Question: Current dieting advice tells you to eat smaller meals throughout the day, or to have small snacks throughout the day as opposed to three big meals. I work in an office setting and find it tough to find healthy food that I can easily bring to work and eat at my desk. Any suggestions on easy snacks that I could bring to work?

Sincerely,
- Nicholas

Answer: Yes I’m a big fan of teaching your body to burn through fuel. If it is fuel that is good for the body. I wouldn’t expect you or anyone to use crude oil to power your brand new Chevy Avalanche. I’d expect you to use premium grade unleaded gasoline. Why? Because that’s what keeps the truck running clean and that will cost you less in the long run. The same goes for your body and the cleanest fuel for your body are fruits and vegetables and just to clue you in most fruits and vegetables are portable and don’t need refrigeration. And if you’re one of those people that need to have your food cut into little pieces like when you were seven. They have things called sandwich bags that are very helpful in holding things such as “fruits” and “vegetables”. Some of my favorite fruits that are portable are apples, oranges, peaches, grapes, Strawberries. Salads can also go in Glad bags and thrown on a plate.

No one realizes that soup, yes soup, I believe is the best food to help with dieters as well as non-dieters. Because soup is portable and doesn’t necessarily need to be micro waved to taste good. Clear soups have all the ingredients that are usually good and healthy for you. I specifically like “Healthy Choice” Chicken Noodle if you’re shopping at a regular grocery store. If you’re shopping at a specialty store, ask the clerks, they’re usually pretty knowledgeable about salt and other ingredients that we may want to stay away from. If you would like to get my friend Jayson Hunter’s 100 Calorie Snack Guide go to http://askroccobootcamp.com and sign up under the Book graphic (in the lower right corner of the site).

Keep eating healthy and exercising.

Question: I have been doing squats and lunges thinking these would help me reduce my thighs and butt. I read somewhere that this is good for “lifting” the butt area. I want to lose weight and to me, thought it would be better to lose before firming but do see an improvement as far as firming is concerned. My problem is how to I reduce? I’ve heard that the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn. I’ve been working out with free weights for the upper body and am having the same problem. I heard that less weight more reps is more for defining versus heavy weight, less reps is for increasing. I’m confused and would greatly appreciate your expert opinion.

– Jennifer

Answer: You’re making me friggin’ dizzy with this question and the process that you are trying to describe is not as complicated as in your description. I think we can all take a lesson from this question. And that lesson is; STOP MAKING FITNESS SO DAMN COMPLICATED. The only things that can reduce fat on any part, and let me repeat that; ANY PART of your body is exercises that utilize fat as a fuel. So basically targeted exercises like squats and lunges will not reduce the specific fat on your ass and thighs rather it will reduce fat elsewhere. You cannot spot reduce. Running, cycling, elliptical and even running stairs (if you don’t have bad knees) will reduce fat on every part of your body especially if done in an interval style of training.

I know this may sound absolutely foreign to you, but your body is telling you something, and that something is you need to gain muscle before it will allow you to lose fat. This is actually a good thing for you. Yes, the more muscle you have on your body the more fat calories you will expend (between 45 – 75kcals for every added pound of muscle). Talk about residual effect. Let’s talk about the fallacy and ultimate nightmare that I have been living in since I began lifting weights and exercising. The nightmare is the assumption that less weight more reps is for defining muscles and heavy weight with lower reps is for gaining muscle. I just want to scream…arghhh. Stupid people! It just doesn’t happen that way. “Definition” is not just the burning of fat; it is also the building of muscle. If you build muscle you literally define it and it becomes more pronounced.

Some idiot decided and wrote it down in an article and then in a book that the lower rep ranges that power lifters use would gain muscle very much like the muscle that said power lifters had. The only problem with that theory is that only a small percentage of the population has that much fast twitch muscle fiber to acclimate their bodies to that kind of program. But of course if it’s written down than it must be gospel. If you were to truly work out like that you would have to do a million sets to break down the muscle adequately. Remember build muscle first and the fat will fall off.

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.

Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.

Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.

It never was between you and them anyway.”

~ Mother Theresa ~

If you don’t know me I’m going to let you in on a little secret…I am a freak about a clean house. Very, and I mean very rarely can you ever come to my house and it not be clean, vacuumed and everything put in it’s place. I think it’s funny but some of my ex-girlfriends find it hard to believe that I would break up with them over their messiness. A little soda can left on the counter, I guess waiting for the soda can fairy to swoop down and throw it away, annoys the sh** out of me. This is my favorite…used make up sponges left on the counter in a little pile when the garbage is directly below them. You can literally bump the counter and they would fall in. I don’t think I’m that bad I just get annoyed at laziness. Despite my cleanliness fetish I wanted to let you in on some tips I stole from a favorite blog of mine called The Style Page at http://thestylepage.blogspot.com
I know what you’re thinking, “what the hell is ROCCO doing reading The “Style” Page”? Don’t go hurting yourself by thinking too much. I read the blog because it’s great and I get fabulous tips like the ones I’m going to share with you. So shut up and take the information and use it to keep your house “Green” Friendly. Here they are:

Some personal tips from Rachel Lane of Barcelona Bath & Body (via her email list) on eco-friendly housecleaning that are worth passing on:

~ Sweet Orange Essential Oil is an awesome adhesive remover. My husband gave it the ultimate test recently by using it on a soft cloth to remove the residue from all the dealership stickers he’d taken off his new car. Passed with flying colors!

~ Hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle has taken the place of bleach sprays for kitchen surfaces. I even clean my cutting boards with it before running them through the dishwasher.

~ Vinegar is my glass, surface and faucet cleaner of choice. It works well in the dishwasher additive reservoir to leave your glasses sparkling. It also makes a great tile floor cleaner that leaves no sticky residue behind to attract dirt. My husband hates the smell, so I just finish up with a spritz of Room Refresh!

~ Baking soda and salt take the place of scouring powder. For example, if there’s still discoloration on my cutting board after I use hydrogen peroxide on it, I use baking soda and salt to scour out any remaining residue food may have left behind. Then I put it in the dishwasher and give it a final spritz of hydrogen peroxide.

~ Water in a spray bottle and a soft rag have taken the place of aerosol dusting sprays and dusting wipes. Let’s face it. Dry dusting doesn’t work! But spritzing a soft rag with a little water works well and is safe to breathe.

Bonus tip~~Conventional wisdom tells us to sort laundry first by color, then by soil level. Washing heavily soiled items with lightly soiled items causes unwanted soil transfer. I save my rags for a separate load from my regular laundry. When my husband comes in from mowing the yard, I take the dirty yard work laundry and toss it in the wash with my rags to make a fuller load. This would also work great for sports uniforms or work uniforms if you happen to have those in your household.

I like Bon Ami scouring powder, as it’s not chlorinated. Vinegar and salt is also great for removing tarnish from pots and pans, but you need “elbow grease.”

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I know you’ll be scratching your head with this one for a while but please don’t pull a “Rainman” on me…definitely…definitely…he’s a wack job…definitely!