Best and Worst Cookout Foods

Did Your Favorites Make the Cut?
Summer is almost here, and that means outdoor parties and cookouts with friends and family. If you’re trying to eat healthier, it can seem hard to find good choices at the picnic table. But you don’t have to hide out until September just to resist temptation. Whether you're a host or a guest, you can enjoy the best of barbecue season without padding your waistline. Use this guide to choose food that's light, healthy and refreshing at any backyard blowout.

Burgers 'n Dogs
Hamburgers and hot dogs are a big part of summer eating but they don’t have to be a diet disaster. Start with a 100% whole wheat bun instead of white for a healthy dose of fiber and watch the fat content of the meat. The average beef and pork hot dog contains about 180 calories and 17 grams of fat before you add a bun and toppings. Turkey dogs are tasty and won’t sabotage your diet—you can have two of them for less than100 calories. If you’re going for a burger, stay away from the high-fat toppings like cheese, mayo and bacon. Choose cheese slices made with skim milk to reduce the fat content and load your burger with mustard and fresh veggies instead.
To read more.

More sobering statistics about smoking, drinking and lack of exercise

It’s not shocking to learn that smoking, drinking heavily, poor diet and lack of exercise is devastating to your health, but the level of devastation might be. A recent study that tracked 5,000 British adults for 20 years found that these four common bad health habits, combined, can age a person by up to 12 years! The study was reported in a recent Boston Globe article.

A person is considered to be practicing these bad habits if they smoke cigarettes, drink more than three alcoholic beverages a day for men (two for women), exercise less than two hours per week, and eat fruits and vegetables less than three times a day, the study said.

Another sobering statistic from the study showed that, of the 314 people who had all four unhealthy behaviors, 91 died (29 percent), compared to only 8 percent of those who didn’t practice any of the bad habits.

To learn more about the study, read the article, and let us know what you think: http://ow.ly/1Fg4N

3rd Annual Fitcorp Company Challenge

The 3rd Annual Fitcorp Company Challenge was held at the Boston Racquet Club on Saturday, March 20th. With the defending champions, One Beacon St., walking in with the trophy in-hand, teams were geared up and ready to bring the trophy home to their club!

The Company Challenge was born to bring the entire company of Fitcorp together for an evening of food, games and fun. With busy schedules and other center happenings going on all the time, it is difficult to get together and interact with other Fitcorp peers. The Company Challenge boast games such as sumo wrestling, jousting, ping pong, four square, and an obstacle course, among many others.

The competitive side of everyone always shines through at this event to see which team will prevail in the end. The last event of the night is always a “Spirit Competition” where each club performs a skit in front of the owners to be judged. With tight competition throughout the night, the BRC went into the Spirit Competition in first place. After some great laughs and hysterical mannerisms, Longwood came from behind to pull out the overall victory and walk away with the trophy!

In the end, it was a successful night, with great friends and coworkers. It’s days like these that make a person glad he/she works for Fitcorp.

The Workout Distractions Debate

Have we gone too far with our iPods, Kindles and portable DVD players while we exercise?

Don’t get us wrong, any workout is better than not working out at all, but if your fitness goal is to have six-pack abs or cross the finish line on Marathon Monday, these distractions could be slowing your pace, taking the focus off your form, and limiting your true potential.

But for many people around the world, it is these electronic distractions that single-handedly give them the motivation to go to the gym on a regular basis. So, are they good or bad? Wow. … This is a tough one.

The New York Times touched on this interesting debate in an article last week. So, where do you weigh-in? Read the article and let the arguments begin.

Keeping It Positive

Too many times I have heard people mutter, “I’m not here because I want to be here….but because I have to be here.” The first step to success is changing that losing attitude to a winning attitude. A negative mindset is automatically going to set you two steps back from where you are and is only going to make it that much harder to achieve your goals, whether they be fitness oriented or not. Do not forget that no one likes a Negative Nancy anyways.


I myself do not like to fluff anything or anyone up so I have a tendency to shoot straight from the hip. Performing moderate to vigorous exercise whether it be some sort of resistance, flexibility or cardiovascular training, is commonly referred to as working out. Now ask yourself this; do you truly enjoy going to work? If you are one of the few able to confidently answer “yes” to that question then consider yourself one of the lucky ones. Can you see where I am going with this yet? To make the point again, exercising is called working out. My point is this: Yes, it is hard. Yes, you will be doing things that you may not want to do and no, you will not necessarily enjoy doing it at times. It still needs to be done and at the end of the day it makes you a better person for doing so.

The first step, and probably the most important one, towards accomplishing your goals is by making the effort to smile while you are working out. Now I do not mean that one needs to maintain an ear-to-ear grin the entire time they are sweating to the oldies, but make the effort and find some enjoyment from the activity. I dare everyone to try this little experiment out….bust out a wall squat or an intense plank and attempt to hold the pose for at least a minute. As the pose really begins to get difficult, do your best not to cuss me out, instead put on your happy face and watch how your misery slowly lessons and you push on through the time stronger than anticipated.

Do you want more reasons to keep it positive? When we exercise we are not just making our heart and muscles stronger, we are actually reversing our bodies aging process instead of slowing it down. How is this possible you ask? According to Dr. Henry Lodge, our entire body constantly goes through a cycle where each cell dies and is replaced with a new one. Roughly we replace about 1% of our body with new cells from our blood cells to lung tissue each and every day. Here we have the choice of whether this new tissue is stronger than the original or will continue its path of early decay. Honestly, I myself am not one who is interested in living 140 years but what ever my life expectancy is, I want my body to be as strong as possible for whatever obstacle I may come across.

By Angelo Gala, Elite Trainer, Fitcorp, RKC Level II