Black Bean Sliders

I think over the weekend I am going to make some black bean sliders in respect to my vegetarian friends. If you're reading this Moe, come over. I got this recipe from a page on Facebook. Check them out... https://www.facebook.com/VegetarianRecipes247

The burgers:

• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp canola oil, divided
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium chipotle pepper, seeded & minced
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lime juice
• 3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
• 3 tbsp minced cilantro

The sauce: 

• 1 California avocado, chopped
• 1/4 cup minced cilantro
• 2 tbsp nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 small chipotle pepper, seeded & minced
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 8 whole wheat dinner rolls, but in half
• 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced

Instructions 

The burgers:

• Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a medium skillet set over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft. Add garlic, chipotle pepper, cumin, salt and pepper. Saute for additional 2 minutes.
• Scrape the mixture into the food processor. Add black beans, brown rice and lime juice. Pulse until the beans are chopped, but not pureed.
• Scrape the black bean mixture into a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs and the cilantro. Stir the mixture until combined.
• Divide the mixture into 8 equal portions (about 1/4 cup each) and form into patties. If the mixture is too moist to form patties, add more breadcrumbs.
• Place the patties on a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap and cover with additional plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a large skillet (preferably not nonstick, so a good crust can form) set over medium heat. Add the patties and cook for 3 minutes per side. If the skillet is not large enough to fit all of the patties, cook them in two batches.

The sauce:

• While the patties are resting in the fridge, make the sauce.
• In the bowl of a food processor, combine the avocado, cilantro, yogurt, lime juice, olive oil, chipotle pepper and salt. Puree until smooth.

Assembling: 

• Divide the avocado sauce between the rolls (about 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sauce per roll). Top each with one black bean patty and one slice of tomato. Serve.

Sounds like a lot of work but really it's just a bunch of ingredients to give the burger texture and flavor due to lack of beef. Comment below if you give this a try and I will do the same!

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Why Losing Fat is Important.

Found this picture on Facebook and had to share. This does not mean if you are real skinny that you need to lose more fat. This is for people who are above their BMI and need to lose fat.

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Smoothie's False Identity

We have all had smoothies before. There are several places to go to get them like Smoothie King, Smoothie Factory, and Jamba Juice. They promise good health and the perfect drink before or after a workout. Packed full of vitamins and minerals, smoothies seem to be a very tasty way to stay healthy. Today I am going to tell you why I think smoothies are overrated and why you should be more careful when choosing one to supplement your diet or workout.

I have been a big fan of smoothies for a long time. They taste great and you feel like you are being supercharged. I never would of thought something that seemed so healthy could actually be worse for you than the products they try to replace. For this post, I will use Smoothie Kings drinks for my examples.

Sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. That is what you get when you order almost anything off the menu. Yes, a lot of it does come from real fruit and that is great and all, but the amount of sugar is mind blowing in some of these drinks. They still use syrups and other liquids in these drinks that are not natural fruit. The protein shakes like Gladiator and The Shredder have fairly low amounts of carbs and sugar, so that's good. They also pack a lot of protein so I can safely say they are good for after workouts. Although, when you add the two fruits to it, they do get a little bit of sugar added. The rest of the drinks, start at around 30 grams of sugar for a small drink and can go up to 200 grams for a Hulk large. The Hulk large also has 60 grams of fat. That is like eating 3 hamburgers from McDonalds with 4 large cokes to chug it down with. Granted, the McDonalds meal has tons more sodium than the Hulk large, but I still don't think it's a "healthy" drink.

Another thing I hate about smoothies is that they are so expensive. For a medium, plus the tip they make you feel guilty about, it is around $8-9. Wow! For around that much I could go to Le Peep and have an egg and ham breakfast with fruit and a tall glass of water and it would be miles healthier and delicious. I could think of a dozen more options I could spend that money on that would get me a better meal than a smoothie.

The last thing I will say about smoothies is that you need to make sure you research them before you make it a habit and become overweight all of a sudden by being "healthy". Get a smoothie if it makes sense, otherwise pass and get something better.

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Fitness Apps

If you are reading this blog, then chances are you are technologically aware enough to have a smart phone. Whether it's Droid of iPhone, they both have apps that you can download from their market. Today I am going to share a few of them that I have used before and liked.

Pumping Weight
iOS App
This is real useful when planning out your workout routines and charting your progress through the weeks. It let's you chart how many reps and sets you do for each exercise and categorizes muscle groups. I started using it this week and it helps me log my workouts easily.

iMuscle
iOS App
This is amazing! It starts with a 3D body and when you chose the area you want to work on, it shows you a list of exercises to do that work that specific muscle. You can also log workouts and track your progress. This is a little more detailed than the one above, but I personally will probably start using this one after a while.

MyFitnessPal
iOS and Droid
This allow you to keep track of what you eat through out the day. The database of foods they have is very current and accurate. I used this when I first started dieting and it really helped me control my eating habits. After a while I didn't need it because my habits were gone.

RunKeeper
iOS and Droid
I'm not much of a runner, but this app makes running a little more fun. This is a GPS enabled app that tracks where you run and logs your time and distance. It allows you to set goals and you can even brag about your improvements on Facebook. It's pretty much like the Nike+ but Nike isn't paying me so I am sharing this one haha.

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Diet Trends

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. I'm sure we all pigged out more than we wanted to, and it's OK! Life is about choice and enjoying what the world has to offer. It's OK to eat hamburgers and fries on occasion with a tall glass of vodka and Redbull. As long as you don't let your cheats be a way back into an unhealthy lifestyle, I see no problem with it. Today on Trendy Tuesdays, I want to discuss why I am such a disbeliever in most diet trends.

We have all heard about diet trends that pop up every year or so. One of the most popular I can remember is the Atkins Diet. This was a diet that made you scared of any kind of carbs. It was real popular because people would lose weight by avoiding carbs. Well, what ended up happening is a lot of people got sick or got even fatter once they got off the diet. Another one that I tried before was the Anabolic Diet. This diet was similar to Atkins. It made you not eat carbs for 12 days, then after 12 days you eat carbs for 2 days, then continue a cycle of shocking your body pretty much. I will say, my wife and I lost a lot of weight when we tried this 5 years ago. The problem was that you had to eat all the time. After a couple of weeks I was tired of cooking 4-5 meals a day and really didn't have the time to. Our grocery bill was real high too because of all the meat we had to consume. The most recent one is the Paleo Diet, which I talked about last week. This is again the same ole story about avoiding carbs and eating only meat, veggies, and fruit for the most part. Check out my post from earlier last week to see what I say about the Paleo Diet.

So why the hate? These diets work for some people, I will admit that. For the average person though, I think they are a little too much. I think someone can achieve weight loss and good health by just being smart about what they eat and not over consume. By being on a fad diet, there is a little part of everybody that knows that this may not work, so when crunch time comes, it is easy to just give up. By eating what you want, but being smart about it, you can enjoy life more and not have to be the guy at dinners who refuses to eat a roll or goes for a bunless hamburger.

In conclusion, I will say that some diets are extremely beneficiary to people who have health concerns. If a doctor tells you to stay away from wheat, red meat, or dairy, then I suggest you follow orders. If you got fat because you have gotten lazy and eat way too much fast food, then a fad diet is probably not going to work. You need to get moving, educate yourself on what your body really needs, and watch your calorie intake. We eat more than we do anything, so don't take the fun out of it, just be smart.

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Home Workouts

Do you hate the gym? Does the thought of getting ready to go workout in public make you want to go back to bed? Well you aren't alone, many people feel the same way you do. To say someone can't get in the best shape of their lives by working at home, is wrong. My wife has been doing some variations of workouts at home since she is with the baby most of the day and can't go to the gym really. So far she is down about 5 lbs and said she is feeling great so far. So let me show you a nice 30 minute workout to do everyday from your house.

Stretch - 5 minutes - Although you may feel this is stupid and wastes time, you are doing yourself 2 favors. Loosening up your muscles for the quick workout ahead and actually burning some calories.

Jump Rope - 10 minutes - This may not sound hard, but if you go a good 10 minutes without taking more than a 5 second break here and there, you will be tired. I usually do this in my garage but you can do it on the driveway too. If in an apartment, maybe try finding a spot in the parking lot that is vacant.

Pushups - 50 - If you need start by doing pushups on your knees, that's fine.

Squats - 50 - Make sure to use proper form when doing these to maximize the exercise.

Superman - 5 minutes - If you don't know what this is, it is where you lay down face down, and then raise your arms and legs and pretend you are flying like Superman. Making sure to focus on your core to keep you up. The exercise calls for you to lift up and hold for 5 seconds, then release and repeat. You can sway right to left to if you want to spice it up.

Jumping Jacks - 100 - Just do 100 jumping jacks. Easy.

Pushups - 20 - Last ones for the day.

And there you have a simple workout routine you can do at home with the only equipment needed is a jump rope. If you can't jump rope, substitute it for jumping jacks for 10 minutes. You can also stretch if you want afterwards. You should feel great after doing this. If you are sore the first few days, don't worry, it's normal.

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Sexy Legs Workout

Summertime is here. Well, not officially but it sure feels like it. Now is the time to bring out the shorts and bathing suits. If you are like me and have been working out all winter and spring, you aren't too worried about what your beach body might look like. If you are like most people though, you have some areas that you would like to fix before you get into a bikini or board shorts. Today I am going to share a poster I saw online that shows an incredible leg workout. It is mostly targeted to women but men can easily do this too and see results.

So there you have it. I would say it would be OK to do this every day if you have the drive and want to. Maybe give yourself one day off for rest, like Sunday. If you follow this every day, I would say in a month you will have some awesome looking legs. Don't expect a quick fix and also remember to keep diet in mind while you do this. Here's to looking good this summer!

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