Meet Jamal and Jacory Greene of BeHealthConscious “Active Sports” in Decatur

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamal and Jacory Greene.

Jamal and Jacory, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As a Senior Health education major at Tennessee State University, I was given the assignment in my capstone course to create a nonprofit organization that helps people with a cause I was directly affected by. After losing my mother from complications of diabetes my junior year of college, I knew the direction that I wanted to go. I created a nonprofit by the name of BeHealthConsious organization and starting collaborating with health education experts all around Nashville to create health events to start educating people about nutrition, and educate athletes about eating correctly. After graduating I moved back to Atlanta and my brother Jacory Greene approached me with the idea of wanting to personal train and change my nonprofit to a corporation. His idea was pure brilliance as I was a current assistant football coach and Certified Health education & physical education teacher in the public school system of Georgia. With my sports background and his personal training background we merged the two where we like to call it “Personal Training meets sports training”. BeHealthConscious “Active Sports” was formed and he started personal training and I started doing sports performance training. We worked out of All-American Skating rink training on Sundays and Mondays for a year and decided to take a leap of faith and open our own gym in 2017. Let’s just say history is being made!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road. Starting out we would train in parks outside in the rain, heat, and cold. Many times we would cancel sessions because the elements were to extreme causing us to lose clients or even have clients that did not want to work out outside. So staying humble and trusting the process was a goal for us.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about BeHealthConscious “Active Sports” – what should we know?
BeHealthConscious “Active Sports” is a really diverse gym that offers personal training, Sports Performance Training, Group Fitness Classes, youth sports training, Indoor and outdoor Batting, chiropractic care and more. What sets us apart from most gyms is not only our wide variety of services but our genuine family friendly atmosphere. We take pride in getting to know our clients, their family and friends. We go the extra mile to make sure everyone that walks through our door member or not leaves knowing BeHealthConscious cares.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I am all smiles when I’m on the sidelines with a clipboard at hand. I love what I do, and I’ve been told many times that the love I have for the game can be seen as soon as I step on the field. Coaching is one of my favorite jobs, hobbies and passions. It is one of the few topics I can talk about without ever growing uninterested (sorry to those of you who have drifted off during one of these rants). I often seem to “bounce off the walls” with excitement as I talk about my love of coaching. Anytime a person asks me about my favorite thing to do, coaching is always the first thing that comes to my mind. To me, it’s not just a job or an experience, but a way of life. Coaching is my life. Coaching has had nothing but a positive impact on my life. It’s more than just a paycheck or “glorified babysitting.” It’s also more than just being the teacher or leader to the players. Coaching is about being that one person who has the ability to make a positive difference in a person’s life. I feel strongly that coaches do not, and should not, coach for themselves, but rather, for others; they should strive to show their players how to love the game. Like teaching, you have to get to know your players for who they are as people – their likes and dislikes, their goals and passions and their love for the game. Taking the time to get to know the players shows that I care about them and am only here to make them better, both on and off the field. The best part of coaching is not actually the act of coaching, but witnessing my team’s growth, both in their play and in personality. All of the teams I have coached and watched play their freshmen year through their senior year have grown into remarkable individuals. I have been fortunate enough to be able to see my first group of freshmen play at the varsity level and see how their level of play has increased. Coaching is so much more than blowing a whistle (there’s no need for one) or telling your players to get on the line because it’s time to run. Coaching is understanding the people you work with and encouraging them to be the best they can be, both on and off the court. As the founder and co-owner of BeHealthConscious, I will deliver that same passion and offer the best service to all.

Pricing:

• Open Gym membership Just $20/Month
• Group Fitness Classes Just $10
• Personal Training Services Starts at $120/month
• Kids Sunday Fitness Xplosion Just $5

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BeHealthConscious.org
• Phone: 18667450806
• Email: info@behealthconscious.org
• Instagram: @BeHealthConscious
• Facebook: Facebook.com/behealthconscious

How to Eat Healthy When on a Budget By Victoria

Organic food is more expensive than a bucket of KFC. This is part of the reason why so many people are unhealthy. Becoming a paragon of health seems so difficult whereas sitting down and ordering in seems easy. It’s even harder if you’re on a budget as you simply can’t afford a lot of healthy food. This is no excuse to continue paying homage to McDonald’s though!

You can eat healthy on a budget. Here are some of the ways you can eat healthy without spending a lot of money.

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Whole Foods
Whole foods are foods which haven’t been processed. They’ve been harvested and thrown in a box, essentially. These are cheaper as they don’t go through the usual processes to add more flavorings and preservatives. As someone who is aiming to eat healthier, it’s better for you because you have full control over the ingredients. You don’t have to worry about anything which has been added to the recipe.

Whole foods apply to any type of food, such as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

Choose Cheap Proteins
Getting your daily intake of protein is the biggest expense as proteins are commonly associated with meats. Steaks are expensive and will leave a hole in your wallet. For day-to-day use, get your protein through cheaper alternatives like eggs and whey. It might not be as tasty but it’s much cheaper.

You should consider buying a variety of cheap proteins to take care of your daily intake. You need at least 1g of protein for every pound of body weight to maintain muscle. If you’re trying to gain muscle you’ll need slightly more.

Buy Frozen
A lot of healthy eaters never consider frozen foods. We’re often told these are bad because they’re less nutritious. Part of the reason for this belief is because we often criticize frozen food like fish sticks. It isn’t the freezing process causing the problems. It’s the fact the food was never healthy in the first place.

Frozen foods have a number of advantages to them. Firstly, they’re always prepared before being frozen. You don’t have to waste time cutting them and removing anything before they’re ready for cooking. They also have a longer shelf life so you can buy them in bulk. Frozen food is roughly half the price of fresh food. Buy frozen food in bulk from independent stores to take advantage of bulk discounts.

What a lot of people don’t know is frozen food locks nutrients in. The nutrient richness of fresh food declines over time, from the moment it’s harvested. Frozen items lock the nutrients in, so you can actually get more nutrients from frozen foods.

Buy Own Brand
Store brand items are not lower in quality. The only real difference between store brand and big brand is a lack of advertising. Once you get used to the taste of store brand you’ll wonder why you were paying so much for well-known brands before. The nutrient content is often exactly the same as their star-speckled counterparts.

Switch to Supplements
Supplements like fish oil can help you fulfill your need for vitamin B12 and other obscure minerals, but you shouldn’t rely on them. Yes, they’re cheap, but they don’t have any calories. You should only use these if you’re meeting your need for calories yet failing to meet your need for specific minerals.

Use the Seasons
Fruit and veg have different seasons. If you buy some strawberries in the winter it will cost a lot more than in the summer. Grocery stores need to import the strawberries from other countries when they can’t be grown in the US. This adds on to the overall price you pay. If you eat the same thing all year, you could be unwittingly throwing money away.

Work out the seasons for each of your favorite foods. Only buy these foods once they’re in season. It won’t seem like much. A few cents here and a few cents there. Over the course of a year, it would equal a few hundred dollars.

Calorie Dense
Buy calorie dense foods like potatoes and pasta. They aren’t necessarily going to fulfill your needs for vitamins and minerals, but they’ll fill your belly quickly. This method is ideal for smaller people who want to gain weight and bulk up. They’re full of carbohydrates the body can break down.

The problem with eating healthily is we all have the stereotypical image of eating lots of greens. Most green vegetables don’t have a lot of calories in them. They’re packed full of nutrients, but they won’t fill your belly. It’s why you would need to spend a lot of money to sustain a diet eating fruit and veg exclusively.

The Most Ridiculous, Absurd and Over-Hyped Diets of 2010

• by DietsInReview, on Wed Dec 8, 2010 7:51am PST

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By Brandi Koskie - DietsInReview.com

At DietsInReview.com we have more than 1500 diet reviews published by our team, and we publish new ones every day, of every week. That's not said to be a plug, but to show you just how many ways there are to lose weight. At the end of the day, it still comes down to calories - those that come in and those that go out. 

However, calories in and calories out takes time, and we Americans aren't very good at that whole patience thing. We want it now, whether it be an over-night shipment of a blanket with sleeves or the 100 extra pounds we've packed on over the years. No one wakes up one morning weighing 20, 50, 100 or even more pounds than they did when they went to bed. So using that same logic, no one is going to wake up the next day with that much weight missing.

There are a few diet programs that grew in popularity this year, and each of them, in their own way, wants you to believe that the weight is just going to melt off your body lickety-split. Sure, anyone who tries these weight loss techniques is going to see a smaller number on the scale. They're also going to see that weight come back, they will not have learned any new healthy habits to help them keep off that weight, and they may even do more harm to their health than the minimal weight loss derived.

Without further ado, the most ridiculous, absurd and over-hyped diets of the year.

The hCG Diet

Basically: Daily injections of the female pregnancy hormone, with a prescription via a doctor, or more sketchy ordered off the internet, all while eating a 500-calorie diet.

You could do daily injections of imagination, a 500-calorie diet in and of itself is going to cause you to lose weight. And not the healthy way. Sure, a low-calorie diet is the most recommended way to lose weight, but you have to cut those calories in a healthy and sustainable way, while giving your body the calories it needs. Calories are energy and fuel, and our bodies need those to simply operate, and yes, to lose weight. "[500 calories] is not enough calories to support normal brain function," says registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield in "HCG Diet: Look Elsewhere for Weight Loss."

Expert's Take: "We need energy, and calories provide our bodies with energy to survive and thrive. If you don't give your body enough calories, especially from carbohydrate-rich foods (that supply the brain with much needed glucose), it will retaliate by breaking down lean muscle mass to produce glucose to fuel the brain, red blood cells and entire central nervous system," says Elisa Zied, MS, RD, author of Nutrition At Your Fingertips and founder and president of Zied Health Communications, LLC. She continues that "If you don't fuel up by taking in an ideal number of calories each day--for most that's around 2,000 calories a day (though that number can vary based on age, gender, and activity level)--it'll slow down to utilize the few calories you're giving yourself; this slows metabolism, and your body will not be able to function properly at all--you'll have little energy and that'll be the least of your problems! This diet is the ultimate crash diet--just like you wouldn't crash your car on purpose, why would you crash diet with this type of thing/diet?"

Adds Mary Hartley, RD, MPH, and director of nutrition at Calorie Count, "Reputable studies refute the effectiveness of the hCG Diet and respected medical organizations warn against it. Still, it is freely promoted all across the Internet, and so buyer beware!"

The Baby Food Diet

Basically: Replace your adult-sized meals with little jars of baby puree.

Another terribly low-calorie, low-nutrition approach to weight loss that's sadly catching on. Baby food is for babies. Why? Because it has exactly what those little 20-pound bodies need. It does not have what full-grown 150-pound-plus bodies need. Most of those jars have less than 100 calories, a far cry from the 300-500 calories per meal for an adult. If you like vegetables, brown rice and chicken, just eat portions that are appropriate for your age group and provide the calories, fiber and protein that your body needs, not to mention the flavors, textures and aromas that your brain is craving.

Expert's Take: "It’s so much better to eat whole fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats – they’re more filling and satisfying. After a few days of eating only baby food, I’m certain you’ll be craving real food again," says Joy Bauer, TODAY Show nutritionist and bestselling author. "Not to mention, this is super pricey if you’re buying large quantities of baby food jars."

The Tapeworm Diet

Basically: You swallow a parasitic tapeworm, which you can find in under-cooked meat or infected animal feces, and wait for it to begin breaking down your digestive system, so that you don't want to eat, and when your health starts to deteriorate you hopefully seek medical intervention before it kills you.

This one literally makes us smack our foreheads in disbelief that anyone would even try this stunt. We're fearful to even daydream about what this could do to our bodies, or yours. It's horrifying that anyone out there would even promote it.

Expert's Take: "This is just plain crazy! Tapeworms are dangerous parasites that can cause serious health problems…they’re definitely not a way to shed pounds. AND it’s illegal to buy and sell tapeworms in the US!," says Bauer.

The Twinkie Diet

Basically: Live off of grocery store snack cakes, supplement with a few canned veggies, and disregard everything you know about nutrition to burn 27 pounds.

When we heard about this Kansas State University nutrition professor's stunt diet, we just crossed our fingers that the masses wouldn't flock to this sugar-coated gimmick. This professor wanted to prove that the number of calories you consume matter more than the actual nutritional composition of the food. He ate 1,800 calories a day, which will certainly help anyone lose weight. However, he's not going to keep off that weight when he resumes a normal diet, and he wasn't giving his body near the fiber, vitamins and other nutrients it needs to operate.

Expert's Take: "Twinkies are loaded with sugar, bad fat, and junky white flour—they wreak havoc on your blood sugars and increase inflammation throughout your body," says Bauer. "You might lose weight (take in less calories than you burn, and you lose weight no matter what you eat—Twinkies or broccoli), but you’ll be doing a big disservice to your body and your health. Plus, it’s just not a sustainable diet!"

Did you try one of these? We welcome your commentary on why it did or didn't work for you.

Did you lose weight the old fashioned way this year? We'd love to hear why it worked for you.

Take a look at the most popular diets of 2009, or try our diet finder to be matched with a plan that works for you.

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Related: weight loss, twinkie, lose weight, hcg, fad diet, diets, crash diet, baby food, 2010

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