Can you believe it? Thanksgiving is almost here…AGAIN! I love to go to Mom’s house and watch football while waiting for the big bird to come out the oven. Oh, the appetizers, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing…people tend to relate this massive meal with sinful excess and horrible food comas (yes, we’re all guilty of slumping into the easy chair after we stuff our faces, resulting in the “I’m so bloated” feeling).

Now you can blame the stuffing, all the buttered-up mashed potatoes and gravy, maybe the pumpkin pie for all the extra calories and waistline invasion, but leave that terrific 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.

Protein is the PRIMARY macro nutrient responsible for building, repairing and revitalizing your muscles (fat and carbs simply provide your body’s energy source).

More specifically, regular, quality protein intake is vital in accelerating the repair of muscle damage from high-intensity activities like strength training and cardio interval training (as you see in our boot camp program). 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 lot of energy to sustain itself. Protein is also the least likely macro nutrient 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, what does all this mean? If there is ONE 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! (I love grabbing a few strands of cold turkey breast from the leftovers in the fridge, delicious!)

To inspire your turkey consumption efforts I’ve got some awesome Rapid Fire fat blasting 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.

Fire it up and have a great Thanksgiving!

Curtis Hoekstra

http://www.ArizonaFitnessBootCamp.com

If you are ready to make REAL progress, RIGHT now…keep reading.

Growing up, I was fortunate enough to never really struggle with severe weight gain and all the challenges it can bring. However, as a fitness professional, I do know a thing or two about maintaining a healthy weight and burning fat off your body. As a real world fitness expert, I am always asked what the best exercises are for losing the most fat in the shortest amount of time…oh, and building lean muscle tissue while you're at it.

Cool. No problemo.

I’ll keep this as simple as possible. The best exercises for fat loss are also the best exercises 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 (known as compound movements).

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 a fat-shredding effect. However, the squat goes from great to UNSTOPPABLE for changing your body for the better when you make it a combination movement by adding a row or press 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. Also in that same amount of time you added in an extra exercise without making your workout longer. Remember our key here is to get the best bang for your buck in that busy schedule you have.

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

Performing Total Body Exercises Within Each Total Body Workout:

More Muscles Involved =

More Calories Burnt + Greater Muscle-Building Stimulus =

Greater Fat Lost + Greater Muscle Gain

I must be honest in that I have a true love-hate relationship with the following movements I am about to share with you. Love because of the unparalleled fat-melting, muscle-building results they provide to help maximize my results. Hate because they are hard work, only meant for the determined. Not for the weak of heart, for sure.

Without further delay, here is the top 10 list of my favorite exercises for fat loss and lean muscle gain (in no particular order):

Exercise#1- Lunge to Curl to Overhead Press Combo

Exercise#2- Squat to Overhead Press

Exercise#3- The Alternating Dumbbell Swing

Exercise#4- Reverse Lunge plus Row to Press

Exercise#5- Push Up with Knee Ins

Exercise#6- The Alternating Dumbbell Chop

Exercise#7- High Pulls with Snatch & Press

Exercise#8- Squat with 1 Arm Dumbbell Press

Exercise#9- Rear Foot Elevated Deadlift plus Curl to Press

Exercise#10- Burpee with Double Pushup

Bonus exercise and one of my favorites - Spiderman Push Ups!

Well I hope you take my expert advice and shake up your training with these 10 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.

In the coming days, I’ll be sharing some video examples and more great exercises for those specific trouble spot areas (e.g. legs, butt, abs, chest, arms, etc.) that might be holding you back from unleashing your hotness within! ;)

Fire it up!

Curtis Hoekstra
http://www.ArizonaFitnessBootCamp.com
623-486-6622