Toss

Exercise #5- Dynamax Medicine Ball Throw + Jump

Exercise #6- Broadjump Burpee

Exercise #7- Squats, Lunges, Squat Jumps and Scissor Squats (do these with your relatives on Thanksgiving – they will LOVE you for it )

Here’s a great highlight reel with one of the fittest women in the world, Monica Brant, illustrating the above exercises so that you can add them to your own training routines for better results:

Click here to see video

Well I hope you take my expert advice and jack up your training with these 7 deadly total body combination exercises. I guarantee you better results in less time by regularly employing these movements into your workouts. Of course it’s now up to you to take your workouts, and your body, to the next level.

I’ll be sharing some more great moves for those specific trouble spot areas (e.g. legs, hips, abs, chest, arms, etc.)in the days to come ;)

“We Get You Fit…Faster!”

Scott York

www.fullforcefitness.net

Here’s One Of The Biggest Secrets To Your Fitness Boot Camp Success!

Here’s One Of The Biggest Secrets To Your Fitness Boot Camp Success!


Doing three sets of 10 reps at the gym is dead!

(Check out the 90 second youtube video here )


For more years that I have been on this planet, the cornerstone of most resistance training workouts has been performing exercises in a straight set format, for example – 3 sets of 10 reps.


Essentially, this means you perform a certain number of reps for an exercise, like dumbbell biceps curls, and then you rest from 30 seconds to five minutes based upon your fitness goals before repeating this set a certain number of times.


For more of a fat loss and lean muscle gain most trainees emphasize shorter rest periods. For more of a strength or power emphasis, longer rest periods are prescribed.


So, what’s wrong with this picture?


Well, though straight sets are extremely easy to comprehend for people new to fitness, they are also an extremely inefficient way to set up your exercises.


In most commercial gyms you’ll typically see someone perform three sets of 10 reps for, let’s say, the bench press. They pump out 10 reps, go to the water fountain, talk with some buddies, watch a couple of highlights on ESPN, and then slowly walk back to the bench press to knock out their second set.


In general, most people, guys in particular, tend to take about 3-5 minutes between sets. In the case of three sets of 10 on the bench press that means it would take up to 15 minutes to complete only one movement pattern.


That means you’d need at least an hour to perform four different exercises!


Who has time for that?



A much more effective and time-efficient approach to planning out your exercises is utilizing the combination set format. Here you’ll perform one exercise, rest for a short period of time, then combine that with another non-competing exercise, rest for a short period of time, and so forth.



Combining sets allow you to work different areas of your body and ultimately burn more calories than you would by resting with the straight set format. Plus, by working another area of your body with a non-competing exercise you allow your body to recover from the previous exercise(s).





The result is improved training economy and density: more work accomplished in less time, the cornerstone of any sound fat loss program. There are several ways to combine sets and they are outlined below:


1.) Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and lunges). This is also called “Peripheral Heart Action Training”


2.) Trisets: Combining three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as push-ups, rows, and lunges)


3.) Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises


Though supersets and trisets are excellent alternating set options, I believe circuit training is by the far the best option time and time again. To illustrate why, let’s quickly look out a typical circuit training template using timed set intervals:


The 50 second -10 second Five Exercise Circuit: You will alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for all five exercises in the following 5-minute circuit:


Exercise#1- Squats

Exercise#2- Dips

Exercise#3- Medicine Ball Slams

Exercise#4- Alternate Elbow Crossovers (Abs)

Exercise#5- Squat Jumps

Perform this circuit up to four times for a 20-minute total body fat burning workout.


Basically, in the same 15 minutes that it took to get in three sets on the bench you could have gotten in three sets of five different exercise for a staggering total of 15 work sets!



Plus, the intensity on each exercise will be just as high as in the straight set format because in this five exercise circuit you will have full recovery with over four minutes before you return to any given exercise (just as you did with the straight set format described earlier).



To recap, the key to creating the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss is to perform each exercise with maximal intensity while separated by brief rest periods in order to accumulate a high volume of total body work in the shortest amount of time possible.



This is how you get the most bang for the buck!



Circuit training provides for the best of both worlds and is thus simply unparalleled for simultaneously maximizing fat loss and lean tissue (muscle) gain.


Use the following template I use with my many boot camp clients for some killer, yet simple fat loss circuits:

Exercise#1- Double-Leg ( Goblet Squats)

Exercise#2- Push (Divebombers)

Exercise#3- Single-Leg (Alternate Dumbbell Stiff Legged Dead Lift)

Exercise#4- Pull (Ring Rows)

Exercise#5- Core (Smilies)

Here’s a workout video highlighting todays fitness boot camp workout!



Click -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJybOm5JnTo&fmt=18

I’ll be sharing some more great circuit training workouts from my boot camps in the weeks to come ;)


“We Get You Fit Faster!”

Scott York
Scott@FullForceFitness.net

http://www.fullforcefitness.net

"Candy Confessions"

"What did you do with all of those Halloween treats?

A bowl that is full to the rim of Halloween candy sits on the kitchen counter.

My son's frenzied trick-or-treating, first with me and then with his dad, resulted in more candy than I care to look at, let alone consider keeping around the house."

Read more...

note - We're off this week! Back on 11/10/08 for Session 35.

Register at www.fullforcefitness.net

Scott
Scott@fullforcefitness.net
512.233.0756

Check out www.proteinsupplementinfo.com