John Aaron Wellness

This is a quick and delicious wrap that is loaded with healthy monounsaturated fats, vegetables, protein, and quality carbs. You can make this in less than 5 minutes! Ingredients: 1 cooked chicken breast, chopped and seasoned to taste 1 sprouted-grain or whole-grain wrap 1-2 large handfuls baby spinach 1/4 cup chopped cucumbers 2 tbsp basil Olive Oil pesto 2 tbsp guacamole 1 plum or other small piece of fruit Directions: Evenly spread pesto onto wrap. Lay spinach on top in an even layer. Then lay down chicken breast on top of spinach. Spread guacamole on top of chicken breast and toss in diced cucumbers. Enjoy with carrots and hummus or other produce of choice. Makes 1 serving for men, or 2 for women. Eat good – and Live Life Well! John Aaron Villarreal johnaaron-massage.com facebook / twitter The content and information on this site is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent disease. Please consult your physician prior to starting any exercis...

The summer season is here and it’s time for cool citrus drinks, but don’t rely on only a summer of lemonade. Instead, step up to the tartness of grapefruit, and gather an array of additional health benefits. In the health world, few words get as much applause and attention as "antioxidants." You’ve read enough of my posts and Recipe Rx’s to know that. Well, what do you think gives a grapefruit its’ pretty pink and red color? It’s the antioxidant lycopene. Grapefruit juice contains some of the highest levels of antioxidants (along with grape, apple, and cranberry juice), and regardless of whether you eat or sip on your antioxidants, getting plenty of grapefruit in your diet gives you an advantage over a number of cancers. Still can’t handle the bitter tart taste? Try a little honey on top. It'll be sweet and sour and loaded with health-boosting perks! Another benefit of grapefruit is a type of fiber found in it; pectin. Pectin's main benefit isn't keeping you r...

This is a great recipe (especially us 40+ year olds) that not only helps maintain focus and energy, but is loaded with antioxidants. As you may already know, antioxidants help neutralize free radicals which are unstable molecules linked to the development of a number of diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease and other age-related conditions such as Alzheimer's. According to the USDA database of the antioxidant activity of selected foods (ORAC values), blueberries rank among the highest on a per serving basis. It is believed that substances in blueberries called polyphenols, specifically anthocyanins that give blueberries their blue hue, are the major contributors to the antioxidant activity of blueberries. Add to that matcha green tea which purportedly has 70 times the antioxidants of orange juice, and perhaps even more than blueberries, and its unique EGCG catechin element (the subject of much current research) is one of the most powerful immune-boosting and anti-cance...

Maybe you’ve been working really hard at losing those last 10 pounds. You’ve done everything you can think of from cutting back on the amount of calories you eat, to working out twice a day. You’ve even sworn off desserts! So why do those extra pounds hold such a stubborn grip on you? Well, if you’ve read a couple of my most recent posts, you could be sabotaging your efforts by neglecting your sleep. As I’ve been saying, your ability to maintain a healthy weight can directly correlate your ability to obtain adequate quality. The interesting thing is that the two benefits are symbiotic in that losing weight is a good way to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep. Why? There are a number of reasons. For starters, a significant number of overweight people tend to suffer from sleep apnea. This is a condition which commonly causes snoring. However, the snoring is severe enough to obstruct a persons’ breathing for prolonged periods, as he or she sleeps. However, there are recorded...

So, since we’ve already gone over some of the benefits of actively getting enough sleep, I’m sure you are eager to secure better sleep help with your weight loss efforts. Yet, you may be wondering how do I get better sleep? The first step is to prepare for bed time. Choose a bed time and stick with it. You need to be sure you have enough time to sleep. Many studies suggest that while you may be able to function on four or five hours of sleep each night, most people require more. On average, you should be getting about eight hours of sleep each night, give or take an hour. I know for some of you this may mean you will be giving up your late night dancing, movies or television. It may even mean you delay your morning workout, but getting your body's hormones regulated will pay off. Sometimes I find clients that spend plenty of time in bed at night wake up feeling un-rested in the morning. If you have the same issues, you may be living with a sleep disorder and may need a professio...

Whenever I ask a client about what food group they should avoid eating, most usually answer "fats." Although I tend to agree that consuming large amounts of fat should be avoided, there are some types of fat that we simply can't live without. Among them are the omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids not only play a vital role in the health of the membrane of every cell in our body, it also helps protect us from a number of key health threats such as heart disease and stroke. Some research has even shown that omega-3s can help to reduce symptoms of hypertension, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), joint pain and other rheumatoid problems, as well as certain skin ailments. More recently, research indicates that consumption of omega-3 fatty acids can boost the immune system and help protect us from the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Today’s Recipe Prescription is for Wasabi Salmon Burgers. Delicious and easy to make, this recipe brings out t...

That's right: it’s all hormones! If you’ve read any of my articles regarding sleep and weight loss, then you know the medical fact that spending an ample amount of time getting shuteye is essential to helping your body get rid of those unwanted pounds. But have you ever wondering how it works? Read on as I try to make sense of this amazing process. Our bodies are filled with all kinds of hormones that are responsible for doing any number of things. Two hormones; leptin and ghrelin, are predominantly responsible for influences on your appetite. In other words, these two hormones make you feel either hungry or satiated. Ghrelin is responsible for making you to feel hungry and leptin alerts your brain to the sensation that you are “full” and have had enough to eat. Here’s where the problem with sleep deprivation begins. A lack of sleep can result in your leptin levels to plummet and your ghrelin levels to rise. The result being that you feel hungry more often than you ought to and, ...

So we've reviewed a bit of what metabolism is and the benefits of improving it, but are you really serious about getting the most out of your metabolism? The saying really is true. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day! If you think you can have a high metabolism by skipping it and fasting until your afternoon meal, you are dead wrong. Not eating break-fast, puts you at a higher risk for slowed metabolism. I know, you say I don't have time, or that you're just not a breakfast kind of person, but without this meal - you are limiting the amount of progress you can make toward a better body and greater health. In fact, here are a few ways skipping breakfast will do the body bad. 1. It makes you hungrier at lunch and other times than you should be. When this happens, you don't make good choices - and you know it! 2. It gives you nothing to start with. When your stomach is empty, your body is doing everything possible to hang onto the calories at i...

While there are a handful of factors that limit your ability to increase or decrease your metabolism, you can take your low metabolism by the horns and give it a boost with the right steps. Since you know that muscle burns more calories than fat, you probably already guessed the first step to speeding up your slow metabolism . Get more muscles. A little flab here and there won't make a huge difference, but muscle burns energy faster than flab. So if you want the highest possible metabolism, you'll need to increase your muscle mass. Do this by exercising on a regular basis (three days a week at the least), and be sure to mix in plenty of weight lifting with your running, bicycling, and swimming. If you're over 40 years of age, you may need some extra time in the gym, as you also have to fight your metabolism's desire to slow down regardless of your routine. Get five meals. Eating three times a day may be how you did things growing up, but unless you want to gr...

Inside your body, a complex process is going on that involves hormones, enzymes, and food. Known as metabolism, this process is responsible for your body's ability to take food and turn it into energy. Additionally, your metabolism determines if you take that energy and burn it off with ease or if it sits around on your body and goes nowhere (except for maybe your thighs, hips and belly) fast. Though you probably wish your metabolism was sky high (everyone wants that sleek body - right?), there are a number of factors you can't change that determine the level of your metabolism. These include age, sex, and your genes. That's right - being over 40 decreases your metabolism, as does being a woman or having a family history of slow metabolism. Ever wondered why the first few pounds of weight loss come so easily for some people? It's because your body has to work a little harder when you're overweight. So when you make a small lifestyle change, your higher metabolis...