I hope you are taking time to enjoy the holiday season with family and friends. It is hard to believe that this year is almost over! This has been such an exciting year for Ripped and I have you to thank for it – thank you so much for your support!

You asked for it and you got it! We have added a new topic to the Forum on my website – Ask Jari. I look forward to answering as many of your questions as I can. The best part of my job is connecting with people like you all around the world.

We have also added my Diet Tracker to the Online Store on my website. Participants in the 2006 Ripped Summer Slim Down Contest used the same method to track their eating and their weight loss successes! I have found one of the best ways to avoid overeating is to plan your meals and track your eating . The Diet Tracker includes my best nutrition tips, charts to help you measure your successes, as well as 12 weeks of daily food and exercise trackers, a nutritional chart, plus other tools to keep you on track. Download yours and get started on your success today!

I will be hitting the road again to tour the United States for two weeks in January – maybe I will be at a Borders store near you! Look for my touring schedule on the website Forum.

If you live in Canada, watch for a special Ripped DVD on selected Webber Naturals Protein Powders in Costco in January.

For those of you living in the Calgary area we are having another contest! The Get Ripped Winter Weight Loss Challenge will begin on January 13, 2007 and run for 12 weeks. What a great way to start the New Year! If you need inspiration, check out Sue Corbett’s story - one of our winners from the Ripped Summer Slim Down Contest .

Thank you for making 2006 such a memorable year for me – I couldn’t have done it without your support! Wishing you and your family health and happiness for 2007.

All the best,

Tips To Avoid Holiday Weight Gain
By Angela Sirounis, R.D.

‘Tis that season again where the holidays and all the fun and food that go along with it can undermine all the hard work you’ve been putting in through the year. For the next month, extra calories will be lurking around every corner. Now is the time to plan and strategize for the upcoming season. Here are a few tips to get you on track:

1. Never Arrive Hungry

Arriving at an event starving is a sure way to set yourself up for gorging. Instead, prior to going out, have a small meal that includes some protein. For example, try a bowl of high fiber cereal with skim milk and a piece of fruit or a green salad topped with some lean protein like chicken or salmon.

2. Step Away from the Buffet

After you’ve been through the buffet line ONCE – put some distance between you and the table or that plate of nuts or goodies perched within arms-length. Purposefully situate yourself AWAY from food. Focus on visiting with friends or dancing the night away.

3. Count Your Canapés

Portion control is the key to success. Denying your desire for something can result in a binge. Satisfy your need to taste or sample that one food you absolutely enjoy by being content to savor a taste or two as opposed to a huge portion.

4. Stay Buff at the Buffet

Look the buffet over and choose simply prepared foods, such as shrimp cocktail, roasted meats, green salads and plain veggies. Avoid anything covered in pastry or a phyllo shell as well as creamy sauces and dips. Make yourself ONE plate of food and enjoy.

5. Limit Alcohol

At 7 calories per gram, alcohol calories add up very quickly. Consider also that too much alcohol decreases resolve when it comes to eating. At your next event create a wine cooler by mixing wine (1/3) with sparkling water or club soda (2/3). Alternate alcoholic beverages with 2 to 3 glasses of water or diet pop between drinks in order to limit alcohol.

6. Be Choosy About Sweets

It’s human nature to want to taste everything we see. It’s been proven that the more choices we have the more we eat. Learn to be picky and choosy about your sweets and food. If it is run-of-the-mill pre-packaged food why bother? Refuse to eat anything that’s less than fabulous. If it doesn’t taste great don’t finish it. Try to enjoy every calorie single calorie.

7. Limit “Sampling” While Cooking

If you do a lot of cooking and baking during the holiday season crack down on sampling and tasting as you prepare your food. Instead of mindless tasting every few minutes, which can really add up, limit yourself to 2 small bits of each item pre- and post- seasoning. Just dip the spoon in and taste a little bit. For recipes that are tried and true you don’t even need to taste.

8. Walk It Off, Rip It Off . . . take your pick “Just Keep it Off”

Tips to Keep Weight Off During the Holidays
By Jari Love

The average person will put on 7-10 pounds over the holidays (most of that is going to be water). The good news is that you can get rid of it quickly if you just follow a few simple concepts. Here 10 weight management tips that I use with my clients:

1. Set realistic goals. I love the 80/20 rule; if you can follow your program at least 80 per cent of the time then you are being realistic. If you allow yourself 20 per cent indulgence (for example, one “cheat day” a week), then the rest of the week will be much easier to attain.
2. Plan ahead. Most people don’t break their resolutions because they want to fail, they are just not prepared for setbacks. Cut up your vegetables and cook a chicken breast the night before to avoid snacking on fast food or quick fixes when your schedule gets out of control.
3. Get rid of the junk. I firmly believe that your environment has more control than you, so get rid of the temptations if you want to Get Ripped!
4. Make a journal of what you are eating. Many people are quite surprised at how many calories they are consuming. For example, five handfuls of nuts has as much as 1840 calories!
5. Get back on track. When you do slip up, and most people do, just get back on track with eating and exercising the next day.
6. Stay Positive. When you think something negative about yourself, replace those thoughts with 10 positives.
7. Find things that will inspire you. Keep fitness and nutrition magazines by your bedside. Not only will these inspire you, they will give you new things to try for your meals or workouts.
8. Drink plenty of water. Six to eight glasses per day and more if you are exercising. Alcoholic beverages and pop add empty calories and will slow your progress down.
9. Focus on the health benefits of fitness. Don’t focus on weight loss! Think of all the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, including a higher metabolism, lower blood pressure, stronger bones, reduced stress levels and prevention of certain cancers.
10. Reward yourself! Honour your successes. Reward yourself when you have reached your goals and then set higher goals.

There are 365 days in a year and 168 hours in a week. To achieve your fitness and weight goals all you really need is three to four hours per week for yourself coupled with healthy eating choices. Tell yourself: I’m worth it!

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR:

• All or none thinking. Just because you indulge, it doesn’t mean that “all” is lost. If you get off track one day simply get back on track the next day.
• Emotional eating. Ask yourself: Am I eating because I am stressed, lonely or bored or because I am truly hungry?
• Unconscious eating. While you are eating, avoid distraction. Distance yourself from the food table at a party to avoid unconscious “nibbling.”

Heart Rate Monitors for Success
By Jari Love

Using your heart rate is an excellent way to develop an efficient and worthwhile exercise program. However, crunching numbers and using mathematic formulas isn’t the right way to go about doing it. These will only give you rough estimates that cover a lot of people. You are an individual with a unique body make-up. And when it comes to exercise, if you want the greatest benefits, you’re going to have to train with a one-of-a-kind program specific to you.

Using a heart rate monitor allows you to not only to estimate your heart rate, but pinpoint it so you can evaluate your progress and adjust your training accordingly. For beginners, a heart rate monitor will tell you when to relax and when to build up your fitness level. As you progress to something more challenging, the monitor will tell you when you should give it that extra push.

The three keys to a good fitness program are frequency (how often you do an exercise), duration (how long) and intensity (how hard). Frequency and duration are easy to measure because you can count in your head or use a clock. The way to measure intensity is by monitoring your heart. Heart rate monitors are cheap, light and a breeze to use. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Using a heart rate monitor will make your workouts more effective so you’re getting the best results, more efficient so you’re not wasting time and energy, safer so you don’t overdo it, and more fun.

The Benefits of Training “In the Zones”

Because heart rate is so easy to measure using a monitor, you can now target specific fitness levels by training in zones. There are five levels to heart zones training, each varying in intensity. Each of these zones can be measured using your MHR.

Zone 1: Healthy Heart Zone (50 – 60% MHR)

Exercises in this zone are easy enough to do for a prolonged amount of time, yet you will still benefit from improved fitness. Fat is burned as the primary fuel. You should still be able to easily talk while doing Zone 1 exercises. This pace is useful for: warm-ups and cool downs, beginning a new program, recovering from an injury and simply improving one’s health.

Zone 2: Temperate Heart Zone (60 – 70% MHR)

Zone 2 is often referred to as the Fitness Zone because this is where your heart really begins to strengthen. This is the level for people who want to work out at a moderate level. Benefits include: the heart’s ability to pump blood improves, the number of small blood vessels rises, improved endurance.

Zone 3: Aerobic Heart Zone (70 – 80% MHR)

The Aerobic Zone has long been viewed as the benchmark intensity for overall general fitness. For most people this is the highest level people can maintain for an extended period of time. Your endurance will continue to increase and your body will get more used to a faster pace.

Zone 4: Threshold Zone (80 – 90% MHR)

This is the point where your body is on the verge of its anaerobic threshold, the point at which oxygen is no longer burned. This is the point where you will start to feel some discomfort: tired muscles, heavy breathing and overall fatigue. The more you stay at or near your anaerobic threshold the more you will benefit from increased stamina.

Zone 5: Redline Zone (90 – 100% MHR)

This is where you max out your efforts. In this zone you have passed your anaerobic threshold. Your body can only remain here for a short period of time. Training in the Redline Zone will increase your ability in sprinting and other exercises requiring short bursts of ultra-high intensity efforts.

I feel the burn, but is it fat or carbs that’s doing the burning?

In the past you may have been told that if you’re looking to burn fat, you should stick to low-intensity workouts because high-intensity exercises burned carbs. While this is true, it is also misleading.

In low-intensity exercises, fat acts as the primary fuel. As the workout gets tougher, the fuel switches over to the tank that holds the carbs. Even though more carbs are being used, fat is still being burned. As you approach your anaerobic threshold, your fat burning level will begin to peak. So when the carbs kick in, you don’t all of a sudden stop burning fat altogether. You burn both. The combined number of calories you’re burning will be much higher, even though the strictly fat burn rate is much lower percentage wise.

Here is a breakdown of how fat and carbohydrates burn at each of the five heart zones:

Zone 1
Fat: 70-85%
Carbs: 10-25%

Zone 2:
Fat: 50-70%
Carbs: 25-50%

Zone 3:
Fat: 40-60%
Carbs: 50-85%

Zone 4:
Fat: 10-20%
Carbs: 80-90%

Zone 5:
Fat: 10-15%
Carbs: 85-90%

Sue Corbett’s Story

I first started my fitness program when I was in the early stages of menopause. My weight had been creeping up and I was about 35 pounds above my ideal weight. I was feeling very unhappy with my appearance. Along my road to fitness, an illness in the family halted all my concerns for my own welfare for several months. My fitness level dropped and I put back on alot of the weight I had lost. Despite these major setbacks, I returned to my fitness regime, determined to return to the level I was at. I have learned that I have to pick myself up and carry on or as Jari says in Slim & Lean, “Turn your scars into stars.”

I have gained a strength that I had no idea I possessed and this came at a time in my life when my self confidence was flagging. Now, I felt my confidence and energy have increased. What do I like about the Ripped DVDs? I live quite a long way from the gym, it is easy just to be able to pop a DVD into the machine and get a great workout at home. The DVDs are also nice for people who are just starting out, particularly if they feel uncomfortable at the gym. They can do the routines in the privacy of their own home. Jari is very encouraging and emphasizes good technique and the importance of good form. Jari’s program has enabled me to achieve consistent weight loss over the years. Jari’s program has encouraged me to make fitness a priority in my life. It is paying off big time! I have found that because I have put the time in to work on myself, I have gained a whole new me! A healthy lifestyle is my continuous and ultimate goal - this healthy life is not just about me; it’s about all my friends and family too.

Age: 54
Before Weight: 158
After Weight: 131
Pounds Lost: 27
Reduced Body Fat by:10.7%

Ooey Gooey Bran Wreath
By Jari Love

½ c butter
6-7 cups bran flakes
2 small bags mini marshmallows or ½ large bag (1kg)
¼ c Sugar Free English Toffee Syrup
1 c protein powder (any flavour)

Melt the butter over medium heat, stir in sugar free syrup and marshmallows. Stir until marshmallows are melted. Add protein powder and stir mixture completely. Add 6-7 cups of bran flakes and stir until completely mixed. Shape mixture into a wreath and sprinkle with colored sprinkles. A yummy holiday treat!!

Takes approximately 10 – 15 minutes to make – delicious!

Based on a recipe yielding 2 dozen squares:

Cals: 343; Fat 8.5g (22.5% fat); Protein 15g (17% protein); Carbs 56g (65% carbohydrates); Fibre 4g

Healthy Banana Cake With Crunchy Topping
By Claudia Brews

* To make sour skim milk, just add about a tsp. of white vinegar to skim milk

** You must freeze your bananas in the skin, then thaw them out or microwave them in the skin before you mash them. This is the only way to get the flavour for this cake.

*** Depending on the size and amount of moisture from your bananas, you may need to add a bit more sour milk (up to ½ c extra) to get the desired cake batter consistency. The batter should be thinner than muffin batter but not quite as thin as a cake mix.

Cake

• Place all ingredients for cake in a large electric mixer bowl.
• Beat at medium for 3 minutes.
• Spread batter evenly in a 13” x 9” cake pan that has been sprayed with Pam.
• Bake 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Topping

• While cake is baking, melt margarine in small saucepan.
• Stir in remaining ingredients until mixture reaches a slight boil.
• As soon as cake is out of oven, immediately spread topping over hot cake
• Broil 6” below element for 2-3 minutes or until bubbly and golden.
• Remove and let cool completely before cutting.

Cake freezes really well too, if there is any left :o)

Kudos for Slim and Lean!

Get Ripped! Slim & Lean was chosen a “Top Fitness DVD” by Shape magazine in the December issue.
Fitness Magazine rated Get Ripped! Slim & Lean "Best for Total Body Sculpting" in the January 2007 issue.