How to Get Rid of Muffin Top

You know muffin top, that fluffy bit of tummy that hangs over the top of your waistband. The first time someone asked me how to get rid of it, I was a little to quick on the draw with my response. This was before I worked in the fitness industry. I was going for humor, so I said, "Buy bigger pants." She gave me an evil glare.

These days, I realize that such a question is a great teaching opportunity, and there really is a multi-part response. But first, if you need to get rid of your muffin-top tomorrow, the easiest answer really is in the clothing. It doesn't matter how little body fat one has, if the elastic around the middle is too tight, it's going to create a bulge somewhere. So it really wouldn't hurt to buy some leggings with a more forgiving waist.

That response won't do anything for your

Vintage Slimming Belt

hip-waist ratio, or body-fat percentage, so let's tackle that. First off, hopefully we've all gotten the word that spot reduction doesn't really work. So core exercises like crunches and planks are great for building core strength and stability, but they cannot, all by themselves, get rid of your muffin top.

I am afraid, my friends, that what is required is a solid plan of cardiovascular exercise and solid meal planning. The great part about this is that there is no one right answer as to what specific kind of cardio you have to do. I myself experienced great weight loss results after my first daughter was born from just walking and pushing her in the stroller. As my fitness level improved, and as she was able to take longer naps, I started doing exercise videos at home. Later, when she was able to go to kids' care at the gym, I started running on the treadmill, and that was the beginning of my foray into the fitness world.

If walking, workout videos or running aren't for you, maybe you might like dancing, basketball, soccer, swimming, or any other of a million types of human movement. There's no wrong answer. Just find something that causes you to break a sweat, and that you can tolerate well enough to do fairly consistently for 30-60 minutes most days of the week.

Next up is the food aspect. People have written whole books about food and diet plans. Who am I, but a simple personal trainer and a mother of three who has successfully lost and kept from regaining a decent chunk of weight. I find that the simpler I keep my guidelines, the more likely I am to follow them. Here are a few simple food ideas. (Serious idea props go out to my fitspiration, Jonathan Ross, who wrote the book, "Abs Revealed." you should check it out.)

• Whenever you eat, eat a vegetable. Or at least a fruit. For example, sauté some spinach and onions along with your egg in the morning. Slice a banana into your oatmeal. As pictured below, chop up some spinach, tomatoes and strawberries along with a boiled egg for a simple lunch salad.
• Avoid added refined sweeteners. Let's not make this complicated. I mean things that involved, at some point in the assembly process, adding scoops or cups of sweetness. We could spend a lot of time debating the relative virtues of white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, Truvia, Splenda, and a thousand other kinds of sweeteners. Let's not. As a general rule, try to get your sweet fix from things that are naturally sweet without human help, like berries, bananas, and oranges. You get the picture. If you, like many of the people in my extended family, like to put spoonfuls of sugar on your breakfast cereal, it's going to take some time to retrain your taste buds. Be patient.

Every time you eat, eat the vegetables.

• Don't eat anything that came out of a deep fat fryer.
• Don't drink calories. Stick with water, unsweet tea, black coffee (with maybe a little milk). Avoid sodas. Even the diet sodas. I hate to bring this up, but beer, wine and liquor also include the emptiest of all calories, alcohol. The relaxation value of a nightly glass of Malbec may be worth it to you you, but 3-4 glasses is probably not helping anything, health-wise.
• Make your own food when possible. It's not always feasible, but it saves both calories and money.

Realize the bullets above are goals, and you won't always meet them. Understand that there will be days when you'll drink all the beer and eat all the cheesecake. Don't let that one day ruin your overall plan. The next morning, put on your stretchy pants, forgive yourself, and get right back on track.

And also, if you'd like more a more detailed and specific workout plan made just for you, contact a personal trainer. Like me. I work with people both in-person and online.

Now go have an awesome day and crush those goals!

CSA vegetable survival tips

Whenever I talk about my CSA on social media, someone invariably asks me about the Confederate States of America. Although I do love history, in this case, I'm talking about Community Supported Agriculture, in which consumers (me) buy a share in the season's harvest. We usually pay up front in the late winter or early spring, so that the farmers have the "seed money" to get rolling. Then, we go and pick up our harvest share once a week. In our case, since we value organic produce, we selected an all-organic CSA that also had a convenient pick-up day, time and location, The Fredericksburg Area CSA Project.

The reason I personally love a CSA is that I get really fresh, locally grown food. I am supporting agriculture in my own community. I also chose this specific CSA because all the suppliers are organic farms, and that's important to me. The fact that most of the food I buy at the grocery store travels from California, Oregon, Mexico and Chile is very frustrating to me, when there is perfectly good farmland right here in Virginia. Every mile my produce travels takes a toll on its nutritional value and on the environment. Yes, I will still buy bananas from Ecuador and avocados from California, because I love them, and they just don't grow in this climate, but I would like the bulk of my food to be as local as possible.

I have done a CSA before, but it has been several years. I haven't had one since I moved to the Fredericksburg area. In my previous experience, I learned some valuable CSA survival skills.

1. Make time to get to the pickup each week. It sounds obvious, but this is your one day to get your veggies. The pick up day and time should be a generally good day and time for you. The one I have now works well. For my previous CSA, I had to travel 30 miles in rush hour traffic after the end of a long work day. There were many days I just couldn't make it. That resulted in a waste of money and a less positive experience for me.
2. Make a serious effort to include vegetables every time you eat. This doesn't mean you need to become a vegetarian, but find some way to squeeze veggies into every meal and snack. At breakfast, it's pretty simple to put kale (or any greens) into your morning smoothie along with carrots and beets. I have given these veggie smoothies to my kids and even my reluctant husband, and as long as all the bits are well pureed, everyone was fine with that. If you don't do smoothies, throw some spinach (or any other greens) into your eggs. The addition of sautéed onion and feta cheese makes a delicious omelette. Make a salad with lunch and dinner. 
3. Use the internet to find recipes for the mysterious vegetables you've never seen before. The first time I got mustard greens, I was stumped. But I found over time that you can stir-fry just about anything with a bit of soy sauce and garlic and it tastes awesome. You can toss most vegetables (especially beets, sweet potato, carrot, asparagus, broccoli, kohlrabi) in olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes and they come out caramelized and delicious. But just spending a few minutes looking up collard green recipes can open your eyes to new possibilities you may not have considered--like an Asian rice and raw collard salad with sesame oil, soy sauce and hot peppers.
4. Understand that seasons vary. When you buy produce at the grocery store, the selection is pretty much the same in July as it is in December. With a CSA (depending on where you live) the variety changes with the season. Early spring will feature lots of leafy greens. In Virginia, we don't see tomatoes until July. Be patient, and instead of longing for the vegetables you can't have, love the ones you're with. Of course, you can always supplement your CSA supply with other veggies, but if you have a large share, you might already have a struggle consuming what you have before the vegetables wilt.
5. Store carefully. Once you pick up your veggies, take care to store them properly. Greens wilt quickly, but it helps if you bring lettuce home  (or kale, collards, herbs, etc.) and wrap them in a couple of damp paper towels, then put them back in a plastic grocery bag, and nestle them into the refrigerator. Don't feel like you have to jam everything into the vegetable crisper. Not only are you more likely to see and select the vegetables if they are out on the shelves, the extra humidity in the main compartment of the refrigerator that results from opening and closing the door actually helps keep the greens fresh longer. Here's a link to a handy article from the Washington Post about storing veggies: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/one-way-to-fight-food-waste-revive-wilted-produce/2013/09/16/b1342b20-1b1a-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html
6. Share the wealth. If you feel overwhelmed by your vegetable share, give some of your abundance to others. Neighbors, friends, parents, grown-up kids, maybe even a homeless shelter might be able to use what you can't handle. It's all better than throwing away the produce you pre-paid for.
7. Plan for absences. If you have to be out of town or miss a share day, arrange to have someone else pick up your stuff. That way, it doesn't go to waste, and your friend can either enjoy the free food (if you are out of town) or can hold it for you until you can pick it up.
8. Keep an open mind. Over the course of the season, it is pretty much a sure thing you will receive vegetables that you never would have picked on your own. My husband, for example, dislikes both kale and collard greens, which of course are an early-season staple. If you get things you think you don't like, make a serious effort to find new ways to prepare them. Maybe you just don't like spinach when it's cooked, but it's okay in a salad. Perhaps you can roast that vegetable with olive oil and salt and you find a new appreciation for it. 

Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

This was the dish that destroyed my gluten-free resolve when I was in Paris. I had been there for about five days when I tried it. I had been dutifully eating salads, skewers of meat and other dishes that had a 98 percent chance of being gluten-free, but the saucy deliciousness of beef bourguignon as I know it in the states is one of my favorites. Since I know enough about cooking to understand that most stews with a thick, gravy-like sauce are made with flour, I really should have stayed away. But I rationalized: at least this iteration was served with steamed potatoes instead of noodles. Maybe, just maybe, it would be okay.

It was delicious. It was one of the best meals I have ever had in my life. I ordered it at the sidewalk café of a restaurant whose name I will never remember, somewhere on a back street a few blocks from the right bank of the Seine, near St. Michel and the Latin Quarter.

Our server brought me my own little copper pot, with its own lid, filled with this insanely delicious stew. The beef came in larger chunks than you would expect to find in a stew, but they were so tender, you could cut them with the side of a spoon.  Two whole, steamed potatoes swam in the broth along with the meat and some sliced carrots, but there were no other discernable vegetables. Even if you could not see the other veggies, you could taste them. They were in there, but the chef had gone to the effort of straining the sauce or possibly pureeing it before replacing the beef and potato in it.

I can’t describe the level of food ecstasy we experienced with this dish. It was everything we strive to avoid in our daily healthy living efforts: fatty, salty, and red-meaty. Not only that, I knew that velvety texture was achieved through wheat gluten. And I ate it anyway. I confess that the luscious sauce was so addictive that I did the unthinkable—the thing I actually have nightmares about—I ate a half a slice of authentic, wheat-laden, wonderful bread in an effort to ingest every particle of sauce that remained in the copper pot.

Did I pay for my transgressions? Of course I did. I will spare you the details.

But fortunately, now that I am home, I have returned to my test kitchen and have been able to produce a delicious facsimile of that utopian meal, with no harmful after-effects.

This dish takes time. Of course it is possible to find short-cut beef bourguignon recipes. But if you’re going to do that, you might as well just buy a Lean Cuisine out of the freezer section. In this case (as in many others) it’s worth it to go big or go home. We can’t reproduce every flavor of this dish in the US, because we don’t have the same French cows raised on the same diet, or even the same tap water, but my home-made rendition was pretty delicious, anyway.

For full flavor, start this dish a day ahead of time. Marinate the meat the full 24 hours in the fridge before cooking. Choose a good-quality, luscious red wine like a pinot noir or Beaujolais. Follow each of the steps, browning the meat separately, straining the vegetables, and sautéing them separately.

Although this is slow food, most of the time is hands-off, so you can be reading, sleeping, working out, learning to dance, or watching Game of Thrones.

Gluten-free Slow-Cooker Beef Bourguignon

Adapted from Joy of Cooking

2-3 lbs boneless chuck roast, cut into 2-inch cubes

Place the meat in a 13x9 in. Pyrex/glass cake pan deep enough to contain the meat & marinade. Add:

2 cups dry red wine. (I used a California Pinot Noir)

¼ cup olive oil

1 onion, chopped (I used a Vidalia)

1 carrot, chopped

1 garlic clove, pressed or chopped

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1 tsp black pepper

½ tsp salt

Stir the meat to combine the meat & marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 24, turning the meat and stirring once or twice during the process.

Gluten-free beef bourguignon marinade

About 6 hours before you plan to eat, remove the beef from the marinade (SAVE THE MARINADE AND ALL THE VEGGIES) and place the beef cubes on a stack of paper towels. Turn the meat to pat dry. This will help the meat brown better.

Set a strainer over a bowl, and pour the marinade through the strainer, reserving the vegetables and liquid separately.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook

4 ounces bacon, cut into 1-inch slices

Remove and reserve the bacon. Leave the fat in the pan. Over medium heat, brown the beef on all sides, working in batches and being careful not to overcrowd the pan. When the beef is browned, place it in your slow cooker. Once all the beef is browned, sautee the reserved vegetables from the marinade until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove the vegetables to the slow cooker.

To your reserved liquid marinade, add

½ cup good-quality beef broth

2 tbsp gluten-free corn starch

Whisk quickly to combine. Pour the liquid into the medium-heat pan, and stir until the sauce begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any burned bits. Pour the liquid into the slow cooker. Add:

2 cups small boiling (pearl) onions, if you can find them. I could not, so I used a chopped Vidalia onion.

Cover and set the slow cooker on low if your choices are low/high. Medium if you have that option. Allow to cook for about 5-6 hours, until the meat is fork tender. Add:

2 cups sliced button mushrooms

Cover and continue to cook for another 20 minutes, while you prepare mashed potatoes to catch all the delicious sauce. When ready to serve, add ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley and salt and black pepper to taste.

Sweet Potato Fries

A lot of excellent Lindy-friendly songs talk about food. Maybe this is why I like jazz so much—because I love food as much as I love to dance. The songs get stuck in my head, and then I have to go home and make the food. This week’s food song is “Sweet Potato Fries,” By Gordon Webster, off of their Live in Rochester CD.

Sweet Potato Fries
with Montreal Steak seasoning
and ketchup

We saw Gordon Webster perform at the International Lindy HopChampionships last year, and bought three of his CDs. I love almost every song on these CDs. There is so much excellent instrumentation, and they all just seem to beg for improv while dancing.

I have included the “Sweet Potato Fries” lyrics below, and you can give the band a listen here. After listening to this song, you may want to make your own sweet potato fries, which is an excellent idea, because they are very healthy if you make them yourself. Not so much if you buy them in a restaurant, deep fried and smothered in fat, and not as tasty if you buy the big frozen bag at the store.

Tips for making sweet potato fries:

Use one sweet potato per person. Scrub and peel the outside of the potato. Cut the potato in fry-sized strips. (Sweet potatoes are very hard, so use a large, heavy, sharp knife) Place the cut potatoes in a mixing bowl and drizzle olive oil or melted coconut oil over them. Add one of the following seasoning combinations (or improvise your own):

• Salt and pepper
• McCormick’s Montreal steak seasoning
• Crushed rosemary, salt & pepper
• Crushed mint and salt
• Cinnamon and pepper

Stir to combine. Pour the seasoned spuds in a shallow baking pan (like a jelly roll pan) and arrange so they are in  one flat layer. Bake in a 400-degree oven for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the taters are brown and crispy.

Serve hot, with ketchup.

Sweet Potato Fries

By Gordon Webster

Live in Rochester

When men come and dine, they get to feelin’ full just fine

The dining’s in the timing with my sweet potato fries

When men try my spuds, they claim the other gals are duds

Does wonders for the hunger, o my sweet potato fries

When they come and meet, looking for a treat, they get taters

You can take a seat, then you’re bound to eat

A dish that’s just delish if it’s for now or for later

Take your appetite, down to the table, grab a bite

You’ll never have no better than my sweet potato fries

Well, I ain’t got much to show, but I can peel ‘em fast or slow

My sweetie loves to eatie all my sweet potato fries

Don’t got time, don’t got money, but I got a dish to try

Cause I’m a yammy mammy with my sweet potato fries

I can hardly wait, looking for a date with my honey

He knows where to look, when he needs a cook

I’ll fix him up a dish and never charge him no money

Dinner is served tonight, come get your fill and feel just right

You’ll never have no better than my sweet potato fries

Get the salt, pepper too

That’s all the flavor that I’ll add for you

You’ll never have no better than my sweet potato fries

5 Swingin' Ways to Eat Spinach, in honor of Julia Lee

In 1949, Julia Lee did a song with her band, the Boyfriends, called "The Spinach Song," or "I didn't like it the first time." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax4tVzuN52U)

Not only is this song fun to dance to, but it is a cunning extended metaphor for either marijuana or sex, depending on how you interpret the lyrics:

Spinach has vitamin A, B and D, but spinach never appealed to me

But one day while having dinner with a guy, I decided to give it a try

I didn’t like it the first time, it was so new to me

I didn’t like it the first time, I was so young, you see


I used to run away from the stuff, but now somehow I can’t get enough


I didn’t like it the first time, oh, how it grew on me!

I didn’t like it the first time, I had it on a date 


Although the first was the worst time, right now I think it’s great


Somehow, it’s always hittin’ the spot, especially when they bring it in hot


I didn’t like it the first time, but oh, how it grew on me 

I didn't like it the first time, I thought it was so strange

I wasn't getting much younger, so I just made the change

No longer is the stuff on the shelf, ‘cause now I make a pig of myself

I didn't like it the first time, but oh how it grew on me 

I didn't like it the first time, when I was just sixteen

I didn't like it the first time, guess I was mighty green

But I stocked up, cause I've gotten wise, I've got enough for two dozen guys

I didn't like it the first time, but oh how it grew on me

I didn't like it the first time, but oh how it grew on me!

In honor of the clever Miss Lee, I have put together a few of my favorite ways to eat actual, garden-variety spinach. I hope you will enjoy them while dancing to this song in your kitchen.

• Spinach salad: Best with baby spinach leaves slightly chopped up. I like mine with some kind of fruit, like dried cranberries and/or sectioned oranges and pecans.
• Wilted, with bacon: Don’t tell my fitness friends about this one, but when I am feeling rather naughty, I chop up a few slices of real, authentic pig bacon, cook it until crispy, then dump an entire bag of spinach into the skillet right on top of all that bacon fat. I wilt the leaves, tossing them carelessly around in the pan for about a minute, then add a half-teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and a sprinkling of black pepper.
• Wilted, healthier-style: This is the recipe I do tell my fitness friends about. In a nonstick skillet, I heat up about a tablespoon of low-sodium, gluten-free tamari mixed with about ¼ cup of water. Then, over medium heat, I stir-boil one clove of crushed garlic, and then add a bag of spinach and a dusting of red pepper flakes, stirring until wilted, about one minute.
• Spinach omelet: First, I chop up about a half an onion and sautee that in a nonstick skillet until it is translucent. Then I add some chopped sun-dried tomatoes and a handful of chopped fresh spinach, stir long enough to wilt, and then pour in two scrambled eggs (or egg whites if you are being very virtuous). After a minute or two, I stir the eggs to break up the curds and add about a tablespoon of crumbled feta cheese, then allow the omelet to finish cooking.
• Spinach in tacos. I wouldn’t really want an all-spinach taco/burrito, but we do use spinach instead of lettuce sometimes. It adds that extra boost of dark green leafies.

You can sautee a little spinach right along with your eggs for breakfast.

Fredericksburg Coffee Shops Take II: Keystone Coffee

Keystone Coffee

2206 Princess Anne Street

Keystone Coffee

Fredericksburg, VA 22401

http://www.keystonecoffeeandautospa.com

I have driven past this little coffee shop for the past few years, and have never stopped by until recently, what a loss! It’s a cute little shop right next to the famous Carl’s ice cream, complete with an outdoor seating area and carwash.

You can drop off your vehicle to get it detailed while you enjoy a soup and salad combo or a chocolate-covered-strawberries mocha. The carwash guys will come and tell you when your car is ready.

In my tour of Fredericksburg coffee houses, Keystone wins so far in terms of atmosphere. The vintage décor fits my personal prefrences: framed photo of Elvis, 50’s-style tourism posters for Cuba, and a selection of beautiful antique-car photos. During my visit, the music ranged from Django-style jazz to 60s rock and modern, but less-known, tunes.

Although the inside of Keystone is small, it is cozy, with hardwood floors, two comfy chairs, one leather sofa, a booth and a few tables. It is probably the nicest place you could ever wait for a car wash.

In addition to coffee and tea, Keystone offers smoothies, cream freezes and an assortment of pastries, sandwiches and snacks. Of the coffee shops I have toured in the Burg, Keystone has the largest selection of gluten-free snacks. This selection could only be considered “large” by comparison to the others—so do not expect to go in there and find a dedicated GF kitchen. What you can get is tuna salad on a bed of greens, a bag of nuts or a fruit cup. As with most restaurants, you can also ask for a sandwich without any bread.

The menu is clearly marked with a large V, which they say stands for “vegetarian or vegan,” but they don’t really tell you which. I guess you have to ask for specifics if that is important to you.

The most noticeable downside to this place is that there is no obvious wifi. I have heard that a connection is available if you ask, but I did not verify that during my trip. Another possible negative for people who prefer traditional American food is that the sandwiches come with healthy sides, like grapes. If you like chips, you will have to buy them separately. If not, you will get a reasonably sized portion of food and little guilt.

But of course, I’m all about the coffee. All I can say is that my latte met my expectations. I can’t really wax poetic about this one, but I did feel an instant caffeine surge, a feeling of which I much approve.

I look forward to returning again for a smoothie the next time I’m in town—by the way, I think I need to get my car washed soon.