Delicious Icelandic Yogurt
July 25, 2011
Need a creamy treat that isn’t full of sugar and actually has quality protein in it? Well, similar to greek yogurt is Siggi’s Icelandic Yogurt. It has only 100 calories for a 5.3ounce container. But the best part is you get 15 grams of protein, 5 grams of carbohydrates, and only 4 grams of sugar.
Siggi grew up in Iceland loving this type of yogurt and promised he would made it in the United States. He found the yogurt here was too sweet and full of sugar. He really missed the thickness of skyr, the yogurt form Iceland. This type of yogurt is traditional as apple pie is in the States.
Although it took Siggi several trial and errors he found a way to create this high protein yogurt treat. Skyr is strained yogurt made from cow’s milk. It has been a staple of Icelandic diet for more than 1,000 years. Traditionlly, skyr is made from skim milk after the cream has been floated off to make butter. So it is fat free. Like milk, regular yogurt is mostly water, but with skyr, that water is strained away. In other words, one cup of Siggis’ skyr requires three times more milk than a regular cup of yogurt. What remains is a protein-rich yogurt with live active cultures.
Our plain skyr has no added sugar and our flavored varieties are primarily sweetened with organic agave nectar. Agave is a low-glycemic sweetener. There are no other artificial sweeteners like aspartame in this yogurt.
The milk source comes from family farms in New York Sate where the cows are not injected with any kind of growth hormone and graze freely when weather permits. There are no artificial preservatives or thickeners.
Try this delightful treat next time you are reaching for a high fat, high sugar, and high calorie bowl of ice-cream. There are several flavors like mixed berry, peach, grapefruit, vanilla, pomegranate passion fruit, and blueberry. You can find this yogurt in most grocery stores like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and other major super market chains. Enjoy!! 
If you would like more information about my online nutrition programs you can visit my website at www.LauraMak.com. In addition, you can check out my fitness and inspiration book, “Fast and Fierce Fitness Made Fabulously FUN!” This is a twelve week program, complete with exercise descriptions, photos of each movement, motivational guidelines, tracking system, progressions for each level of fitness, weekly upgrades on fitness programs, and most of all, FUN creative workouts that leave you more energized, looking great, and feeling fantastic!!!
Outdoor Training Routine Made FUN!
July 13, 2011
It’s summer time and hopefully you are out and about enjoying the summer weather, beaches, and parks. This is the perfect time of year to take advantage of nature and a moment to step away from the gym.
Here are three key points to remember when you are exercising outdoors. First, carry a water bottle with you to not only keep hydrated, but you can also use it for a light resistance weight. You can do curls, triceps, shoulder raises, and many more exercises while you are walking with the water bottle.
Second, be sure to exercise earlier in the day or later in the evening after the hot temperatures have cooled down. This will prevent over exposure to the suns most harmful rays during the day. In addition, you will stay cooler and therefore have more energy for exercises.
Lastly, be sure to use a sunscreen, even if you don’t think you need it on the off hours. A sunscreen of about 30-50 will be enough. Anything more than 50SPF will only protect you about 2% more according to research reviewed by skin specialist Doctor Weiss.
Here is an outdoor circuit training that I just enjoyed today. Bring a stop watch, heart rate monitor and your water bottle.
Warm-up 5 minutes of brisk walking
20-30 pushups on bench
2 minute long stride walk
50 squats on picnic table bench (add a body resistance squeezing bicep curl for more benefit)
2 minute brisk power walk
20-25 dips on bench
2 minute long stride walk
15 lunges on each leg, with foot up on step
2 minute brisk power walk
20 (each side) side leg kicks over a waist high object (done for speed and accuracy) stretching the same arm out squeezing the triceps
2 minute long stride walk
30 second Side plank balance on each arm
2 minute brisk power walk
15 traveling Plie squats on each side
2 minute long stride walk
20-25 dips
2 minute brisk power walk
50 your choice abdominal exercise
5 minute long stride walk
5 minute stretch
You can complete this in about 30 minutes depending on how quick you are with each interval. I burned just over 300 calories according to my polar heart rate monitor watch.
Have fun and enjoy the outdoors!!
Photography by Thomas Oed, of Impact Image Photography
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