Cooking a heart healthy meal, or cooking in general, may seem like a frightening task to some, especially to those who tend to burn everything including toast. However, a study completed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health states that the main ingredient in a healthier diet is cooking meals at home. By cooking at home you have control over your ingredients, your portion sizes, and the way that you cook your food.
A key to creating heart healthy meals is to cut down on cholesterol, fats, and salt found in many common ingredients. Create meals that keep your heart in mind by looking to these quick tips when dinnertime approaches.
Avoid Frying
Rather than deep frying or pan frying food, which causes ingredients to soak up unnecessary and unhealthy fats, look to these alternative options to keep the nutritional value of your ingredients intact:.
Stir-frying. High temperatures destroy some nutrients when cooking, so by stir-frying foods rapidly at high temperatures, food (especially vegetables) retain more of their nutrients, and since the cooking happens quickly, the foods don’t retain as much oil as they would with conventional deep frying techniques.
Broiling. Broiling is a popular choice to prepare healthy meals since it uses direct heat to cook the food it require little to no oil in order to cook. Similarly, broiling methods melt the natural fat found in meat such as chicken or fish, and since most ovens have a broiling unit, it is a quick and reliable way to prepare meals.
Steaming. Unlike the options above, steaming is a form of cooking that requires no oil which makes it much better for your heart since it avoids adding unnecessary fats. Steaming is also great for keeping the original form and taste as well as most of the original nutrition, especially in vegetables. For example, steaming broccoli retains 81% of its vitamin C as opposed to only 30% when cooked in water. And since preparation for steaming is minimal, you can create a healthy meal in very little time.
Quick Tip: Try to keep your meals simple. In many cases, simple recipes and ingredients lead to healthier, more natural meals while more complicated recipes that involve extra ingredients and specialized cooking methods could potentially be taking away from your meal’s nutrition and your time.
‘Tis the Season
Try to avoid prepackaged seasonings as they usually contain a lot of salt. Selecting fresh herbs and preparing hand-made seasonings may seem foreign to you now, but in the long-term, you’ll be saving money by doing the preparation yourself. Your heart will thank you for avoiding all the extra sodium found in store-bought packages.
Quick Tip: Use citrus juice, peppers, or vinegar to add an extra level of flavor to your dishes. But be sure to use these sparingly as to not overpower the overall flavor of the meal.
Make Substitutions
Using low or non-fat yogurt instead of Sour Cream cuts out unnecessary fats in your meal. In ½ a cup of yogurt, you’ll get double the calcium and cut out 4 grams of fat and 2 grams of saturated fat—a fat found in many store-bought foods that could be damaging to heart health over time.
Eliminating butter and replacing it with heart healthy olive oil can be incredibly beneficial to your arteries and overall heart health. Replacing one tablespoon of butter with one tablespoon of olive oil drops the fat content by 2 grams. Seven grams of unhealthy saturated fat will be replaced by 10 grams of heart healthy monounsaturated fats instead.
Make Extra
If you’re putting in the time and effort to prepare a heart healthy dish, don’t hesitate to go overboard. Making extra food gives you healthy snack options, as well as back-up meals in case you don’t feel like preparing something new after a long day. There’s nothing wrong with thinking ahead. This will help you create good habits that will keep your heart healthy and happy in the future.
Quick Tip: Making extra food is great, but just because you have extra food, doesn’t mean you need extra helpings. Set aside proper portions for snacks and meals by using small bags or plastic containers to stay organized and stay focused on eating until you are satisfied rather than eating until you are stuffed.
Team Members are still charging full steam ahead in pursuit of becoming Elite Honors qualified for the first time or maintaining the Elite Honors title. The Elite Honors program is streamlining the way organizations do business with Synergy WordWide while maximizing each Team Member’s earning potential. Team Members following the program are seeing the extra rewards that are made possible through the Go Elite promotion as they continue doing what they’ve been doing all along—building their Synergy businesses.
Congratulations to the January 2016 qualifiers!
Qualify for Elite Honors 1 out of 12 months and receive an Elite Honors pin, recognition letter, and online recognition. Qualify 3 out of 12 months and receive an Elite Honors Club Card, which can be used for a number of event perks, including VIP registration, special product promotions, and more!
8x Qualifiers
David Johnston
Dan Hammer
Steve & Roxanne Seely
7x Qualifiers
Mark Comer
6x Qualifiers
Dane Iorg
Lor Pace
K. Roger Carter
5x Qualifiers
Steve & Julie Russon
Gwen Brown
4x Qualifiers
Daniel Priem
Belva Snow
Sandra Kerner
1x Qualifiers
Pete Miller
Dwayne & Sandy Schmidek
Keith Hampton
David Hawthorne
Joy Matwyshen
Willa Holgate
Dr. Merlin Longaphee
Dr. Tom Wachtmann
Stephen Stolowski
Timothy Sanford
Sue Hossman
Robert Kenemer
Marion Sczesny
Pennie Christensen
To learn more about Elite Honors and the Go Elite Promotion, click here.
December is already off to a great start. Let’s keep the momentum going! Train your team on the importance of becoming Elite Honors qualified through the Synergy Opportunity Webinaras you achieve this highly sought after title yourself. Can’t wait to see the success that this month brings.
Congratulations to everyone who has achieved Elite Honors so far and a special congratulations to those who have achieved Elite Honors multiple times. We are impressed by your work ethic and belief, and we thank you for the examples you are to all those working toward building their Synergy businesses.
The word “omega-3” may sound like the name of a spaceship from an 80s sci-fi movie, but it’s actually the name of something far more important. Essential to human health, an omega-3 is a fatty acid many people are lacking in their diets. Thankfully, people are becoming more and more aware of this fatty-acid and the benefits it provides. As experts continue to study the power of omega-3 supplementation, Synergy Team Members are proud to offer pure, potent Omega-3 capsules to customers across the United States.
Omega-3 capsules are currently available at a discounted price in this month’s Heart Health Special ending February 29! Save 25% on three of Synergy’s heart healthy products for a limited time.
Let’s take a closer look at what makes omega-3 supplementation a wise and healthy practice:
WHY OMEGA-3? THE BENEFITS.
Omega-3 fatty acids can be powerful tools for the human body to use. Most people know Omega-3s for their ability to support a healthy cardiovascular system. This is for good reason, as studies continue to showcase omega-3 fatty acid’s ability to support heart function, enhanced circulation, and other cardiovascular strength. Additionally, Omega-3s provide powerful protection for cell membranes throughout your cardiovascular system. Omega-3 supplementation can also help a person maintain blood-pressure levels and a good ratio between HDL and LDL cholesterol.
As more science emerges behind the importance of gut health, many experts are taking note of the role omega-3 fatty acids play in your digestive system. They can strengthen the mucosal cells of the gut wall (which could use the strengthening, as it is easily and often damaged), and may even play a role in decreasing gut inflammation. As a person builds the health of their gut, they will see benefits extending to various parts of their body, including the skeleton, the brain, and of course, the heart.
Nutritionists have labeled omega-3’s as “essential” fatty acids, but we cannot get them without consuming them. In other words, omega-3s are not naturally produced by the body, so unless you are regularly eating healthy portions of certain fish, algae and oils, you may be lacking a beneficial dose of omega-3’s.
Of course, the majority of Americans adhere to the standard Western diet in which they rarely consume foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids. In fact, the typical American diet has been shown to affect the body in harmful ways exactly opposite to the benefits omega-3 fatty acids can promote.
There are countries outside of the United States where foods containing omega-3s are more regularly consumed. Those countries report fewer cases of specific health concerns, and many experts and nutritionists believe the link to be valid.
Don’t be alarmed by the term “fatty acids.” Omega-3 fatty acids don’t make you obese, and they surely are not what circulating through the crowds of Woodstock.
Fatty acids are, technically, a carboxylic acid with a long aliphatic chain. What does that mean? It means that the right fatty acids are potentially building blocks for different bodily functions. Fatty acids are digested, absorbed into the blood and, in the case of Omega-3’s, form a molecule called a triglyceride.
The Synergy Omega-3 supplement is a natural triglyceride fish lipid concentrate that provides EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). These particular acids are those being shown to produce the benefits listed above and more. Eating certain fish is the best natural way to consume EPA and DHA, but the overconsumption of fish is risky. Mercury and other toxins are becoming all-too present in many of today’s fish-heavy meals.
Because Synergy rigorously tests every batch of our Omega-3 product before it ever gets to your shelf, you can put this EPA+DHA supplement to the test with confidence. Most likely, your doctor is aware of the many benefits that come from omega-3 you supplementation. Feel free to ask him or her for more information about this fascinating triglyceride science. Additionally, omega-3s are recommended by nutritionists around the world and, of course, by the Synergy Medical and Scientific advisory board. We invite you to add Synergy’s Omega-3 to your diet and reap the rewards you may not even know you’ve been missing.
In the first month of the SLMsmart 90-day Challenge we are already seeing the beginnings of incredible transformations taking shape. Perhaps even more important than the physical transformations underway are the mental transformations that need to take place first. The first few weeks of the Challenge require a substantial yet attainable shift in the way the Challenger thinks and acts. Many of our Challengers are already getting the hang of altering their thought processes and increasing their mental toughness in order to make healthy decisions. We can learn a lot from these individuals!
SLMsmart Challenger MOCHA BUTKOVICH, COLORADO
Busy schedules are notorious for wreaking havoc on a healthy lifestyle, and Mocha is no stranger to this reality. Before joining the SLMsmart 90-day Challenge, Mocha’s demanding job often kept her from cooking healthy meals at home, and instead turning to convenient less healthy options.
Since day one of the 90-day Challenge, Mocha has been making healthy decisions before the week even begins by preparing meals ahead of time—a trick that the SLMsmart App recommends. The first meal prep session cost Mocha a few hours, but now that she has the hang of it, it’s becoming a simple routine that makes a huge difference in her food selections throughout the week. Mocha said that preparing food ahead of time has made establishing healthy habits easier, though the entire process is far from easy. Food prepping can help the forgetful eater, overeater, emotional eater, and anyone else with similar challenges, become more aware of what is and isn’t going into their bodies, she said.
Meal prep takes place over the weekend and begins by taking out different sized bags—small bags for snacks and slightly larger bags for meals. Mocha fills the bags with nutritious foods recommended by the SLMsmart App and her SLMsmart coach. These bags help her manage portion sizes and are easy to grab from the fridge before she leaves for the day.
Mocha’s mother is also participating in the Challenge and is a great support in the meal prep process. She has opened Mocha’s eyes to a number of tricks that make healthy eating something to look forward to. Simply cutting a vegetable differently or making a colorful meal can make healthy food choices more inviting. Also, learning how to cook and season vegetables to your liking can make a world of difference, Mocha said, and is something she discovered when her mother taught her a new way to prepare Brussels sprouts—one of the green things she normally avoids.
“Food prep makes a real difference in your decisions because you are an active participant in your health,” Mocha said. “If I spend the time to go grocery shopping and plan a week of meals, I’m more likely to stick to it because I’ve already taken the first step. I think a lot of us don’t actively make poor choices, but when we recognize our poor choices, it’s helpful to have a healthy alternative to turn to.”
Synergy’s Legacy Retreat is taking qualifiers to a small, seaside country with big personality—a unique destination Synergy has never been before: Monaco!
We hope you are able to join us May 16-20, 2017, in this melting pot of European culture. Drawing off of Spanish, French and Italian heritage, Monaco has a rich history with something for everyone to enjoy—sightseeing, gambling, museums, gardens, and beaches.
Qualified Team Members will be immersed in the fairytale glamour of Monaco’s Hotel Hermitage. This extravagant hotel offers an elegance and charm fit for royalty, and is the perfect place to pamper Synergy’s elite Team Members.
Commit now to qualify for this event. It will be unlike any Legacy Retreat Synergy has hosted before. The qualification period is January 1 to December 31, 2016. Click the link below to learn how to qualify.
Remember, you can track your Legacy Retreat points by logging into your Pulse account and viewing the information bar on the left-hand side of the screen.
Did you know that February is National Heart Health Month in the U.S.? And with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, everyone’s thinking about little hearts and showing love. You have until February 29 to take advantage of this great value!
Treat yourself (and your Valentine) to some TLC with 25% off of this cardio combo!
Mistica
Mistica is a rich source of antioxidants that protect the body from free-radical damage. Free radicals occur everywhere in our environment, including our food and in the air we breathe. The acai berry and the other fruits found in Mistica are natural sources of anthocyanins – a potent type of antioxidants. Anthocyanins are the pigments found in berries, red grapes, and other healthful foods. The compounds offer numerous health benefits, including the ability to support circulatory and cardiovascular health.
Vitamin D3
Synergy’s Vitamin D3 chewable tablets benefit the body’s numerous biological functions to promote a greater state of overall health. This essential vitamin is one of the most useful nutritional tools we have at our disposal.
Of the many roles Vitamin D3 fulfills in the body, one of the most important is to enable calcium absorption. The body is unable to digest calcium without adequate levels of D3. Insufficient levels of calcium can then lead to osteoporosis and eventually bone loss.
ProArgi-9+
ProArgi-9+ is Synergy’s top-selling product and the cornerstone of any nutritional regimen. One serving contains 6,000 mg (6 grams) of elemental pharmaceutical grade l-arginine. Often referred to as the “miracle molecule,” l-arginine provides powerful cardiovascular support.
In the first month of the SLMsmart 90-day Challenge we are already seeing the beginnings of incredible transformations taking shape. Perhaps even more important than the physical transformations underway are the mental transformations that need to take place first. The first few weeks of the Challenge require a substantial yet attainable shift in the way the Challenger thinks and acts. Many of our Challengers are already getting the hang of altering their thought processes and increasing their mental toughness in order to make healthy decisions. We can learn a lot from these individuals!
SLMsmart Challenger ERIC POLAND, KENTUCKY
During an average workday, Eric is given four breaks: three 20-minute breaks and one 30-minute break. Before and after work. he is busy helping his wife with their two children, both of whom have special needs. All things considered, it’s easy to feel like there is never enough time in the day to go to the gym.
While most workout routines are designed to complete all at once, Eric makes the most of his time by splitting up the day’s workout among his breaks. While this stop-and-go approach may not be the most effective in Eric’s mind, it’s much better than nothing, and has helped him build an exercise habit he didn’t have before.
Eric competed in the 2015 SLMsmart 90-day Challenge and had a few pitfalls because his schedule made consistent exercise difficult. Because Eric is serious about being a contender in this year’s Challenge, he is sacrificing some of his time away from work to go to the gym.
“Last year, I kept thinking, ‘It’s early in the Challenge, I’ve got time, I’ve got time,’ but the real problem was I didn’t begin the Challenge fully invested,” Poland said. “I kept telling myself I’d do it next week. This time around I know the excuses will always be there, but the opportunity to have this kind of support isn’t always available. I have to take full advantage of it now.”
Training the body is a tough process, but the idea that Eric is engaging in a lifestyle program, more so than a weight loss program, is what drives him to make real, lasting changes through his everyday decisions.
“If you want to be different, you need to change,” Eric said. “Some guys at work can’t believe the progress I’ve already made. It’s Synergy’s superior supplementation and this Challenge that makes the difference.”
Dr. Anthony Oketah has always been fascinated with the heart—the way it transports blood, the way it affects every other system and organ in the body, and its role in sustaining human life.
This passion turned him to cardiology and he has been practicing in this medical field for 15 years. However, there was something about his profession that was unsatisfying. He wanted to be able to do more for his patients. In addition, Dr. Oketah was born with an entrepreneurial spirit, always looking for an opportunity to create something bigger than himself, which is something that’s more difficult to exercise as a doctor.
As he began to feel less fulfilled at work, Dr. Oketah began seeking a business opportunity that would allow him to do more and be more. Irish Team Director James Booth introduced ProArgi-9+ to Dr. Oketah and quickly Dr. Oketah knew he had found the opportunity he was looking for.
“I went through every bit of the Synergy website; I studied everything,” Dr. Oketah said. “I was so impressed by the company, its culture, and its business views. The Compensation Plan is unbelievable and I have confidence in it.”
As a respected figure among Ireland’s medical experts, Dr. Oketah makes a powerful statement as a Synergy distributor because he has an intricate understanding of how the products work to support optimal health. After visiting Synergy WorldWide Headquarters, touring the manufacturing facility, and visiting the Hughes Center for Research and Innovation in 2015, Dr. Oketah said he was impressed by the team of scientists and their “perfect” responses to his challenging questions. He witnessed the financial and physical investment Synergy put into creating the absolute best products for its customers.
Knowing that Synergy’s products and business opportunity had the capacity to make major changes in people’s lives, he took the business to the people in a country he cares for deeply: Nigeria. He travels to Nigeria monthly to meet with local doctors and disperse the product. Testimonials from happy consumers are flooding in.
“Some doctors are focused on money,” Dr. Oketah said. “When people come to me and say ‘Thank you for this product, thank you for helping me start this business, and thank you for helping my family,’ it gives me joy money can’t buy. As a doctor, I can’t give people employment, but through network marketing, I can.”
When considering his Synergy goals, Dr. Oketah realized that he couldn’t conduct his business the way he wanted to without sacrificing his medical career. He plans to give all of his time to Synergy WorldWide soon, and spend the majority of that time helping people in Nigeria get back on their feet.
“This business is about your personal ambition and your personal dream,” Dr. Oketah said. “You need to know what your main goal is and then you need to work, and you need to work hard. Anyone can be anything with this company. I’m so confident in this. What do you want to be? What are you looking for? I am so happy to have found Synergy.”
Team Members are still charging full steam ahead in pursuit of becoming Elite Honors qualified for the first time or maintaining the Elite Honors title. The Elite Honors program is streamlining the way organizations do business with Synergy WordWide while maximizing each Team Member’s earning potential. Team Members following the program are seeing the extra rewards that are made possible through the Go Elite promotion as they continue doing what they’ve been doing all along—building their Synergy businesses.
The word “omega-3” may sound like the name of a spaceship from an 80s sci-fi movie, but it’s actually the name of something far more important. Essential to human health, an omega-3 is a fatty acid many people are lacking in their diets. Thankfully, people are becoming more and more aware of this fatty-acid and the benefits it provides. As experts continue to study the power of omega-3 supplementation, Synergy Team Members are proud to offer pure, potent Omega-3 capsules to customers across the United States.
In the first month of the SLMsmart 90-day Challenge we are already seeing the beginnings of incredible transformations taking shape. Perhaps even more important than the physical transformations underway are the mental transformations that need to take place first. The first few weeks of the Challenge require a substantial yet attainable shift in the way the Challenger thinks and acts. Many of our Challengers are already getting the hang of altering their thought processes and increasing their mental toughness in order to make healthy decisions. We can learn a lot from these individuals!
Did you know that February is National Heart Health Month in the U.S.? And with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, everyone’s thinking about little hearts and showing love. You have until February 29 to take advantage of this great value!
In observance of Presidents’ Day on Monday, February 15, Synergy Customer Service, the Synergy store, and Synergy Headquarters will be closed.
In observance of Presidents’ Day on Monday, February 15, Synergy Customer Service, the Synergy store, and Synergy Headquarters will be closed.
In the first month of the SLMsmart 90-day Challenge we are already seeing the beginnings of incredible transformations taking shape. Perhaps even more important than the physical transformations underway are the mental transformations that need to take place first. The first few weeks of the Challenge require a substantial yet attainable shift in the way the Challenger thinks and acts. Many of our Challengers are already getting the hang of altering their thought processes and increasing their mental toughness in order to make healthy decisions. We can learn a lot from these individuals!
