Calories in Grilled Tuna Steaks

I've been eating a lot of tuna lately. I know it's healthy, but I haven't really looked at the details of nutrition. Well, I came across this article today and I wanted to share it. 

Calories in Grilled Tuna Steaks

By Allan Robinson

Overview

Tuna are a family of saltwater fish that primarily come from the Thunnus genus. They're fast swimmers, making their meat denser than other types of fish. This allows you to grill tuna meat in a manner similar to beef steaks.

Calories

This nutritional information applies to a grilled steak of Ahi tuna, with a serving size of about 6 oz. One serving of grilled tuna steak contains 180 calories, according to Fatsecret. This consists of 165 calories from protein and 15 calories fat from fat. The calories in a serving of grilled tuna steak provide 9 percent of the daily value for calories, based on a diet of 2,000 calories per day.

Protein, Fat and Carbohydrates

Grilled tuna steak contains 40 g of protein, which is 80 percent of the daily value for protein. It also has 1.5 g of fat, or about 2 percent of the daily value for fat. Grilled tuna steak contains no carbohydrates.

Vitamins and Minerals

Grilled tuna steak contains 65 mg of sodium per serving, or about 3 percent of the daily value for sodium. It also contains 6 percent of the daily value for iron, and 2 percent of the daily value for vitamin A, vitamin C and calcium.

Trouble in Paradise

This was the latest article that I received from Jordan Rubin’s Extraordinary Health

From Jordan's Desk: Trouble in Paradise 

Picture this: a soft, warm tropical breeze, palm trees, peaceful ivory beaches…all in the fattest nation on earth. It just doesn’t seem to match up, especially considering that these Pacific island people used to be the picture of health. But that was when their diet consisted primarily of fish, coconuts and root vegetables. Now they eat a Western diet of imported processed foods that are high in sugar and unhealthy fats.

Having the world’s highest obesity rates—and the associated unhealth that accompanies being grossly overweight—is not an accomplishment Nauruans coveted. They have a history of excelling at sports such as weight-lifting, which is something Nauruans attribute to their short and stocky build. Now, however, they are excelling at weight gaining and unhealth. For example, in Nauru 97 percent of men and 93 percent of women are overweight or obese. Furthermore, this region—which also includes the Cook Islands, Tonga, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Niue and Samoa—also tops out in high rates of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

There’s a lot that has worked against the people of Nauru that has gotten them to this point. Poor nutrition—consisting of processed, Westernized foods—added to sedentary lifestyles and insufficient health education are just a few of those. Additionally, a form of “portion distortion” comes into play.

Clive Moore, a South Pacific expert at the University of Queensland, says that in Polynesian countries heaping portions are viewed as signs of prosperity. "If you're fat, you're wealthy," says Professor Moore. "It's fairly common to eat huge meals in the Pacific. People might eat only once a day, but the [food on the] plate could be 4 inches high." In the past, only the elite, wealthy chiefs got fat. Since that time, higher incomes and a readily available Western diet have shared the wealth—and the girth.

Unfortunately, the Western diet holds a lot of intrigue for those in the Pacific islands. Senior World Health Organization official Temo Waqanivalu, at the Pacific Food Summit in Vanauatu, shared his concern over the decline of eating traditional foods. “They [traditional foods] are unable to compete with the glamour and flashiness of imported food,” he said. 

In an effort to fight the obesity epidemic, regular exercise classes, sports activities and walking are encouraged, but eating processed foods is still prevalent—as is extreme eating. For example, a popular snack in Nauru is a whole fried chicken, washed down with a bucket-sized container of soda.

While there may be trouble in paradise, we’re not out of the woods here at home. Why? Pacific islands hold the top seven spots in obesity, but here in the U.S. we’re number eight—with more than 78 percent of people overweight or obese.

Like the Nauruans, we need to lose the processed foods, eat traditional foods, exercise more and lead a lifestyle that benefits our health instead of compromising it.

Kon' Kang (you wanna eat) Kang Kong?

Kang kong (Ipomoea aquatica or reptans)

Kang kong (Ipomoea aquatica or reptans) has two main varieties, one with larger leaves and stems and one with narrower leaves and stems…the latter sometimes referred to in local markets as “Chinese Kang kong.” Also known as “water spinach” – why, one wonders as it is not related to “spinach” but rather more closely related to sweet potatoes… A native to tropical India, it has spread to Southeast Asia where it thrives and has become a cheap and nutritious part of the diet.

I ate kang kong frequently in at my Nohno Batsipa’s house (where it is an essential ingredient in her FAMOUS soups) My Nohno Batsipa was an advocate of GREEN veggies and I was made to eat them.

In my house I use I sauté it with a bit of extra virgin olive oil or pure coconut oil. To make this simple side dish, I prep the leaves, heat up a large pan, add olive oil and minced garlic, the kang kong, and salt and pepper to taste. When I take it off the burner, I also drizzle a small amount of sesame seed oil. Delicioso!

I also enjoy eating kang kong at a local Chinese restaurant here. 

Shake School

Shake School

Shakeology^®: A Shake Too Good to
Be True?

By Dr. Mark Cheng, PhD

This is an article from a professional who teaches for one the most respected kettlebell training communities in the country. It was written by Dr. Mark Cheng in response to some of his students and peers who were questioning his vocal support of Shakeology. Dr. Cheng gave us permission to reprint it here.

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Lately, I've made mention about my use of the nutritional product Shakeology, and some folks have been questioning if I've abandoned the RKC ranks and gone "P90X" on them. So let me set the record straight . . . definitively . . . once and for all.

I heard about Shakeology before there WAS a Shakeology, directly from the mouth of its inventor—Isabelle Brousseau. The wife of Beachbody CEO Carl Daikeler, Ms. Brousseau is a singularly talented coach and highly educated researcher. She's spent years studying the advanced principles of elite human performance from authorities around the world, and I was honored to have the chance to share Pavel Tsatsouline's Hardstyle RKC kettlebell training method privately with her. As an adept student, she was on the fast track to preparing for her RKC instructor certification when she decided to take time off upon learning she was expecting her first child.

During the times I spent training her, Isabelle and I spoke about Chinese herbal medicine, and she mentioned she was researching ways of combining all-natural foods with the highest possible nutrient values into a meal-replacement shake designed for athletes and people-on-the-go. When she mentioned wanting to put in high quality ayurvedic herbs, Chinese herbs, antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, prebiotics, and a host of other vitamins and minerals, my initial reaction was, "Yeah, right!"

My doubts were not unfounded. Having spent years studying (and consuming) Chinese herbal medicines, I had a familiarity with a good deal of what Brousseau was talking about. The ingredients she'd mentioned sounded like a wish list that only insiders would know of and only the filthy rich and well-connected could afford. On top of that, the taste of such a mixture, I surmised, would probably make even the least sensitive tasters wretch with disgust. To make a mixture that would contain the type of ingredients she mentioned, be stable enough to ship and store, and not taste like the bottom skim of a Los Angeles sewer was a pipe dream as far as I was concerned. So I filed the conversation away in my mental round file. A couple of years later, when I met with Carl to discuss a project idea, I saw the finished product on his shelf. Eager to see how far from the initial ideal the finished product had to compromise, I was in for a shock.

Not only did Shakeology have EXACTLY the type of ingredients that Isabelle had mentioned during our training sessions, but it had MORE!

Some notables:

• Astragalus: widely used in Chinese medicine as an immune system regulator
• MSM: one of the most popular supplements for joint health
• Chia: the Mayan super-seed with more calcium than whole milk, more omega-3 and -6 than salmon, and more protein than kidney beans
• THREE different proprietary blends and some vitamins and minerals that actually exceeded the U.S. RDA.

This stuff looked like it was fit for a king for sure. So I was curious to put it to the final 2 tests: taste and performance. I wanted to know if it smelled or tasted anything like what I thought it would and was curious if it'd make a difference for my high-velocity, high-output, high-mileage lifestyle.

A little background: I'm a caffeine junkie by virtue of workaholism. Ever since discovering the "joy" of all-nighter homework sessions in high school, I became keenly aware of the value of being able to work harder and sacrifice sleep. So when the NoDoz, Vivarin, and Mountain Dew lifestyle needed an adult turn after I'd graduated and started writing, teaching, treating patients, travelling, training, and trying to spend time with my family, I dove hip deep into energy drinks like Red Bull, Monster, and caffeinated energy bars like Pit Bull. When I speak well about a nutritional product, it's for one reason: it helps me get my work done while keeping me healthy. Another bit of background: I'm a glutton. I love food, especially food that tastes good. I never met a filet mignon that I didn't like, and never met one that I didn't like better wrapped in bacon, with a side of bacon-wrapped scallops, and mashed potatoes—topped with bacon. If it doesn't taste good, I don't care how good it is for me. I'll STILL probably not like it well enough to be disciplined about taking it.

The Greenberry Shakeology bag that Carl gave me turned my ball of preconceived notions and stood it on its ear. From the moment I opened the bag, the scent was wonderful, like a dessert that you're eager to tear into. So I dumped some ice and water into the blender and dropped a scoop of the bright green powder in with it. I didn't add juice or other fruits because I wanted to know exactly how this tasted by itself, unadulterated. The next sound I heard after taking my first sip was, "Yum!" It passed the taste test.

Next was the travel test. I wanted to see how it kept me going while traveling, so instead of my usual chain-drinking habit of Monster or Red Bull, I tried a shake or two during the day, usually with one in the morning. I brought Shakeology with me to New York, New Mexico, and most recently to Australia to see how I'd do with it, and the results were remarkable. I had sustained, stable energy, but without the jitters, aggression, and hard drops afterwards. When I travel, I travel to teach, and I have to be up, energetic, strong, and focused. My days here in LA revolve around teaching, training, treating patients, and trying to steal moments with my family. So if something doesn't give me the energy to do what I need, I can't waste my precious time or hard-earned money with it.

Shakeology has proven itself to be able to give me all of that on multiple occasions, both while traveling and here in Los Angeles. You can draw your own conclusions about any product you want, but I'm sharing my experiences with Shakeology here openly. And if you think I'm endorsing it only for financial gain, you couldn't be more wrong. I signed up as a "Coach" so I could buy the product for myself! If you want to try it, you know where to find it, and get ready to be surprised how little such high-quality nutrition costs!

ChaLEAN Extreme! Am lovin' this!

Diabetes and Exercise

I wanted to share this article from the WebMd about Diabetes. Several people in my family live with diabetes, so this is a reality for me. I believe diet and exercise will do a lot, if not to cure, but to curb it's deadly effects. 

Type 2 Diabetes and Exercise

Exercise is very important in managing type 2 diabetes. Combining diet, exercise, and medicine (when prescribed) will help control your weight and blood sugar level.

Exercise helps control type 2 diabetes by:

• Improving your body's use of insulin.
• Burning excess body fat, helping to decrease and control weight (decreased body fat results in improved insulin sensitivity).
• Improving muscle strength.
• Increasing bone density and strength.
• Lowering blood pressure.
• Helping to protect against heart and blood vessel disease by lowering 'bad' LDL cholesterol and increasing 'good' HDL cholesterol.
• Improving blood circulation and reducing your risk of heart disease.
• Increasing energy level and enhancing work capacity.
• Reducing stress, promoting relaxation, and releasing tension and anxiety.

While most any exercise is healthy for people with diabetes, let's look at some specific types of exercise and their benefits:

Strength Training and Type 2 Diabetes

The latest findings show that exercise such as strength training has a profound impact on helping people manage their diabetes. In a recent study of Hispanic men and women, 16 weeks of strength training produced dramatic improvements in sugar control that are comparable to taking diabetes medication. Additionally, the study volunteers were stronger, gained muscle, lost body fat, had less depression, and felt much more self-confident.

Aerobic Fitness and Type 2 Diabetes

Any activity that raises your heart rate and keeps it up for an extended period of time will improve your aerobic fitness. Aerobic exercise helps decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes and helps those with diabetes to better manage their blood sugar levels. Besides the health benefits, exercise is fun and boosts your mood. It's hard to feel stressed when you're walking fast on a treadmill or swimming laps in a pool.

10 Ways to a New You!

10 Ways to a New You

By Steve Edwards

Most of us make resolutions to somehow change ourselves for the better in the upcoming year. More often than not, these resolutions involve promising ourselves to get into better shape, improve our diet, or quit some habit we think is hurting our health or well-being.

While the practice of making health-related resolutions tends to be great for business at Beachbody (or any health and fitness company), these resolutions really only matter to you if they're helpful to you. Unfortunately, the statistics show that most of us won't see our resolutions through to the end of the coming year. Of course, you're an individual, not a statistic. Whether or not you succeed is entirely up to you.
Our job is to make your path to health and fitness easier. So here are some tips to help you succeed with your New Year's makeover.

1. Feel free to change your resolutions. After all, they're yours. You made 'em and you can change 'em. While New Year's resolutions are a great idea in theory, we tend to make them so challenging that most are virtually doomed to fail. Research tells us that the majority of people have already cheated on their resolutions or given up on them altogether by the end of the first week of January.

The main reason is difficulty. The average resolution aims high—really high. For example, let's look at the ubiquitous, "I'm going to stop smoking." It's pretty easy to mess this one up, and once you've cheated at all, it's very easy to give up completely. In fact, a case could be made that many of us make our resolutions too difficult on purpose, because it makes it so much easier to stop trying. Instead, attempt a more holistic approach. Maybe your resolution is to stop smoking, but throw in "by the end of the year." Now you've got an entire year to work toward your goal.

2. Make a plan. This is a big step, because given the scenario above, without a plan it's unlikely that you'll change anything in your lifestyle until the following December. Most of us can look at a calendar for the coming year and come up with a decent idea about our schedule and what might work for us if we were, say, going to schedule an event as part of a resolution. Taking a minute to look at the upcoming year can give you a realistic sense of what you want to attempt.

Again, using quitting smoking as an example, you might want to schedule some kind of healthy retreat where you can cleanse yourself, get healthy, etc., during the year. You'll need to know your schedule, or, as we tend to do, you may find your resolution-related goal happens to fall during a month when you've got a lot of other obligations. Planning ahead will help stack the odds in your favor. Then you can also plan goals for the months leading up to your retreat.

3. Remember the big picture. This one has to do with the fact that most resolutions are about self-improvement (or helping someone or something else improve). Some of the main resolutions we make are to quit a bad habit, change the way we look or feel, or become more educated. All these things require our minds and bodies to change. And while it is possible to do a 100-percent turnaround at the stroke of midnight on December 31st, it's not very likely. Your chances for success will increase dramatically if you use your brain and make a plan that allows for failure, plays to your strengths, and moves toward your overall goal in a way that makes it harder for you to give up than to keep going.

Again using quitting smoking as an example, here's an idea that's focused on the big picture. Break the year into 12 months. For January, you might want to start with an exercise program, because you know that the harder your body has to work physically, the less it'll crave cigarettes. So your entire first month might not actually address your ultimate goal directly. Instead, it can focus on something you know will help you down the line.

4. Involve your family. If you've got a family, find a way to involve them in your quest. If you can't get them on your side, you might face some trouble, because you might find they're pulling you in the opposite direction. If quitting smoking is your goal, chances are your family will be supportive and do anything you ask. So for this example, let's use a family that consists of a dog, who isn't about to stop you from doing something you enjoy. Involving your dog is easy, because while he doesn't care whether or not you smoke, Fido would certainly rather have you out hiking with him. So thinking something like "When I want a cigarette, I'll take the dog for a walk" could be an effective element in achieving your ultimate goal. And as you well know, Fido will be very supportive on this one.

5. Involve your bad habits. We've all got some bad habits. If you can embrace yours and somehow involve them in your efforts to stick to your resolutions, you'll stand a much better chance of achieving success. Let's say you smoke most often when you're out drinking socially. Since you know you're vulnerable and will probably break down no matter what you tell yourself, find a roundabout way of allowing this.

For example, in the beginning, you might allow yourself to socially smoke a cigarette if you've exercised for an hour that day. This can evolve over the year to be stricter—perhaps increasing the exercise intensity or time required to earn the reward. In this instance, the harder you exercise, the less your body will crave that cigarette. So even though you've set up a cigarette as a reward, you'll be likely to find that you'll crave it less and less the more you exercise. The possibilities are nearly endless, and you'll need to get creative, but by involving your bad habits you'll virtually eliminate your excuses to quit progressing toward your goal.

6. Involve your good habits. While this should fall in the "duh" files, it's surprising how often people try to ignore their own history when they attempt to make themselves over. Get realistic and embrace the things you like to do. Certainly, you must have some things that you love to do that are good for you—going for walks, dancing, a favorite sport. Make sure they're a part of your plan.

And even if something you love isn't currently good for you, there's usually a way to change that. For example, if you love watching House, you can make this more positive by vowing to stretch in front of the TV, or exercise during the commercials. An hour-long network TV show has 20 minutes of commercials. You can get a lot done in 20 minutes.

7. Find strength in numbers. Even the most independent of us needs support from time to time. Unless your goal is completely off the radar, there's probably a support group available, which you can prove to yourself by performing a 30-second Internet search. These support groups can be amazingly helpful and can fit any personality type. Even if you're very shy, just reading through what others say can help to motivate and keep you on track.

For exercise and diet support, we offer the Message Boards, the WOWY (Work Out With You) Supergym®, our virtual gym, and the Million Dollar Body Game® (free to join, free to play!). By logging in to WOWY and working out, you can win cool prizes every day. (If you'd like to be eligible to win $25,000 and get more diet and fitness support, join the Million Dollar Body® Club—risk free for 30 days!)

8. Get involved for a higher purpose. This doesn't have to mean a religious higher power—although it can be. A higher purpose can be your family, your friends, or any number of causes—essentially anything that helps you make the world around you a better place. We can often wallow in our bad habits due to a sense of helplessness. Getting involved in something beyond yourself can give you the sense that your life matters, because, well, it does. Engagement can be very empowering. Not to mention fun.

9. Schedule some alone time. This is important because we tend to allow the outside world to distract us. Often this is done for the most altruistic purposes, putting family, friends, or job above ourselves. But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and allowing control of your own life to slip away—even for a higher purpose—isn't the answer. If you're not healthy, happy, and content, it's going to be difficult for you to help others to be healthy, happy, and content. Even if it's just minutes a day, make some time for yourself to be alone where you're able to gather your thoughts and focus on what you want to happen in your future.

10. Use a target goal that's qualitative, not quantitative. Our society loves numbers. Losing X amount of pounds, running X amount of miles, going X number of days without smoking—these are things we dangle in front of ourselves as if they were some Holy Grail. In fact, these things have very little impact, if any, on what we really want, which is to improve our lives. Numbers can be great motivators. They can be nice as signposts on your road to progress. But they can also mislead you and shouldn't be a part of your ultimate goal, because you can't really control them. Shooting for unattainable numbers is one primary way we can sabotage our self-improvement goals. The adage "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game" isn't just about sports. Live your life well, and in the end, you'll be content, no matter where the numbers fall.