In Good HealthAutumn 2012

Sponsored by Koko FitClub to promote healthy living in our local community.

Building Health from the Inside Out

Measuring Health with Body Comp

Not into the Gym Scene? Join the Club.

Good Nutrition Is a Lifestyle Choice

In Good Health is published by Koko FitClub of Phoenix. Koko is a registered trademark of Koko Fitness LLC. The information in this magazine is provided as a service to the community. It is not substitute for medical ad-vice. Koko FitClub of Phoenix is not liable for errors appearing in advertisements beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. The right is reserved to edit, reject or cut any copy without notice.

Contents:3 How do you measure health?4 Increasing LML with Exercise6 Welcome to the Club8 Koko’s Measure of Success10 Health from the Inside out12 Recovery is Key14 Take the Koko Challenge15 Use it or Lose it16 Your Nutrition Lifestyle17 Are you truly hungry?18 New Foods for your Pantry19 The Value of Family Dinner

Editor in ChiefLori GranviLLELocal Editor/PublisherKELLy SummErSContributing EditorsDEborah DEnova-baKErmiChaEL WooDbrian hoffErChriStinE LaWiCKi Design & Layout:matt fuLLErPhotography:KELLy fitzSimmonS

KoKo fitCLub of PhoEnix6819 n. 16th StrEEt SuitE 7 PhoEnix, az 85016az.phoenix@kokofitclub.com

Koko FitClub is proud to deliver In Good Health to the north central Phoenix local community. Like the services we offer to our members, this magazine is a tool to help you and your busy family take steps to a healthy lifestyle.

We know it can be challenging to find the time and energy to exercise and eat right. Between, work, commute, kids, house…it’s easy to fall into the trap of leaving yourself last. But once you make a personal commitment to take better care of yourself, you will be surprised how quickly the ben-

efits accrue – both to you and your family. That’s why Sandy and I are so excit-ed to bring Koko into the community to help you with your healthful journey."

Yours in good health,

Editor’s Note

in Good health Staff

Contact us

Kelly SummersOwner Koko FitClub

Koko FitClub of Phoenix

Think about the last time you went to the doctor for a check-up. What measurements did they take? Weight, blood pressure, pulse. Maybe they drew blood to check cholesterol. The doctor can compare your measurements to standards and advise you on what steps you can take to improve your overall health. They can pre-scribe medication or put you on a diet and exercise regimen to help get your numbers in check.

What about body composition? Did your doctor ever tell you what percentage of your body is made up of lean muscle tissue versus fat? Probably not, because a good body composition scale is expen-sive and even for medical offi ces is diffi cult to come by. Body Mass Index is often used as a proxy for body composition but since it is just a simple ratio between height and weight which doesn’t account for age, gender or lean muscle level, it can be as misleading as the scale alone as a measure of your well-being.

It should be everyone’s goal with-out exception to build and main-tain lean muscle tissue because it is what drives a healthy metabo-lism and energy level. It impacts our strength, agility and even our ability to fi ght disease. It is not an exaggeration to say that lean mus-cle tissue is the body’s fountain of youth. The higher the Lean Muscle Level (LML), the more calories our bodies will burn. In fact, pound for pound, muscle burns three and half times more calories than fat.

Now don’t panic because hav-ing more lean muscle tissue does not mean you have to look like a bodybuilder. With regular strength training, you can burn calories, reduce fat and increase lean muscle tissue without getting all bulked up. Because lean muscle takes up less space than fat, you’ll have a sleeker, younger and more fi t appearance.

Learn more in this issue about how you can increase, measure and protect your lean muscle level.

How do you measure good health?

The body is made up of skin, bone, muscles, connective tissues (ligaments and tendons), fl uid…and fat. Lean muscle level (LML) measures the percentage of your body that is not fat.

What is lean muscle level?

Build, maintain & protect your lean muscle level.

As we age, we naturally lose mus-cle mass. The average American will lose 40% of lean muscle tissue between the ages of 25 and 65. Besides the obvious changes this makes to our physical appearance, this loss of muscle causes our me-tabolism to slow down. This is why with absolutely no change to your diet, you suddenly start gaining weight in your 40’s and 50’s.

Strength training just 2–3 times per week is all you need to main-tain your lean muscle level so that you look and feel years younger. When it comes to looking young-er, the secret of strength training is that muscle is denser than fat so it takes up less space in your body and will give you a leaner and

younger appearance. Also, muscle is more metabolically active so you burn calories at a higher rate. So when your lean muscle level is high, you can consume more calories without gaining weight. And if that isn’t good enough, a strenuous workout will not only burn calories during the workout but it will rev up your metabolism and cause your body to burn calories at a faster rate for the rest of the day.

Weight maintenance and a youth-ful appearance are great but strength training also has pro-found effects on your overall well being. Who wants to look young but feel old? Strength training will increase your energy and stamina, improve your fl exibility and bal-ance and minimize your chances of injury. It helps to maintain bone density and by strengthening your core, it will improve your posture and overall back health.

• Trim & Toned Appearance

• Increased Strength & Stamina

• Revved-up Metabolsim

• Improved Flexibility

• Fewer Aches, Pains & Injuries

• Builds Bone Density

Benefi ts of strength training

Michael Wood, CSCS, Chief Fitness Offi cer of Koko FitClub LLC is widely recog-nized as one the nation’s top fi tness experts. Discover his personally designed fi tness programs at a Koko FitClub near you and read more from Michael on his award winning blog at:michaelwoodspg.blogspot.com

Like strength training, getting better results from cardio exer-cise means breaking old habits. Pounding away on a treadmill or an elliptical machine for an hour or more is not only boring and ineffi cient; it can also cause seri-ous repetitive stress injuries and unnecessarily deplete your lean muscle tissue.

By contrast, “interval training” has been well-documented in numerous research studies to be more effi cient for a variety of reasons. Like strength training, it burns more calories than steady state cardio both while you are doing it and for 24 hours after you are done. And it improves your cardiovascular conditioning much faster than steady state cardio, while protecting and increasing lean muscle level.

So what is interval training and how often should you do it? It is an exercise strategy that alter-nates periods of short intense an-aerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods.

A typical HIIT session should last about 15 minutes and not more than 20 minutes. It will start with a warm-up for a couple of minutes followed by alternative periods of high intensity and moderate inten-sity and ends with a cool down. During the high intensity phases you should be working at 80–85% of your maximum capacity, during moderate phases near 70% and low intensity phases below 60%.

While it is ok to do 15 minutes of HIIT daily, just 3 times per week is enough to deliver great results. Do-ing more than 20 minutes per day can actually be counter-productive.

about tabata

Tabata is one form of HIIT that was developed by Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata. His studies demon-strated that HIIT delivered dramatic improvements to both the car-diovascular and muscular systems compared to regular steady-rate routines. Tabata deploys a 2:1 work to rest ratio with 20 seconds of high intensity with 10 seconds of rest.

Welcome to the ClubIf you are one of those people who hates the idea of going to the gym, welcome to the club.

You can tell the moment you walk into a Koko FitClub that it is different. The spa-like setting is a dead giveaway. It doesn’t look or smell like a gym and as you look around, you’ll probably notice someone that looks a lot like you working hard at being healthier.

Then you’ll notice the Smartrain-ers. No, not the friendly staff member who greeted you as you entered; they are called FitCoach-es. I’m talking about the large white machines that will soon become your personal trainer. These Smartrainers deliver highly effi cient “circuit-based” strength training. Rather than working one muscle at a time and resting be-tween sets, Koko Smartraining™

works multiple muscle groups on every exercise and eliminates the “resting phase” by having you work opposing muscle groups during that time. And your whole routine is on just one machine.

Just plug in your personalized Koko Key, follow the instructions and in just 30 minutes, three times per week, you will be well on your way to building lean muscle tissue and a stronger, healthier you.

But Koko is more than just strength training. Koko also offers aerobic training with elliptical and treadmill programs designed to burn calories and build cardiovas-cular health in a minimal amount of time. With Koko Cardio interval training, the proper balance of work-out intensity and recovery in short durations is carefully ma-nipulated in 15 minute sessions. The result is that you get the same calorie burn of steady-state cardio, but in half the time. Your audio-based personal trainer, our own Chief Fitness Offi cer, Michael Wood, will motivate and keep you focused every step of the way.

No matter what your current fi tness level, Koko provides a solution just for you because we custom-ize everything. We assess your strength level and measure your range of motion at your fi rst visit so every exercise you do on the Koko Smartrainer™ is customized to your ability. And then every month or so, we test you again so that the

system keeps adapting as you make progress. We can actually measure your strength gain over time. The ability to track progress and show measurable results is just one of the ways that Koko is unique. The other thing you will notice right away is the vibe of the club.

The staff at Koko FitClub are ex-tremely friendly. They have been certifi ed as Koko Fit-Coaches to train you on how to properly use the Koko Smartrain-ing system. Don’t be surprised when you are greeted by name when you enter the club.

Koko FitClub is extremely afford-able. For about the price of just one personal training session, you get a month’s worth of personal training at Koko.

And Koko is amazingly convenient too. Have you ever heard of per-sonal training that doesn’t require an appointment? Well, here at

Koko, no appointments are necessary.

Club hours vary from town to town but most clubs are staffed at least 60 hours per week and all offer after hours access so you can exercise

when it’s convenient for you. Even the busiest people can fi nd time for fi tness at Koko. With over 100 locations in 27 states, Koko is sweeping the nation. Get in on the healthy ride and fi nd a club near you.

Find a location near you at kokofi tclub.com

Measuring Success at MyKokoFitClub.comAt Koko, we believe measurement is critical to success in maintaining good health. It can help us to be more accountable. It can moti-vate and inspire us. In the case of Koko, it does both of those things, but more importantly it forms the foundation of our personal train-ing system, feeding it with data to help customize and prescribe a program to your specifi c needs.

We are not talking about the kind of measurement where someone makes you get on a scale and tell everyone in the room how much you weigh. Our measurements are private and way more powerful. We measure how strong you are and track your strength gains from month to month. We track how many Koko Points you have earned, calories burned, how often you work out and your Pace score. We even track your Q Score, our proprietary calculation of relative strength.

We know that after 8 weeks the average member is 19% stron-ger, after 16 weeks they are 26% stronger and after 24 weeks they are 33% stronger. After a full year of sticking with a regimen of 3 strength sessions per week, the average member is 44% stronger. You will probably want to print out a record of your workouts to share with your doctor at your next check-up so she/he understands why your vital medical statistics have improved so dramatically.

Track your path to success on your own, personal MyKokoFitClub web page.

Introducing Koko FitCheckComing soon to your Koko Fit-Club is Koko FitCheck, a new measurement tool that accurately calculates body composition using medical-grade, bio-impedance technology. It has been proven over many years to be a safe, fast and accurate method to measure body composition.

Before every workout, your mea-surements are captured using bio-impedance via four points of the body—both hands and both feet. You stand on the unit with bare feet and enter your age, gender and height. Grab on to the handles for just a few seconds while it captures your lean muscle level (LML) and then calculates your Koko eBMI or enhanced body mass index. This eBMI was developed exclusively by Koko FitClub to help our members track progress towards their fi tness goals over time. It factors in your lean muscle level, age and gender into a more accurate indicator

of health and fi tness. When you keep doing your strength sessions three times per week, while eating a proper diet, your eBMI will move into the Koko Zone in no time.

FitCheck is fast and discrete and helps us to deliver the most pre-scriptive and personalized training programs to our members. It will also arm you with ways to set and track your goals towards building a better, more fi t body. Just login to your MyKokoFitClub.com web page to view your historical mea-surements and plot your course for success.

Access to FitCheck is provided complimentary to members and will be available in all Koko FitClub’s nationwide by December 2012.

Building Health from the Inside Out

Is it possible to mine a healthy perspective even after a lifetime of unhealthy living? It is easy to see how people at the peak of ‘wellness’ can maintain a healthy mindset. Health encourages healthy actions. Healthy actions produce more health, which en-courages...you guessed it, more healthy actions. It is a wonderful self-perpetuating circle of mo-mentum, and everyone wants into that circle somehow. We want to look great; we want to feel great; and we want to stop pushing the boulder of motivation uphill with the masses. Try as we may, the strong, energetic attitude that seems to sprout organically from

that small minority can feel out of reach. We can feel stuck in the mind and body that time built. In a desperate bid, most people try to “do” something healthy in order to “be” someone healthy. From gym memberships to home equipment, DVDs to the latest food tracking app, most people are stuck on a “treadmill of trying” in order to see radically wonderful change. It’s no surprise that most of these well-in-tentioned actions will end in failure and disappointment…again. Old feelings win over new habits. So, is there a better approach? Before you throw in the gym towel, con-sider three strategies to cultivating a healthier mindset.

Health encourages healthy actions. Healthy actions produce more health, which encourages…you guessed it, more healthy actions.

SEt a LarGEr “Why”

If fi tting into your size 6 jeans again hasn’t moved you from the couch in four years, it might be time to examine your motivations. What emotion-evoking reason can you identify to get you up and at it again? Are your kids following your example? Are you approach-ing the age at which your father ex-perienced his heart attack? Have you stopped feeling good about yourself? Identify exactly what you want, when you want it, how you plan to get there and, most importantly, why you need to be there. Write it all down, and visit it daily. If your “why” doesn’t com-pletely eclipse your “why not,” it’s just not big enough.

aCt ‘aS if’ untiL

Psychologists tell us that our mindsets can be dramatically altered by way of adjusting phys-iology and behavior. We know that our mood has impact on our posture and movement. If you feel sad, you’re likely to move slowly, with your head lower and shoulders slumped forward. If you feel angry, your heart races quickly, your breathing quickens and your muscles tense. Want to be confi dent and upbeat? Raise your head, lift your chest, pull your shoulders back, breathe deeply and walk swiftly. Not only is this great exercise, but it’s a natural mood booster with no negative side effects. Experiment with this as you exercise too. Sit and stand tall and confi dent through

each exercise, move quickly and eagerly from one exercise to the next. Smile! Mimic the movements of a bona fi de health nut, and you will be surprised to realize how quickly the feelings become genuine. In other words, don’t act how you feel; act how you want to feel.

Commit to ShoW uP

The hardest part about getting it done is always getting start-ed. Most people underestimate the devoted commitment upfront that is needed to make a change in life. Those same people overes-timate how much effort it takes to keep a good habit going once it’s rolling. It might be harder than you think to get started, but it’s easier than you think to keep going. So, hold yourself accountable for showing up in the beginning. Set and keep appointments for at least 21 days. Get an accountability partner if you have to. Once the habit is set, the healthy task won’t seem as daunting. Invest the effort and commitment upfront, and then don’t look back. You’ll be happier and healthier from the inside out.

Former Beverly Hills trainer and fi tness spokes-model, Deborah Denova-Baker is a certifi ed wellness coach and co-owner of Koko FitClubs of Houma, Thibodaux and Baton Rouge with her hus-band, Paul Baker. Debbie is

Editor-in-Chief of Louisiana FitLife magazine, an independent distributor and presenter for Lifevantage, mother of two and creator of the fi rst “inner body fi tness system,”The SuperBody Project.

Effective exercise requires recovery.

Getting to a level of fi tness can be a challenging and frustrat-ing process with all the time demands that are placed on us. How many times have you de-cided that it is time to get into shape and 10 days later you are injured. No matter what level of fi tness you are, injuries can hap-pen. Life happens. You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and keep fi nding a way to stay in shape.

The key element to getting into shape is allowing the body to recover before you stress it again. Giving your body time to adapt to training is critical for a long and successful training program. It’s important to remember the three keys to success:

hyDration:

Our body is over 60% water and we all need to balance our body

fl uids and electrolytes for proper nerve and muscle function. When you are properly hydrated, the chance of injury is diminished and you are able to carry on to the next workout.

SPaCE:

All athletes need to space out their high stress workouts. As a coach I would give at least 48 hours to elite athletes. As we age we may need more time be-tween workouts. Give your body a chance to recover and rebuild and decrease the chance of injury. For the average person, intense exercise more than three times per week is too much.

ProtEin:

What is the deal with all this pro-tein talk? We all know that protein is the building block to muscle maintenance and growth. Make an

You know the old saying, there is no time like the present. Take the Koko 3x3x3 challenge and commit to making a healthy lifestyle change for the next 3 weeks. Start with one small thing like reducing sugar intake or exercising regularly. Do 3 strength sessions and 3 cardios per week for 3 weeks and get ready to change your life one habit at a time.

Brian Hoffer is the President of Hoffer Sports Consulting. He has 25 years experience coaching swimming at the Division 1 level. E-mail him at: Brian@HofferSportsConsulting.com

effort to have protein with every meal. Almost all whole foods contain protein. Some sources like animal products and soy are com-plete proteins containing all the amino acids necessary for optimal dietary needs. Vegetables and grains are incomplete and should be paired with one another to form a complete protein. For ex-ample, the classic Mexican dish of rice and beans is a perfect exam-ple of how to pair a grain and a le-gume to form a complete protein. Eating proteins from a variety of plant and animal sources ensures your muscles are being constantly fed. Elite strength athletes need between 1.3 to 1.8 grams per 2 pounds of body weight per day.

We are not all elite athletes but we need to make sure that we are getting enough protein to support the muscles and prevent injury.

Get out there and own your fi tness goal. If you are already fi t and working out, be smart and give your body a chance to re-cover. If starting a routine, get out there and be consistent and smart.

SunDAY Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat

It takes about 3 weeks to form a habit. Make Koko your healthy new habit by scheduling 3 strength and 3 cardio per week for the next 3 weeks.

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SunDAY Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat

It takes about 3 weeks to form a habit. Make Koko your healthy new habit by scheduling 3 strength and 3 cardio per week for the next 3 weeks.

TIME

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Studies prove that your brain never loses its ability to expand and grow. The only limiting factor is what you choose to do to exercise that capacity. It doesn’t matter what you are learning, what matters is that you can keep the brain sharp by keeping it active – just exactly in the same way that you can keep your body young by keep-ing it active.

Did you ever wonder why you can remember some memories from your life vividly while the rest is a blur?

The brain has a sophisticated system that stores important infor-mation and deletes unnecessary information.

You can even give your mem-ory a little boost by using

a calendar or journal to write down important information that you need to know. When you free yourself from needing to remem-ber these things, you actually free up

your brain so it can remember something else.

Solving brain teasers is a proven way to keep your brain functioning at peak performance.

The left gear doesn’t move. The right gear rolls around it. How many complete turns does the right gear make to go around the left gear once?

It’s not whatit looks like. The answer isn’t one!

See the back cover for the solution

Use it or lose it!

SmartTeaser

Good Nutrition is a Lifestyle ChoiceThe American lifestyle does not make it easy to stay trim and fi t and healthy. Processed food is abundant, cheap, convenient and seemingly within arm’s reach all the time. Unfortunately most of the food we are eating is over-loaded with sodium, sugar, fat and other chemicals and lacking in nu-tritional value. It is just about the perfect recipe for creating obesity –especially when coupled with a sedentary lifestyle.

Most of us don’t need to go on a diet. We need to make the life-style choice to stop eating refi ned, processed foods and take the little extra time to cook meals from whole ingredients.

To aid us, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently replaced the MyPyramid food guidelines with MyPlate as the of-fi cial model to guide your healthy nutrition lifestyle. It offers a much simpler and more practical way to visualize the way to put together healthy meals for your family.

your PLatE ShouLD inCLuDE:

50% fruitS & vEGEtabLES Fruits and vegetables are nutri-ent-dense, low in calories and high in fi ber.

30% ComPLEx CarbohyDratES Avoid white, highly refi ned or processed foods and opt where possible for whole grains.

20% ProtEin A quarter of your plate should be protein which should come from a variety of plant and animal sources.

Fat is an imperative nutrient which helps make you feel satisfi ed, makes food taste good and aids in digestion. But use in moderation and avoid foods high in saturated fat and low in nutritional content—a.k.a. junk food.

Minimize sodium intake to less than 1500 milligrams per day. It is easy if you avoid processed foods and add salt to taste when you serve your meal rather than while you are cooking it.

For more information go to www.ChooseMyPlate.gov.

QuiCK tiPS:

Are you hungry or just addicted to food?The average American eats too much processed food. It is not sur-prising because most processed food is scientifi cally engineered to be pleasing to our taste buds with high concentrations of salt, sugar, fat and other chemicals. And since taste buds acclimate to what we eat, the more processed food we eat, the more we crave it. Healthy, whole foods lose their appeal and our cravings for junk food grow. And not only do our taste buds get addicted to these chemicals, too but many studies have shown changes in how the brain reacts to these chemicals too. It is really im-portant to understand that having cravings is not the same as being hungry.

The good news is that taste buds generate every 24 hours and so in a matter of a few weeks, you can re-set your taste buds and retrain your brain to eliminate your unhealthy cravings and enjoy the hunger satis-fying taste of whole foods.

The fi rst few days will be the hardest—just like kicking any addiction—so it’s important to have plenty of your favorite healthy alternatives on hand while you are making the transition so that hun-ger doesn’t hijack your re-training efforts. Before long, you will fi nd that the more you eat fruits, vege-tables and whole foods, the more you will crave them.

I started with breakfast. For as long as I can remember, I have had a

couple of slices of toast and a cup of tea for breakfast. I have always struggled to eat enough fruits so my new breakfast is a small bowl of berries, a few wal-nuts and a sprinkling of my favorite granola or dry cereal. I go with about 2:1 berries to cereal. I don’t even use milk. Within a few days of this new breakfast, I have become addicted to it. When I wake up and fi nd I’m out of rasp-berries because one of my kids chowed them all down for an after-noon snack, I feel really annoyed. Well, l’m happy that my kids love fruit, but I’m annoyed that I have to fall back and eat toast.

I fi nd this absolutely amazing. A twenty year habit of eating tea and toast for breakfast out the window after just a few days. The reason? My body feels better when I eat a bowl of fruit. I’m more regular. I have more energy. I just feel better and that is hard to argue with. Pick one unhealthy thing that you crave and fi nd a healthy substitute. You’ll be surprised what happens.

Lori Granville is a Marketing executive, a mother of three, co-owner of Koko FitClub of Acton and editor of In Good Health, where she shares information from her quest for good health.”

Would you sit down for a snack and eat a spoonful of sugar like this? A 12 ounce can of soda has 10 teaspoons or 20 cubes of sugar and 150 calories. The AHA recommends 100 calories per day for women and 150 for men from sugar so think twice before cracking open your next can of soda.

There are virtually no nutrients in soda or sports drinks—just empty

calories. About the only thing going for sugary drinks is that they have water in them. So save the calories and the crash that will most certainly come from fl ushing so much sugar through your system

so quickly and just drink water. It will quench your thirst without impacting your waistline.

Fruit contains a lot of sugar. But it is also loaded with anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and a host of phyto-chemicals with disease fi ghting properties. Humans are one of only a couple of species that have a so-called sweet tooth that can distinguish the taste of sweetness.

In our evolution this is believed to be to designed to attract us to the many benefi ts it offers. In addition to all the nutrients, fruit is loaded with fi ber which helps maintain a good digestive balance and slows the absorption of the sugars into our bloodstream so that you don’t get the same energy highs and lows you can get with other sugars.

Just say no to sugared drinks.

Satisfy your sweet tooth with fruit.

New Foods to Add to Your Pantry. Carboyhdrates often get a bad rap for being a contributing factor in the rise of obesity in America. In reality, carbohydrates are a critical macronutrient and provide the human body with energy to live. But all carbs are not creat-ed equal and while it’s true that white bread, white rice and sweets should not be staples in your diet, there are a lot of really good carbs that should. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are what you need to reach for and Quinoa should be high on your list.

Quinoa, the so-called “Ancient Grain,” is actually a seed that comes from a plant in the same family as spinach. In addition to being a great source of unpro-cessed carbohydrates, like soy, quinoa is one of only a very few plant foods that contain a com-plete form of protein that has all of the essential amino acids. The nutritional value of Quiona is very high, and its is experiencing a re-surgence in popularity. The United Nations has named 2013 the Inter-national Year of the Quiona.

A one cup serving contains 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of dietary fi ber – compare this to 5 grams of protein and 4 grams of fi ber in brown rice. It is also rich in iron, magnesium, calcium and essential fatty acids. The best thing about Quinoa is that it’s easy to prepare and tastes great –even the kids will love it. It’s a great substi-tute for rice or pasta and can be

served hot or cold. You’ll fi nd it near the rice in your grocery store.

Quinoa tabouLi SaLaD

inGrEDiEntS: 1 cup water1/2 cup uncooked quinoa3/4 cup fresh parsley leaves1/2 cup thinly sliced celery1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions1/2 cup cucumbers1/2 cup fi nely chopped tomatoes3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice1 tablespoon olive oil1 tablespoon honey1/4 teaspoon salt & black pepper

PrEParation: 1. Bring water and quinoa to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce heat, and sim-mer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Spoon into a bowl; fl uff with a fork and let cool. Add parsley, celery, onions, cucum-bers, tomatoes and any other vegetables you have on hand.

2. Whisk lemon juice, olive oil, honey, salt, and black pepper. Add to quinoa mixture, and toss well. Enjoy.

The Value of Family DinnerLife is busy with late nights at the offi ce and multiple kids with after school activities ranging from sports to music and everything in between. In the midst of all this hustle and bustle, the simple act of sitting down on a regular basis for a home-cooked meal has be-come a challenge for many of us. While it’s not imperative that the meal is home-cooked every time,

there are clear benefi ts of serving meals cooked from whole ingre-dients. Kids learn that good food prepared fresh tastes delicious. There is so much unhealthy food available to our kids today that it’s imperative as parents for us to teach them how to make smart food choices and family dinner is a great way to start. Check out our quinoa salad recipe in this issue.

In addition to developing healthy eating habits, a recent Colombia University study reported that teens who sit down to family dinner 5 or more times per week were 42% less likely to drink alcohol, 59% less likely to smoke cigarettes and 40% more likely to get A’s and B’s in school. The fact is that kids—especially teens—

need to feel that they are part of a community. Even though they often don’t “like us” when they are in these teen years, they need us and the opportunity to inter-act and share a meal with family is one of the most basic human rituals that we can provide to our children to give them a sense of belonging.

If you’re one of those people who hates the idea of going to the gym, welcome to the club!

Koko FitClub makes getting in shape simpler, faster and more enjoyable than you ever thought possible. You’re guided, tracked and measured at each session. No boredom, no wasted time, and no “gym scene.”

try Koko for free!Enjoy a free trial session at your Koko FitClub

compliments of In Good Health Magazine.

KoKo fitCLub—PhoEnix6819 N. 16th Street STE. 7 | Phoenix AZ 85016

602–277–5656 (KOKO)