I just returned from a trip to Florida where I visited family, friends and clients. Since people are traveling a lot right now (summer), I get asked about healthy travel tips and how to socialize with people who do not eat or value health like we do. … and there are some cool photos too…

American Alligator, affectionately known as El Lagarto. These bad boys have been around since the Age of Dinosaurs. Do not mess with El Lagarto.

The wildlife in Florida is truly amazing. My cousin, visiting from New Zealand, shot this while we were boating on Crystal River, near Tampa.

Overall, the people in Florida, like most southern states are pleasant and friendly. But do not assume anything when it comes to Americans and their lack of food/nutrition awareness: plan and shop or you will at the mercy of others who think they know something about health (which they don’t).

I do the same thing every time I travel: bring snacks, plan my meals and go shopping once I arrive. This is my favorite bar, it’s easy to travel with, and with a piece of fruit (apple, banana, berries), makes the perfect snack:

tankabar.com

Socializing & Your Health

We are social animals, so there are a few tips you should know about … if you want to be healthy, you will have to work a bit harder (intellectual & logistically) than most, as the default position for food in this country is really, really bad.

You don’t want to be neurotic or orthorexic, but you will – and should – make more of an effort than most.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

The Dirty Truth on Vegan/Vegetarian Diets …and How to Transition to Sustainable Meat Eating & Eco-Conscious Diet & Lifestyle.

This is a Bonus Audio Report when you purchase The Great Health Debate (on sale until this Friday Feb 18, 2011). I recorded an exclusive audio report for readers who purchase The Great Health Debate – on sale until Friday.

This is what you get when you purchase this program through my link www.TheGreatDietDebate.com:

1) How to Transition from Vegan/Vegetarian diet to a sustainable meat eating diet and radically improve your health

2) Dirty Secrets of Vegan/Vegetarianism Exposed

3) My uncensored review of the panel of experts who spoke at the Great Health Debate

4) 75 minute interview with Matt Stone (of 180degreehealth.blogspot.com) – we discuss diet variation across the globe and the myth that eating saturated fat & cholesterol causes heart disease.

I am former vegan/vegetarian of 15 years, and have been eating sustainable meat for 10 yrs now. I am also involved in sustainable farming and sell grass fed meats (through my website) and teach the ‘real world’ dangers & fallacies of vegan/vegetarianism.

I am also a professional nutrition/fitness coach & health educator in NYC since 1994. For the last 10 years, I’ve seen a thing or two, and I have helped many people get healthy, including former vegan/vegetarians restore their health on a diet that many believe is healthy, ethical, eco-conscious … I recorded this audio report to expose the truth that vegan/vegetarianism seems all that, but it’s not, really. I know it’s hard to believe, but I explain all that in this audio.

This is not an attack, I have a similar stance on the Standard American Diet and its failures.

There are more effective ways to shut down factory farms, protect domesticated animals & wildlife, live congruently with nature, preserve ecology and improve human health & wellness. I am not saying ‘no one can’t or should not be vegan/vegetarian’, but I will tell you how to get healthy if you’ve been on or are considering vegan/vegetarianism and haven’t been feeling looking or feeling your best.

The Great Health Debate

The Great Health Debate is over, but Kevin Gianni (of www.RenegadeHealth.com) is leaving up the Event Only special pricing of $49.95 until this Friday Feb 18, 2011. So this means, if you want to get all the calls to listen to at your leisure so you can learn and experience this incredible event, AND you want a discount, then you must do so by Friday night at 11:59 PM PST. After this time, he will raise the price to reflect a number much closer to its true value.

I recorded this special audio report for those who purchase The Great Health Debate – through my link:

www.TheGreatDietDebate.com

There are a lot of diet opinions out there… the big question is who’s right? Kevin Gianni gathered some of the top experts in diet and nutrition industry to discuss which diet is best for you.

Sally Fallon is the president of The Weston A. Price Foundation and author of “Nourishing Traditions.”

Will Tuttle is a vegan advocate and the author of “The World Peace Diet.”

Dr. Jonny Bowden, PhD is the author of more than 4 books on health and diet including “Living Low Carb.”

Dr. Joel Fuhrman M.D. is a board-certified family physician and author of the bestselling “Eat to Live.”

Dr. Joseph Mercola is one of the world’s top natural health doctors and a New York Times bestselling author.

Dr. Gabriel Cousens is a bestselling author, clinical doctor and founder of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, AZ.

Dr. Robert O. Young PhD. is the author of “The pH Miracle” as well other books in the pH Miracle series.

Donna Gates is the author of the bestselling book “The Body Ecology Diet”

David Wolfe is the author of the bestselling book “The Sunfood Diet Success System.”

Daniel Vitalis is a health strategist and researcher. He was a raw food vegan for 10 years before changing his diet.

Dr. J. E. Williams is the author of “Viral Immunity” and has amassed over 100,000 patient visits over 30 years.

Dr. Alan Goldhamer is the author of “The Pleasure Trap” and has supervised over 7000 patients through water fasting.

Mark Sisson athlete, author of “The Primal Blueprint,” and runs the popular paleo/primal health blog MarksDailyApple.com.

Frederic Patenaude is the author of “Raw Secrets” and “Raw Food Controversies.”

Charlotte Gerson, founder of The Gerson Institute and T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study!

Mike Adams and Sean Croxton - This incredible event closes with health crusaders Mike Adams (of www.naturalnews.com) and Sean Croxton (www.UndergroundWellness.com) and Kevin Gianni as they explain how to use all the great information you’ve learned.

When you purchase this program through my link – www.TheGreatDietDebate.com - you also get:

My Special Audio Report Which Covers…

5 Shocking Facts About Vegan/Vegetarian Diets that Vegans Don’t Know About … or are in complete denial about.

-    How to Transition from Vegan to Sustainable, Healthy Meat Eating…

-    Which foods are easy to digest

-    Restoring digestion & hormonal balance

-    Best cooking methods & recipes that are nutrient dense and delicious

-    Is bacon really the ‘Gateway Meat’ or just a funny t-shirt?

-    Why eating grass fed animal foods is easy, smart, healthy, delicious, ethical and natural

-    Why the most important ecological choice we make today is supporting local, pasture farming

-    Ethics, Killing, Karma, Mythology

- Genetics, Epigenetics and Veganism

-    Taboos on eating animals

-    Taboos on talking bad about religion/spiritualism

-    Why I’ve been breaking taboos my whole life

-    Why Good People Believe Bad Things

-    What vegans are doing that is good

-    Overall there were many benefits from being vegan/vegetarian in other areas of life (I’m not talking about health), the experience still is an important part of my life. It was part of becoming who I am today. I still love my veg friends – I’m still close with long-term vegan/vegetarian friends who aren’t judgmental or preachy.

For those who already purchased the Great Health Debate through my link www.TheGreatDietDebate.com – thank you!

Simply send me your receipt: healthyurbankitchen@gmail.com – and I will send you the link for these exclusive audios.

WARNING: This is a delicate topic for some people, vegan/vegetarian is not just a diet, it’s a lifestyle, a philosophy and yes, a religion. I will warn you now: if you are sensitive, religious or spiritual, you may find parts of my audio report shocking, blasphemous, offensive … hopefully, you’ll also find it enlightening & liberating. Enjoy!

www.TheGreatDietDebate.com

Tweet This Post

Here is a short article with 4 great tips on creating a healthy mindset and an audio interview I did recently on Weight Loss Psychology.

If you want to get healthy, you have to think like healthy people do. We don’t diet, we don’t ’start new programs’ or give a shit about calories. We find the weight loss & fitness industry to be mostly comical or completely absurd. We think differently, we teach our clients’ to think differently – our most successful clients do not struggle with weight loss or body image issues and yes, you can too…

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

One of the reasons I like to discuss ‘mistakes’ people make with health, weight loss & nutrition – is because there is a disproportionate ratio of bad to good information on the topic of weight loss and therefore, a lot of good people make honest mistakes on their journey.

It’s also my professional responsibility to debunk weight loss nonsense – especially the more influential ideas & beliefs that are faulty and lead to years of people struggling unnecessarily.

Health & wellness is not limited to food & exercise – without taking your mindset (psychology, values & attitude) into consideration, your view of health/wellness is incomplete and your ability to get permanent results are shot down.

Even if someone has a great attitude, can be intelligent, sets goals and has social support – there are still many obstacles people face when it comes to ‘what to believe’ about weight loss.

So here are some common mindtraps (thought or belief mistakes) people make and of course, their solutions so you can get fantastic results…

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

Although I live in NYC, I have clients in CT and upstate NY, so I am fortunate to experience the magnificence of nature in New England during the fall. Here are two easy weight loss recipes that feature seasonal, fall vegetables which are easy to get this time of the year – broccoli and pumpkin.

Of course they are gluten free & they come from my all time favorite cookbook and they will help you feel good, get healthy and burn fat.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

It seems the misconceptions about ‘weight loss’ are as abundant as Reality TV shows these days…Misconceptions lead to mistakes. Here are the top 10 reasons why you can’t lose weight and a chart displaying the myriad of issues that prevent fat loss and trigger weight gain.

The answers may surprise you, first because they are not your typical ‘weight loss blog’ rhetoric…but also some of these will go against your beliefs. But when you are unhealthy & overweight, your beliefs should be the first suspect to consider…

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

The following is a guest post by Cassandra Damiris, Personal Trainer and Wellness Coach. Check out her new blog: www.metabolicfire.com

“The #1 symptom of food allergies is fatigue…(and) the most common allergy is gluten”

Dr. Thomas O’Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN

As far back as I remember I was told that cutting out bread was one of the first things one should do in order to lose weight, and later found this idea was widespread and extremely popular. Proof is on the profiles of sites like bodybuilding.com, where you can check out the diets and meal plans people post, and you’ll see little to no bread at all. I’ve also been told that ‘if you eat dough you’ll end up looking like it”. Like most people I didn’t need any further convincing, and as a result I cut out wheat years ago with good results.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

Eat Meat or Go Vegetarian?  Who and what do you believe about ‘what to eat’?

I’d like to share some insight from my journey as a 15-year vegan/vegetarian. Really, I could write a book about it, and I might some day. For now, I’m going to do my best to summarize some important lessons on psychology (beliefs), food, health, environment and ethics of ‘paleo or vegan’ as well as some personal experiences.

These are critical points that people base their worldview on – these are personal, professional, spiritual and global issues. People need to be informed. If we are going to make diet & lifestyle choices, they need to be informed by truth, whether you eat meat or go vegan or are somewhere in between.

I’ll start with a brief overview of a few factors that influenced my transition from vegan/vegetarian to eating meat. Then I’ll cover two critical points most people get wrong – nutrition and the environmental issues surrounding eating meat. I will also dispel some myths about the topic so you’ll have real reasons to base your beliefs and guide your diet & lifestyle choices.

I Was a Teenage Punk Rocker

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

Since the 1950’s Americans have been getting an official message from government & academia that animal foods (saturated fat & cholesterol) are bad for us and man made, processed foods (oils & grains in particular) are good.

In recent years red meat has gained a real bad rap – from increased risk of mortality from heart disease and cancer to environmental destruction.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

… BP may have stolen the show for now, but Haiti still needs our support.

Most of you already know that I’m involved in The Athletic Domination Expo, which is a fundraiser for Haiti. I did the section on “Advanced Sports Nutrition” and it was a blast!

We’ve been raising a TON of money so far. I sat down with the man behind the scenes who is running this whole event, Taylor Allan, to talk about training for athletes and everything involved in this kick-ass cause.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post