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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Homemade Bodybuilding Shakes - Using Whey Protein Supplement Powders Creatively

If you are serious about building muscle mass or sculpting your body you most likely supplement your diet with commercially available whey or soy protein powders (and possibly other supplements). No doubt within a short period of time you discovered the protein shakes whey powders produce may not be the best tasting drinks you've ever had. Despite this you try to stick with them because your goal is a better body and a supplement shake that doesn't taste so great is simply a sacrifice you make.

people find that the flavor of the protein shake powder they paid a good money for quickly gets boring. If you are taking your protein shakes two or even three times a day it can become a real chore. This is when people start to experiment a little by adding other ingredients to make their protein shakes taste a little better.

You can soon turn your boring, often tasteless, protein shakes into mouth-watering bodybuilding or dieting delights. All you need to have to get started is a blender and a little imagination.

Choosing What to Put in Your Protein Shakes

Before rushing off to your refrigerator to blend everything in site, let's go through some basic principles you will want to consider first. Not only do you want to create the best tasting shakes but you should also aim to make the most effective protein shakes for your dieting requirements. This is important because there is no point throwing full fat ice cream, chocolate sauce, peanut butter and full fat milk all together to create a wonderful tasting fat gaining shake. You need to be a little wise when choosing your ingredients.

So what kinds of ingredients make good choices for your shakes? I recommend using the following tips when getting your ingredients from the supermarket or refrigerator:

Try to keep as many of your ingredients as natural as possible. A good example of this is using natural peanut butter instead of regular peanut butter. The natural version has better protein content and also natural fats that are important in your diet.
Fresh fruit should be used whenever possible. Fruit contains the carbohydrates that will fuel your workouts and your day. The complex sugars in fruit are important to any diet (unlike the simple sugars in sweets, sodas, etc).
Think about ingredients that will boost your shake's protein content. For example, you could throw a handful of nuts into the blender for a little extra protein without making the shake much thicker. You could add a few raw egg whites (if you are worried about eating raw eggs you may be able to find treated egg whites in cartons at your supermarket). You could always simply dump an extra scoop of whey powder in there as well.
Make sure you have enough liquids. If you get a little too carried away you may discover your shake is easier to eat with a spoon then drink from a glass. When you first start creating your shakes it is a good idea to add your liquids (water, fat-free milk, fruit juices, etc.) in stages so that you get your desired consistency.
Examine the nutritional information for each ingredient and consider the impact it will have on your dieting goals. For example, you may be opting for fat free (skimmed) milk if you aren't trying to gain weight.
Always know what your goal is and make your shakes accordingly. If you are trying to shed the fat you will be skipping the types of ingredients that add too many carbohydrates and fats while trying to increase the protein content.
Think of how you might create a unique flavor. You can try things like cinnamon, vanilla, honey, coconut milk, etc. Once you get the hang of this you will see the possibilities are endless.

Making Your Protein Shake

Once you have decided on the ingredients for your shake you are ready to start. It couldn't be simpler and if you can make toast you won't have a problem. It's a good idea to think about the order in which you will add your ingredients into the blender. Always add your main liquid source first so that everything else you add afterwards is easily blended. Following this, add your protein powder and give your blender a quick 'burst'. Now you are ready to add the rest of your ingredients and blend until you get the right consistency. At this point you may want to add a little more liquids to tweak your shake's thickness. Throw in five or six ice cubes to make your shake more refreshing.

Now you can let your imagination invent all sorts of bodybuilding and dieting concoctions that make your supplement shakes a great deal tastier. Don't forget to share your creations with friends at the gym and people across the world through the internet. You will also discover many ideas other people come up with to inspire you further. Visit websites and online forums for recipes and you can get some ideas from my site's Whey Protein Supplement Shake Recipes section. Happy blending!

Adam Zahler is an internet marketing professional and entrepreneur with a strong interest in fitness and nutrition. He is also the owner and creator of the free Bodybuilding and Protein Supplements Recipes site where visitors can find protein recipe ideas and also share their own recipes.

Yoga Shala New York

How to Make Free Internet Phone Calls From Your Computer

If you have a computer, a headset, and an internet connection, you can make free PC to PC phone calls to anyone in the world! The only catch is that the person you are calling must also have an active account with the same voip service provider, and must be online to get the call. With any voip service, "in-network" calling (all callers subscribing to the same carrier) is always free, but most providers require that you pay a small monthly fee which allows you to make "out-of-network" calls as well. Since this article is about making totally FREE internet phone calls, only the voip providers that offer 100% free calling will be mentioned.

There are several internet phone service providers that offer PC based phone calling, but only a few do not require a monthly service fee when you register. Because the PC to PC calling service is free, you may have to put up with ads on your dial pad or be limited to a certain call length, but for a free long distance call this is probably acceptable to most people. If you want to make calls to a landline phone, you can do so by paying a low cost per minute (much less than traditional long distance).

So here's how to make free PC to PC phone calls:
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Choose a provider, then download and install their free software (the software is a "dial pad" that you use to make calls).

Make sure the people you want to call install the software and register with the same voip provider.

Enter your friends usernames into your contact list, and ask that they do the same (this allows you to see that they are online and able to accept calls).

Plug your headset (with microphone) into the appropriate in/out audio jacks on your computer (or USB port if applicable).

Click on your contact and make a call - that's all there is to it!

Since PC to PC calling uses a technology similar to instant messaging, most voip provider's software allows you to text message the person you are talking to. Conference calling is also possible - just click on another active user and they can join in the call!

As of this writing, here are some voip providers I found that offer free PC to PC internet phone calls with no monthly fees. Because services can change from time to time, make sure you agree with the terms and conditions before creating an account. Skype is the largest and most well known provider with over 190 million downloads to date.

* www.skype.com

* www.google.com/talk

* www.earthlink.net/software/nmfree/onlinecalling

* www.voipbuster.com

* www.inphonex.com

* www.pc-telephone.com/free-phone.htm

As with any software, your computer must meet certain requirements in order for the installation to succeed. As a general rule, your computer should have at minimum a 400 MHz processor, 10 MB of free disk space and 128 MB of RAM. You also need a sound card, and either a headset with microphone or speakers and a microphone. Of course, you need an internet connection as well. Software is available for PC, mac and Linux platforms. Skype has software for Pocket PC as well.

PC based voip will work fine over a dial up connection of at least 33.6 Kbps, but be sure to close all email applications and don't do any web surfing while talking because these processes will degrade performance. For the absolute best internet phone calling experience, broadband is the way to go.

Free software-based PC to PC internet phone service is a great way to "test the waters" if you are interested in trying voip before jumping into a paid service. It's also perfect if you're on a tight budget and want to make some free long distance calls. Anyone in the world can use voip as long as they have an internet connection; just make sure all your friends and relatives use the same carrier if you want to keep the calls free.

This type of voip service is not compatible with 911, so it should not be used as your one and only phone. If you want save a lot of money on your phone bill and use voip as your primary phone, consider subscribing to a hardware-based voip carrier like Packet8, vonage, Lingo or voip.net.

This article may be used without special permission as long as it remains intact, including live links.

For more information on voip, visit my blog: Internet Phone Service - The Future is Here!.

Cl Free Yoga

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