Quite the move from Sydney to Dubai, but everything has a reason and a purpose.

My wife Lauren and I have been contemplating a move OS for some time now, but always juggled the ideas of where. We knew what we wanted to get out of it from the start – meet great people, experience what the world has, live in new cultures and shape the lives for what we want.

To not make this post not too long, I will keep certain points short.

I will admit that everything hit me after 1 hour of sitting on the plane. I have left my home of 26 years, my wife and new coming baby, my family, friends, colleagues and business. The fact alone that I have a wonderful new bundle of joy on the way excites me beyond belief. Honestly the thought of the responsibility and act of being a father is something I am not taking lightly, but very much looking forward to. I want to enjoy it, and make the most of it. My own father and mother have given me so much, and I want to continue that to my own children.

I have tremendous support from my wife, family, friends and the great people that I am meeting here in Dubai. Hey, I could be writing a blog post in the near future, that everything has failed here, and Im flying back to Sydney bashed and bruised. Will I regret what I have done – not at all. Ive already discovered so much about making this move. Selling 99% of all my ‘stuff’ was invigorating. I felt so free not having crap and realising that all the material things don’t bring happiness. I know I am getting deep here, and the last couple of Buddhism books are revealing itself through my writing, but i believe it, its my blog post and website, I’ll write what I want.

I write this not to impress, but to impress upon.

Don’t live a dull life, don’t be stagnant, don’t not act upon what you want due to fear or the unknown.

Do what you want, do create the life you want, do be scared but, do enjoy it.

A short story to kick you up the behind, and to make action to what you want.

Yours in health,

Chris

Do you sometimes find yourself at the end of the day with so many thoughts and even frustrations buzzing around in your exhausted brain? Jobs, families, finances, it all can weigh heavy on the mind, especially when we find ourselves thinking that nothing is going right. These negative thoughts and emotions can really pull us down, as well as cause serious havoc with our overall health.

So now ask yourself — do you want a simple, helpful solution to those end-of-the-day worries and blues? Do you want a solution that could actually change your life and your health in surprising ways?

I dont just sit here wanting to write garbage, I want to be able to put something out there that has helped myself or someone I know.  I know this works, because this is what I follow through with habitually.

The gratitude journal is where you write only positive things for which you are grateful. Its as simple as that, but the positive results can be truly profound. Writing in a gratitude journal right before bed every night will replace your frazzled, frustrated thoughts with ones of happiness, pleasure and thankfulness.

Instead of focusing on the negative, you will be fully aware of how many wonderful things happen for you in every single day. Your mood and your outlook will shift. You will feel lucky and, consequently, become luckier because your positivity and abundance is attracting more of the same to you.

Celebrities Who Swear By Gratitude Journals

Even celebrities use gratitude journals to improve their outlook, ‘luck’, to calm their nerves, and even get more restful sleep. Not just actors and entertainers, but celebrities in the health industry swear by gratitude journals too.

Talk show host, actress and icon Oprah Winfrey says that writing in her gratitude journal every day helps her stay focused on all the goodness in her life. She goes as far as to claim its one of the most beneficial things she’s ever done toward success and happiness.

Successful sports performance coach Charles Poliquin, founder of Poliquin Performance, is an incredible role model and trainer for medal-winning athletes and Olympians. Poliquin highly recommends a gratitude journal as a means for clearing away negative thoughts to induce deep and restful sleep. When you go to sleep feeling happy and grateful, your mind and body are calmed, reassured and relaxed. Poliquins clients who use gratitude journals find themselves with more energy for sports endurance and more positive thoughts that help them achieve their goals.

How to Keep a Gratitude Journal

Select a journal and a writing tool that are pleasing to you. You will be more attracted to writing every night if you are attracted to the journal itself.

Keep your journal close to the bed and write in it just before you go to sleep. Write 10 things from your day that you are thankful for, such as eating a healthy meal, achieving a goal, receiving a compliment, etc. Remember to include anything that might seem small and insignificant at first. The small stuff really adds up and helps us see all the little miracles that we might not otherwise be noticing in our lives.

Another option I know some people use effectively is writing in their journal first thing in the morning.  This way they start their day in an up beat, positive attitude.

The More You Journal, the Better Life Gets

I challenge you to commit to writing in your gratitude journal every night for a month and watch the positive changes take place. You’ll find that a month from now, your journal entries will include some increasingly amazing stuff.

You know the saying Don’t go to bed angry.  Well, I say don’t go to bed without first feeling grateful (I dont actually say that, i just made it up then).  Gratitude has healing power that works on the body and mind from the inside out. Feeling happy and grateful tends to make you happy and grateful more often. How simple and wonderful is that?

Yours in health & fitness,

Chris

Being able to dish this up for family and friends will make you the hostess with the mostess.

Enjoy a little something different.

Prosciutto Wrapped Pear’s

• ½ red onion, very thinly sliced
• 2 pears
• 1 package of prosciutto di parma
• Baby Spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 200C. Heat the coconut oil in a small skillet and sauté onions until they are caramelised (onions should be brown but not burnt).  Peel and slice the pears into thick slices.  Top each pear with a little bit of carmalized onion and one spinach leaf, wrap tightly with a piece of prosciutto.  Grease a baking sheet with a little bit of grassfed organic butter, and place the pears on the baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes.  While the pears are baking, add the balsamic to a small sauce pan, heat over medium low until the balsamic is reduced down to a syrup like consistency, stirring often.  Drizzle a small amount of the balsamic reduction over the pears and serve.

Good eating all!

Don’t dive head first into a bowl of cereal and feel like crap the rest of the day.

Strawberry Almond Protein Shake

Makes 2
Ingredients

• 3 scoops of protein powder (Vanilla or unflavored)
• 1 punnet of strawberries
• 1 handful of almonds
• 1/2 cup of coconut milk
• Water – Enough to reach your desired consistency. Around a cup worths I go for.
• Handful of ice-cubes
• 1/2 tespoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

*Protein powder can be whey, or even pea protein. A concentrate would be a better option over a isolate because it will have you satisfied for longer. No dramas if you don’t though.

Grab your blender. Plug it in. Place all the ingredients into it. Turn the blender on, and blend till smooth. Go get a glass. Poor your shake into the glass. Enjoy having a better option this morning for breakfast.

You will have energy for longer, you will be in a better mood, and you will start the process of creating a better body for yourself.

Drink up, and to good health.
Salud

In my attempt to get more greens into our bellies, we have introduced the green smoothie to our daily nutrition (if you haven’t already, please try it- you will LOVE it!) and a few other sneaky vegetables hidden throughout our meals.

We are no salad dodgers, but you can never have too many greens on your plate.

As a child my mum made popcorn for us as an after school treat. Every so often she will whip up a batch when we are there as a pre dinner snack.

The smell really tempts me, and in my quest to come up with a healthier option I came across many recipes for Kale Chips! This ticks all the boxes, green vegies (which I wouldn’t be too excited by Kale on it’s own), and the delicious smell and taste of popcorn. There are many elaborate recipes out there, but give this simple one a go and tell me it’s not better than a handful of chips!!

Kale Chips

I bunch of Kale
1-2 TBSP if Olive Oil
Himalayan Pink Salt to Taste

 
 
Preheat oven to 180deg. Remove Kale leaves and rinse clean, spin in a salad spinner. Toss in bowl with olive oil.payday loansLay in a single layer on baking paper and season generously with good quality Salt. Bake until crisp and crunchy… enjoy by the handful.

 
Stay tuned for many more recipes coming your way. I am also working on a post about eating out and navigating the menu, without deviating from your nutrition plan.

 
Lauren.

I also reccomend getting a GIA Cell Guard. I dont make a dime out this, I just want you to live a happier, healthier life.

 
Information is from www.enviroproducts.com.au
 

Scientists believe that we now live in 100 million times more radiation then our great grandparents did. Life was simpler (and safer) then. They didn’t evolve with electric blankets, electronic clock radios, microwave ovens, hair dryers, TV’s, stereos, computers, cars or cordless & mobile phones frying their brains nor laptops slowly radiating their private parts day after day.
 
The incidence of testicular and ovarian cancers has increased dramatically since the introduction of laptop computers and our experience has shown that almost 50% of those who use mobile and cordless phones actually feel side-effects and medical data is very disturbing.
 
EMR is recognised as the latest major threat to our long term health and wellbeing classed as a ‘toxin’. Electric cabling, appliances, floor heating elements, computers, mobile phones and yes, even motor vehicles! That’s right, even your humble personal taxi is cooking your vital cells with radiation.
 
For decades now, the medical fraternity has been greatly concerned by the huge incidence of literally un-explained cancers in our population and the finger is pointing to EMR as the likely culprit or at least a major contributor.
 
You see, EMR causes elevated levels of stress in our bodies, in fact the very worst kind of stress at that. It’s called “fight or flight” stress. The kind that we would experience if we were confronted by an angry snarling dog or worse. We don’t get a huge jolt like we would with the dog scenario but this type actually accumulates.
 
We absorb it from the wiring near our bed heads, our clock radios, our electric blankets, our electric tooth brushes, lighting, shavers, hair dryers, toasters, electric kettles, the car, computers, power-boards with multi transformers close by and so on and so on.

You can read more about it with these articles.

http://www.enviroproducts.com.au/pdf/cellphones-health.pdf

http://www.enviroproducts.com.au/pdf/cellphonesposerisktokids.pdf

http://www.enviroproducts.com.au/pdf/low_level_radiation.pdf

Make a small, but powerful decision to help yourself and your family live a greater life.

Share this with others so they can make an informed decision.

The Dufey Green Smoothie

 
 
Two Servings
 
Ingredients
 

• 8 Spinach leaves. Cut the white fibrous stalk out and just add the green leaf.
• 2 generous handfuls of Kale.
• 4 stalks of Celery.
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 1/2 a Lemon peeled.
• Ginger. Small nodule.
• 250ml Organic Coconut Water.
• 1 tablespoon of Poliquins Primal Red/Greens/Phyto Px
• Handful of ice.

Sure you might find other green smoothie recipes that have bells and whistles, but I put this forward to you as a little extra that can help your health and body composition.

 
 
Yours in health,
 

Chris

Salmon Kabayaki

 
 
 
Ingredients

• 750 grams of Salmon, Cut Into 4 Fillets
• Splash of Macadamia Oil
• ¼ cups Plum Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons of Honey
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1/2 Cup Broccoli
• 2 Sticks of Celery
• 1 head of Broccoli
• Squeeze Lemon Juice
• Salt and Pepper to taste

 
In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together plum vinegar and honey. When sauce begins to bubble, turn down heat and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
 
Place macadamia oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Place salmon in the frying pan. Fry for 2 minutes until the bottoms are browned.
 
Brush Kabayaki sauce on the fillets. Flip salmon over and brush top of the other side, then fry for another minute or two until fish flakes easily and is cooked through.
 
Place salmon on your serving plate, quickly throw your veggies in the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes to soften them up. Place with the salmon, and give a good squueze of lemon juice over your meal.
 
Tuck in and enjoy.
 

Chris

Chocolate

• Roughly 250g Of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
• Roughly 250g Of Cocoa Butter (get it from possum petes in Bondi)
• Roughly 500g Of Raw Cocoa Powder
• Pinch of Sea Salt
• Dash Of Maple Syrup Or Agave Syrup
• Dash Of Fresh Cream

Melt the oil together on low till melted, then the rest is done off the heat.

Add cocoa powder. if it looks too runny add more powder. (should look like melted choc consistency)
Add sweetener to taste.

Add salt to taste ( funny but you need this to get rid of a bit of the bitterness)

Then add 500ml of cream slowly as you whisk it in.

Add chilli powder or anything else you want to flavour it with.

Keep it in the fridge or freezer, serve and ENJOY


Hope you can devour this and enjoy every last bit. If you have been eating clean, then this is a treat that can continue your fat loss.
 
What are you doing today to improve yourself?
 
Yours in health and fitness,
 
Chris
 

6 points for better results. The KISS method in practice for lean muscle and body fat loss.
 

1. Eat an adequate amount of protein. 2 grams per kilo of body weight should do it.
2. Eat your fat. Roughly 30% of your calories should come from fat. A mix of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturdated fats. Let them come from good sources such as salmon, nuts, avocados, lean red meats, eggs and even fish oil.
3. Choose the right carbs. You don’t need to dip and dodge carbs, just have the right foods. Vegetables and fruits is where you get them from, not cereal and crossiants.
4. Intesensity. Stop training with the intensity of a weak fart. Make the most of your time in the gym.
5. Post work out nutrition. Have a post workout shake. Shoot for 20-50 grams of protein, and if your not fat, include high GI carbs that you can handle. If you’re a little plump, not problems, just have protein and glutamine in your shaker.

No need to make life difficult. Follow simple points and follow through with them.
 
Yours in health,

Chris