Daily on Facebook people post their "healthy" pictures of juicing or recipes for juicing like this picture. If those fruits & veggies are not ORGANIC then those fruits & veggies are full of pesticides, hormones, and are probably also GMO, etc. So in reality, it's "cleansing/detoxing" with poison. The fruits & veggies with the most pesticides aka the "Dirty Dozen" are: Peaches, Apples, Sweet Bell Peppers, Celery, Nectarines, Strawberries, Cherries, Pears, Grapes (Imported), Spinach, Lettuce, Potatoes. So if we were to listen to this person who posted the recipe in the picture almost all of their ingredients for their "healthy" juice are full of pesticides.

BE CAREFUL where you get your exercise & nutrition advice from!

Side note, her recipe includes celery & cucumber which have ZERO nutritional value, and romaine lettuce which has some. Better options would be organic broccoli, organic carrots, organic cauliflower, organic tomatoes, organic garlic, etc. Also, unless you're going to drink the pulp of the fruit too, don't put so much fruit in your juice! Just drinking the juice from the fruit (fructose), spikes your blood sugar which signals the body to produce more of the hormone cortisol, the hormone in charge of producing body fat. Pick ONE fruit, and the rest should be veggies! #RIOfitnessChicago

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

If you have no motivation to go to the gym in this cold, rainy weather or don't want to pay an expensive gym membership, don't worry, cause you can get it done & done well at home for FREE!

For cardio use the stairs in your home to run/walk up & down or just the bottom step to jump & down. Use tables & chairs for tricep dips, pushups, and planks. Planks are one of the most effective ways for strength training because it uses your own body weight for resistance and it's a total body exercise. Anything with some weight like cans or full water bottles can be used for free weights with which you can perform endless exercises. No excuses! If you want to look & feel better get it done in your own home!

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Want to have nice abs for Summer 2013? Follow our RIO Fitness "AB COMMANDMENTS" to help get you there in a healthy, long-lasting way:

1) Strength train your ENTIRE midsection (obliques, lower & upper abdominals), finishing with a lower back exercise to fully complete your core.

2) Do NOT work your abs every day. They're a muscle like any other so they need time to recover & regenerate. Give 48hrs in between, so if you did them on a Wed, next time would be Sat.

3) Do cardio properly so you're burning calories from fat & not energy (glycogen). This means no more than 30mins, and the cardio must be done in intervals (Ex: 60sec run then 60sec walk for 25mins).

4) Track how many calories you consume daily. Consuming more calories than you burn daily will increase body fat production.

5) Limit HIGH GLYCEMIC CARBS (breads/pasta/rice/oats) to ONLY after exercise. These are carbs which digest quickly, so if they are consumed throughout the day and not burned they'll be turned into body fat. LOW GLYCEMIC CARBS (fruits/veggies) are the carbs to be eaten the rest of the day.

6) Limit your sodium intake to no more than 1200mg/day. Sodium increases water levels in the body, making you look & feel bloated. Consume foods high in potassium (i.e. bananas/spinach/apricots/beans) daily to lower sodium levels in the body naturally.

7) Limit/avoid alcohol consumption. Alcohol triggers the body fat production hormone cortisol to begin production.

8) Limit your stress. Increased stress levels also increases levels of cortisol.

9) Get your rest. Lack of adequate rest each night increases levels of cortisol.

10) Remember, just focusing on your abs won't give you a nice midsection, you need to strength train from head to toe. Especially do not neglect large muscle groups (back/lower body), because developing those will help you burn more cal/day & increase testosterone production which is the hormone that helps us burn body fat quickly.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

To be as fit & healthy as possible we must burn 300-500max calories with serious exercise daily AND then we must keep burning calories all day long with other activities. Here's TWELVE easy simple things we can do to increase how many calories we burn all day long:

•Stretching for 30mins/day burns 85cal. That can be 10mins in the morning, 10mins at lunchtime, and 10mins before bed if we can do 30 straight mins.
•General cleaning of a house (dusting, washing dishes, etc.) for 30mins burns 87cal.
•Vacuuming a house for 30mins burns 119cal.
•Pushing around a grocery cart while shopping for 30mins burns 78cal.
•Unloading a car of shopping bags/groceries for 30mins burns 102cal.
•Do 3 sets of 60sec jumping jacks, then pushups, then squats at commercial breaks while you’re watching TV.
•Dance around the living room to music with the little ones in your family. 30mins of aerobic dance burns 238cal.
•Do wall squat sits while you are writing a grocery list or something equivalent.
•Take the stairs at the mall rather than the escalator or the elevator.
•Park far away from the entrance of your destination and walk.
•Don’t sit down while you are talking on the phone. Pace around back & forth. .
•After dinner every night don’t sit down to chat, go for a walk or run with your family or friends. Running for 30mins at 6.7 mph (9 min/mile) burns 374cal. Walking at 4 mph (15 min/mile) burns 170.

Here's the RIO Fitness Chicago® INTENSE 30min CORE & CARDIO Routine of the Week!:

**This is NOT for beginners! If you need a modification to this routine, comment or your question.**

•Warmup 3 60sec sets of crawling from standing into a pushup position then back to standing.
•Do 30secs of straight arm side plank raises.
•Do 30sec squat jumps.
•Do 30sec jumping jacks in a forearm plank position.
•Do 30sec burpees.
•Do 30sec laying on your back raising both legs up & down to a 90 degree angle.
•Do 30sec squat jumps.
•Do 30sec jumping jacks in a forearm plank position.
•Do 30sec burpees.
•Do 30sec single arm single leg same side V ups crunch.
•Do 30sec Superman lower back lifts.
•Rest 2mins.
•Repeat.
•Rest 2mins.
•Repeat.
•Cooldown with upper, core, and lower body static stretching.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Do you eat/drink any of the brands in this picture? If yes, STOP IMMEDIATELY! These foods are all Monsanto Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Not only will these foods will make you obese, but GMOs are the reason why people are getting diseases like cancer more & more and at younger ages. GMOs are also why people are having reproductive issues/birth defects, digestive system issues, body toxicity issues, more food allergies, etc.

On March 26, 2013 while the nation was distracted with gay marriage debate, our President & Congress passed the Monsanto Protection Act which protects Monsanto from any criminal/civil litigation & liability if you get terminally sick from their food. The Monsanto Protection Act also limits judicial review of genetically modified seeds/crops, which allows them to be planted WITHOUT federal safeguards in place to protect our environment, farming families, and U.S. citizens. Our U.S. government was already one of the only industrialized nations that does NOT require foods to be labeled GMO. They only require foods to be labeled if they're organic.

We need to keep ourselves & our loved ones safe from their food & drinks. Boycott Monsanto products.

Google "Monsanto." Research them & get informed, ***because every day of your life you're eating Monsanto GMO food if you're not buying organic meats, dairy, fish, veggies, fruits, etc.***

Monsanto is a leading producer of genetically engineered seeds, genetically altered crops, and herbicides. They began in 1901 as a leader producer of plastics. They invented LED lights and poisons such as DDT, Agent Orange, and rBST. rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin, aka rBGH, aka BGH, recombinant bovine growth hormone) is a chemical hormone given by farmers to make dairy cows more productive. rBGH also makes these cows more sickly, causing mastitis (inflammation of the udders, often caused by infection). And it's not just cows that are getting sick; rBGH has also been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer in humans. For it to be organic milk it must have that "USDA Organic" label. If a milk doesn't have that label, that milk comes from cows given the rBGH or rBST synthetic hormones. Another two harmful creations of Monsanto are aspartame & saccharin. Both are artificial sweeteners which are what cancer cells already in the body love to feed off of to grow bigger, stronger, and spread. Both are known neurotoxins which cause insomnia, migraines, anxiety, vision loss, muscle spasms, and even death. Not to mention, since they are artificial, the body cannot properly metabolize them = gaining body fat.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

There's only 49 more days until the start of Summer 2013 with Memorial Day! What are YOU going to start doing TODAY and every day going forward to make this the Summer that you're as healthy as you can be & comfortable/confident in a swimsuit, Summer dress, sleeveless shirt, tank top, shorts, etc? Two simple things we can do RIGHT NOW are:

1) Go grocery shopping at a store like Trader Joe's that has a wide selection of organic meats, veggies, nuts, Greek yogurt, fruits, etc., that are GMO-free, pesticide-free, antibiotic-free, hormone-free. That make a healthy dinner, and meals/snacks for the rest of the week.

2) Do just 25mins of cardio, with 60sec high then low intervals. Best times do the cardio are in the morning as soon as we wake up before consuming any calories, and after strength training.

Here's the RIO Fitness Chicago INTENSE 30min CORE & CARDIO Routine of the Week!

**This is NOT for beginners! Modify to your fitness level!**

•Warmup 3 sets of 60sec of crawling clockwise like the hands of a clock from 12AM-12AM.
•Do 30secs in a pushup position holding your right arm & left leg elevated, then 30sec left arm & right leg elevated.
•Do 30sec knee highs.
•Do 30sec pushup position jumping jacks.
•Do 30sec burpees.
•Do 30secs in a pushup position holding your right arm & left leg elevated, then 30sec left arm & right leg elevated.
•Do 30sec knee highs.
•Do 30sec pushup position jumping jacks.
•Do 30sec burpees.
•Do 30secs in a pushup position holding your right arm & left leg elevated, then 30sec left arm & right leg elevated.
•Rest 2mins.
•Repeat.
•Rest 2mins.
•Repeat.
•Cooldown with upper, core, and lower body static stretching.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Testosterone is the hormone in our body that helps us gain muscle & burn body fat faster. Men have more than women, that's why it's easier for men to get into shape quicker. To naturally boost testosterone levels, we must:

•Never neglect exercising leg & back muscles. Those are the largest muscle groups, and the larger the muscle group the more testosterone & growth hormones will be secreted to use them & help them recover/grow.

•Eliminate things which decrease testosterone levels such as consuming alcohol, anything from soy, and refined sugars. All of these increase estrogen, which will then decrease testosterone, increase body fat, and increase the production of cancer cells in the body. H

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

One of best reasons to stop consuming CAFFEINE is to protect your HEART. What makes us feel tired is when the chemical adenosine reaches adenosine receptors in the brain. Caffeine takes the place of adenosine & attaches itself to the adenosine receptors. The pituitary gland see's this, thinks it's an emergency, and tells the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline. Adrenaline is the fight or flight hormone that raises our heart rate. Artificial boosting adrenaline puts such stress on our heart and leads to heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attack, etc.

Caffeine also stresses the central nervous system & draws calcium out of our bones, which for women is problematic because women are more prone to osteoporosis.

Eliminate caffeine from your life! Get natural energy by: exercising daily, eating healthy & often (a SMALL meal every 3hrs), getting enough sleep nightly, and supplement daily with a multivitamin (especially B6 & B12) & Iron.