Fitness Tip of the Day: Something Different Saturday -- Full Length Barre Workout: Ballet Burn

I posted a different barre workout a few weeks ago which was more leg and core work.  This one is 52 minutes long and  includes cardio ballet, barre burn, toning/sculpting and abs.  You will need a sturdy chair and a set of light dumbbells.

Fitness Tip of the Day: Friday's Facts and Findings -- Healthier Substitutions -- Butter

What are your favorite healthy substitutions?

Finding healthy substitutions for higher fat/calorie ingredients/foods has its challenges and rewards.  It can be difficult to replicate the taste and texture of certain foods when you start messing with the ingredients.

One of the most popular items people want to substitute is butter because of it's high content of saturated fat, unfortunately it can also be one of the trickiest ingredients to sub.  One of the biggest mistakes people make is using margarine spread as a sub for butter in recipes.  Because of the high water content in these products, this is not a good substitute--unless it specifically states it can substitute for butter in baking and has no trans fats, don't use it.

So, what are good substitutes for butter?  Well, a lot depends on what you are making.  If you are creating a sauce, or using it to saute something, then you could use olive oil instead.  If you want a lighter flavor, you could use canola oil.

Remember though, oil is still fat--although the fat in olive oil is considered healthier (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated),  it still has 14 grams per tablespoon.  If your goal is calorie and fat reduction, you need to reduce the total amount of fat used.  In sauteing, you could use some chicken stock.  Also, using a non-stick pan with a bit of vegetable or olive oil spray is a lighter alternative.  I choose to use the olive oil and limit other fats during my meal, such as salad dressing, or whatever I might spread on a piece of bread.

In baking, there are more options.  If you want to eliminate the saturated fat, again you can substitute oil (but you have to adjust your dry ingredients) or you can use mashed avocado.  The avocado will provide the fat the recipe needs, but it will be healthier monounsaturated fat.  A nut butter is another alternative, but it can alter the taste of the finished product.  Almond and cashew butter are lighter in flavor than peanut butter.  Again, this is not going to lower the overall fat--it will just be a healthier one.

If you want to reduce the total fat, you can sub out half the butter with applesauce, pureed prunes, or mashed bananas.  If you want to eliminate the fat you can sub the butter completely with these three ingredients (but you'll change the texture of the baked good--it will be drier).  Mashed beans (white or black) can also be used--again the texture will be a bit different.

The new rage right now is coconut oil--the jury is still out on this one--it is claimed to have all these great qualities yet, coconut oil is saturated fat, same as butter, so if lower fat content is your goal--this is not the best choice.

Here's a flourless brownie recipe I found on ChocolateCoveredKatie.com that uses black beans and vegetable or coconut oil.  I have not made this recipe, I have, however, made the chocolate chip pie/cake recipe that uses white beans and it was quite good.

 No Flour Black Bean Brownies

Fitness Tip of the Day: Thursday's Total Body (+Wednesday's Wild + Tuesday's Trunk and Core)

Between computer issues and a case of vertigo, I wasn't able to post on Tues and Wed, so I decided to find one workout that will take care of all three days and here it is:

This is another intense 1,000 Calorie Burning Workout from Fitness Blender. It is 84 minutes long and consists of  HIIT cardio training, total body strength training + abs!!!  It does include a warm up and cool down.  You need a set of dumbbells.  Remember, modify or pause the video when you need to.

Fitness Tip of the Day: Monday's Muscle Work -- 30 Day Butt Lift

Here's another video series from BeFit!  This one is called the "30 Day Butt Lift."  This program is not only meant to shape your bottom, but also the rest of your body.  You'll burn fat and calories as well because you'll be using your leg muscles which are the largest muscles in your body.

The following video is an introduction to the program:

The first workout video is approximately 11 minutes long called Butt Workout 1:  Tone Up.

There is no warm up or cooldown included so please do those on your own.  For this workout, the trainer uses weights, but if you don't have any it's really not a big deal, and a sturdy chair.

Here's a link to the 30 day calendar:  30 Day Butt Lift

Fitness Tip of the Day: Sunday's Recipe Share -- Flourless Chocolate Cake

I want to come right out and say that this isn't necessarily a "light" recipe, but it really isn't too bad.  It is gluten-free.  I just recently made this for my son's birthday.  YUM!!!

I found this recipe in the February 6, 2011 Sunday paper magazine -- I'm sorry, the page doesn't say which publication it is.  We get the Daily Herald and the Tribune, so it's one of those.

Anyway, the author/baker is singer Ingrid Michaelson, and the article with the recipe is entitled, "Calling All Chocoholics!"

She talks about how this is not a pretty cake--and she's right, it is not, but as she states in the article regarding taking this cake to parties, "someone says. "Okay, what's this?" and then, "Oh my God!  What is this!""  This isn't a picture of the cake I made, but it does look similar.  I usually serve it with some sort of topping--raspberry or chocolate sauce, or whipped cream to help hide the cracks.

Looks can be deceiving.  It really is rich, and fudgy and sinfully delicious!

Here's the recipe:

Serves 12 (you really don't want a bigger piece than this)

7 oz really good (45% - 50% cocoa) semisweet chocolate (I used even darker chocolate bars)
3/4 c. butter
1 cup sugar, separated
4 eggs, separated

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler, remove from stove.  Stir together half the sugar and four yolks, add a bit of this to the melted chocolate to temper and then add the rest, stirring well.

2.   Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, slowing add remaining sugar until stiff peaks form.  Fold this mixture into the chocolate.  Pour into a greased 9 inch cake pan (I use a springform pan, covering the outside with foil.

3.  Bake 40 minutes (I usually check it at 30 and 35 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs on it.  Cool 30 minutes before removing from pan.  Dust with powdered sugar.  You can serve with topping on side or pour it over the top.

Are you still wondering about the calorie count?  Well here it is, drum roll please:

270 calories, 18 g fat!!!  See, not too bad!!!

I have not tried to lighten this recipe up--if I did, I'd probably try to half the butter, but since I eat this so rarely, I'm probably not going to mess with such a good thing!

Let me know if you do though, I'd love to hear the results.