Why I am Super Excited to Get Extreme

So today I had a little bit of the can't-sleep-super-excited-ness going on. Because finally (FINALLY!!!) the 21 Day Fix Extreme is available. Whoo hoo! I can not wait to get my hands on this. (Even if I can't actually do it for another month or three. Welcome to the middle of the third trimester, when just getting out of bed and putting on your shoes can be really hard.)

But the reality is that the next five weeks are going to FLY by and this baby is coming whether I am ready or not and the typical six week waiting period for exercise post baby is going to be a total blur. With B I remember writing down the details of every feeding, nap, diaper change, medication (for me not her) and anything else that required me to remember something that happened at a certain time with a certain amount. That little system was a lifesaver because I'm not sure I remembered my name during those weeks (let alone the last time I took a pain pill or changed the baby.)

SO...ordering a new program and coming up with meal plans aren't going to happen post baby (at least for a while). That can be HARD. Especially when you are trying to meal plan with a whole new set of rules. It took me a good 3-4 weeks to get my 21 Day Fix meal planning to run smoothly. And quite frankly, I am not going to have the energy or the patience to go through that again.

My make it happen plan? Having those things ready to go so when May gets here, I can hit the ground running. I am planning on getting my meal plans and grocery lists ready to go. I may have to start with the 21 Day Fix workouts but I will be following the Extreme meal plan from the get go. Having a baby in the spring does have the unfortunate downside of summer being right around the corner so I want to be as ready as I can be.

What exactly is the Fix Extreme? 

It's amazing to think that a year ago Beachbody launched one of the most successful at home workout programs of all time,  The 21 Day Fix.  30 minute workouts (with modifications) were paired with an absolute fool proof container and portion system and the RESULTS did not lie. 

With the 21 Day Fix Extreme, Autumn is back with a brand new set of moves and is taking the meal plan to the next level! 

The goal with the 21 Day Fix Extreme is to create killer results, more muscle tone, definition, tightened up nutrition plan and advanced moves. This worked is truly meant to get you shredded. Autumn actually shares her competition meal plan with you to help you finally lose those pesky pounds that many of us hold. (I for one am super excited to try the countdown to competition plan!) 

At the beginning of January, I was able to attend a Beachbody event here in Pittsburgh, meet Autumn and get to hear her talk about the Fix Extreme live (which was really cool.) We even got to do a live Fix Extreme workout with Autumn and let me tell you....it was no joke and isn't something I would recommend for beginners (especially when the Fix is so great!) But if you're like me and need to start out with a major challenge (because I am the girl who went from the couch to doing Insanity as her first workout in many years) and go ALL IN to really commit to a change, the Fix Extreme might be the ticket.

I was also super geeked to find out that EVERY workout uses weights or resistance. (I LOVE LOVE LOVE weights.) 

The Fix Extreme is still 21 days. 7 days a week. (I like to double up a day and still take a day off. I just tack yoga on a morning I have the extra time, like Saturdays.) The seven workouts include: Plyo Fix Extreme, Upper Fix Extreme, Lower Fix Extreme, Pilates Fix Extreme, Cardio Fix Extreme, Dirty 30 Fix Extreme and Yoga Fix Extreme. Plus when you order through a coach you get a bonus workout. 

And you still get the awesome portion control containers that make meal planning a little tricky at first but once you get the hang of it I swear it will change the way you look at food. I used to look at food and evaluate it in my head as healthy or not BUT the big piece I was missing was making sure I was balancing my food groups. Sure fruit and complex carbs are good for you but if that is all you are eating....you probably aren't getting the results you want. At least that was my problem. I did great choosing clean and healthy foods but not balancing them....the green and red containers (veggies and protein) were a lot harder to fill for me than my purples and yellows (fruits and complex carbs). Planning so I had all of these in balance made a HUGE difference in my nutrition and results. 

To take the meal plan up a notch, there are no "treats" allowed on the Fix Extreme. No allowances for wine or chocolate this time (unless you are drinking chocolate Shakeology!) BUT if you want the best results possible this is going to get you there. You can do anything for 21 days. I know I am planning on going Extreme with the meal plan for the first 21 days and then adding back in a glass of wine or two for the second round. Life is all about balance after all. 

Ready to get Extreme? 

The Fix Extreme is available now! You can check it out here 

And if you want to be a part of my Fixin' in February group fill out the application below. You get to do YOUR choice. Dust off your copy of the 21 Day Fix and rock that or choose to go Extreme. Either way you will get my 1:1 support, meal plans, recipes, shopping tips and a crash course on clean eating to make the most of the 21 Days. 

And as always if you need any help reaching your health and fitness goals I would love to be a part of your journey! Contact me on Facebook or click here to make me your FREE coach. 

Fill out my online form.

HTML Forms powered by Wufoo.

Zoodles (and why this zucchini noodle maker is for so much more than zucchini)

I have been obsessed with the idea of zucchini noodles for a long time. I just loved the idea of them. In salads, mixed with pasta to bulk up my veggie intake (and cut down on my pasta intake!) alone, mixed with other things, as a side dish. The idea of being able to twirl my zucchini instead of stab it made me very excited. Maybe because it is different or that because we are so conditioned to look at pasta as something indulgent....so twirling zucchini taps into that happy place for me?

Sometimes it's better to just go with it.

So I did.

I sucked it up and bought myself a vegetable spiralizer. I was so excited when that box showed up on my front porch that I squealed. Mama had a new toy to play with! Since it was one of those things I really, really, really, really wanted, I looked into a bunch of different kinds before I bought it and narrowed it down to two:

the kind that spiralizes the way you would sharpen a pencil (like the Kitchen Basics® Spiral Vegetable Slicer)

or

the kind that you turn a crank and out pop the noodle shaped veggies (like the Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer)

Since I am of the overdramatic, overcommitted, go big or go home mentality, I went with the Paderno. Plus I figured I would get really annoyed sharpening multiple zucchini at a time. I am not a patient person. (I pretty much trick my husband into cutting and dicing veggies whenever I can.) I figured that one would just end up in the back of a drawer after I my arm hurt from doing it the first time and I would never use it again. But if you are more patient than I, it may be a nice option. It would take up less space in an already crowded kitchen for sure.

I was a little disappointed in the plasticness of it. It wasn't very sturdy feeling. I wanted something that felt solid like if I was going to crank out veggie noodles for the next three hours it would stand up to the challenge. 

But overall, not bad. Once I got the push and crank at the same time thing down it went really smoothly. A little messy (ok a lot messy but that was probably 90%my fault as I am the messiest cook ever.) AND I found out this little baby is not just for zucchini. 

I spent the week spiralizing anything I could get my hands on. Apples (for a awesome zucchini apple salad I took to a cookout), sweet potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, yellow summer squash....and I have lots on my list to try. Like beets, carrots, cabbage, pears, cucumbers....basically if I can get it to stick onto the little grippers, I am going to try and spiralize it. (Which is another reason I am glad I chose the crank and turn version, I am not too sure how well a big old sweet potato would fit in the little one.)

I have also been making a big batch of a basic zoodle salad and keeping that in the fridge. I then dress it up with different things for lunches or dinners. Ground turkey, salsa and all my favorite taco toppings for a spin on a taco salad,  lamb meatballs and tzatziki sauce for a little greek flavor, chopped tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella for a summery caprese salad. 

The Paderno also came with a few extra blade sizes so you can do little c shaped cuts, thicker linguini style noodles or the ones that are more like spaghetti. Which I probably will never use. I was hoping one would cut potatoes like the ribbon fries you can buy at a fair in the summer. I mean how much would baked ribbon fries rock with some clean burgers for dinner? I was sadly mistaken and just ended up with linguini sized cuts instead.

But overall I am still super stoked about my newest kitchen tool. I mean they even twirl like spaghetti. And my kiddo thinks it is way more fun to eat worm veggies instead of cut up veggies. She devoured her zucchini and made birdie noises while she did it. A new toy for me and a win! I will chalk that up to an awesome day.

Nutritionism - What Is It and Why Does It Matter (In Defense of Food review Part I)

On the cover of In Defense of Food there is a picture of a head of pretty lettuce (red leaf lettuce not
iceberg) and on the band that most grocery stores have around their heads of lettuce it reads not the plu number but "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants." Right away this book has my attention. (And maybe my heart.)

Before selecting this book, I was already very familiar with the author, Michael Pollan. I had recently read The Omnivore's Dilemma and really enjoyed his writing and the way in which he approached his research on food -- with four meals he sought out to represent conventional farming, organic farming, small sustainable family farming and foraging. It was written very well and left me waking my husband at one in the morning to just share one more thing I learned about corn (both fascinating and disgusting all at the same time...)

This book takes a different approach. And I am so into it that I am going to review each of it's three parts. (If that works out while I am reading. Flexibility and going with the flow -- they are on my personal goals list for this year.) So far so good. The first section is so full of information and fits in with what I have been thinking about for the last few months -- eating real food and not edible food like substances. And how focusing on "nutritionism" is what has lead us down this path in the first place.

So what is nutritionism?

According to Pollan, nutritionism is the focus on nutrients, not food. This term and idea first appeared in an essay called "Sorry Marge" written by Australian sociologist of science, Gyorgy Scrinis. The paper focusing on margarine and how it should be the "ultimate nutrionist product, able to shift its identity...depending on the prevailing winds of dietary opinion" (27). Or why in theory a bowl of fortified Lucky Charms, packed with all the vitamins we "need" should be healthier than an apple that only has some of the vitamins.  The ideology behind nutritionism is:

• "[W]hat matters most is not the food but the "nutrient"

• "[B]ecause nutrients are invisible and incomprehensible to everyone but scientists, we need expert help in deciding what to eat"

• "[T]he purpose of eating is to promote a narrow concept of physical health" (8).

This totally sounds like what we believe health to be (and what is promoted constantly!) Make sure you get x grams of protein a day and not go over x grams of cholesterol. Oh wait there is a difference between bad cholesterol not good cholesterol so make sure you eat enough good cholesterol to keep the bad down. And we should only consume x amount of calories and fat grams because fat is bad. Just kidding healthy fat isn't bad and it is actually essential to our diets and metabolism.

No wonder we are so confused about what to eat! It changes constantly. Pollan continues on to point out that this is why nutritionism is extremely flawed. He talks about how nutrients were discovered and which nutrients were deemed good and bad by scientists which then leads to vitamins and why they were deemed so important to our diets -- and how "it wasn't until late in the twentieth century that nutrients began to push food aside in the popular imagination of what to eat" (22).

Enter the dietary guidelines we are familiar with today. These didn't exist prior to the 70's. People didn't need to be told what to eat by scientists. Now we are being told what we should be eating and we are unhealthier than we have ever been.

Pollan quotes Joan Gussow, a Columbia University nutritionist who "argued agains the focus on nutrients rather than whole foods. 'The really important message in the epidemiology...was that some vegetables and citrus fruits seem to be protective agains cancer. But those sections of the [National Academy of Sciences report, Diet Nutrition and Cancer] were written as though it was the vitamin C in the citrus or the beta-carotene in the vegetables that was responsible for the effect...[H]ow do you know it's not one of the other things in the carrots or the broccoli? There are hundreds of carotenes'" (26).

That's a really crazy question -- especially when we have been taught from the time we were small to eat our oranges because of the vitamin C or to up our intake of vitamin C when we feel a cold coming on.

Pollan also talks about how focusing on the nutrients started (and when) and how it has really benefited the food industry. He explains other problems and pokes holes in the idea that nutrients should drive our diets as opposed to real food.

So has all of our focus on nutrients led us down the wrong path? Should we not worry so much about getting x grams of protein? I think no one knows for sure, but what we are being taught about food and nutrition isn't working. So I believe it is at least worth a conversation.

The Omnivore's Dilemma (and why we should be thinking about our food in ways other than calories and fat grams)

My favorite reaction when I tell people I try not to eat meat or dairy very often is when they look at me, almost bug eyed and utter (and sometimes whisper) but what do you eat? It is a shock to people that a meal can be filling and full of veggies and grains. This journey of really looking into what my family is eating started about a year ago with the documentary Forks Over Knives. I went crazy for a few months but not in a good way. If it was vegan, I assumed I could eat it. No problems. Well there is a problem when vegan junk food is on the market and sugar is still vegan. I never particularly cared for the taste of meat, but dairy was more difficult to give up. (I still go crazy over some really yummy creamy goat cheese.) Fish and seafood never really left the picture.

But the important part was I started thinking about what I ate. Not in the way of calories and fat grams but what it was and where it came from. So many of our meals are consumed in a rush, on the go, in the car or at our desks while we work and even in front of the television. There is no thinking about what we eat as much as there is let's get shove this in my mouth real quick to get rid of this hunger feeling and move on with what is really important in life.

But our food is important. We spend so much time eating. Our bodies are literally made from what we feed them. From our food is where our bodies get the energy to move, to create new cells, to repair what needs fixed, to fight off infection....what we eat every day could be the most important decisions we make. And it goes even further than that because not only are we affected by what we eat, but we are affected by the food our food eats. The quality, the nutritional value, the taste.... Unfortunately, most of what we eat today isn't what our great-grandparents ate even when it looks like it used to. A steak today is different from a steak 50 years ago. There are farmers out there striving to bring farming back to it's roots and Michael Pollan was able to find one of them.

I just finished reading the The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. I actually read the young adult version as that was what was available from the library (libraries rock!) I expected the book to lean away from the processed and toward the real food movement (even toward a plant based diet.) And while Pollan did not hesitate to admit his personal preference after all of his endeavors, the information is presented in a very matter of fact way (which this English major can appreciate.) The book is set up around his four meals. His goal is to eat one meal that is a direct result from each of the ways to produce food. His first meal is a meal that is produced thanks to the industrialized food industry -- McDonald's and is eaten like many Americans eat fast food, in the car.

He starts off visiting the farms that produce the majority of the food here in America. The industrialized corn farm and the industrialized beef farm. He goes as far to purchase a steer so he can follow the steer until it meets his end (where he was not allowed to visit -- journalists, among others, are not permitted in slaughterhouses and on many industrial farms.) He interviews a corn farmer about how working on a farm has changed. And it is explained (in a way that is both scary and fascinating) how a single kernel of corn is processed. How all parts of the corn are used and extracted and turned into something else. Things I didn't even know were made with corn -- like glue and fireworks. (Seriously. Fireworks. Mind blown. This was the part of the book where I kept waking John up every five minutes to spout off something new I learned about corn. He was nowhere near as enthusiastic as I was.)

For the second meal, he visits an industrial organic farm. While many of these farms started out as small endeavors, they have grown into a billion dollar industries and are run much of the same way as non-organic industrialized farms. They do not use pesticides or hormones, they do allow chickens access to the outdoors but it is  a small sad yard that has a tiny door that isn't even open until the chickens are 5 weeks old. For the remaining two weeks of their lives, they rarely venture out doors.  These are not the happy chickens lives and farming practices that consumers are led to believe they are supporting. There is the fact that these farms are brining organic food to places that normally wouldn't have access to it. They are keeping farmlands from being sprayed with pesticides. There is good here and as a reader (and an eater) we are encouraged to take in the facts, do our own research and decide for ourselves if eating seasonally is an inconvenience we are willing to suffer.

His third meal he calls "beyond organic." Pollan found a farm that farms the way farming used to be done. (And apparently I was trying to see how many times I could use the word farm in a sentence.) He visits Polyface Farm in Virginia which practices sustainable agriculture. He has pasteurized beef and poultry and uses a rotation system so the cows don't destroy the pasture and then the chickens clean up after the cows and fertilize the pasture. Joel Salatin, the farm's owner, refers to himself as a grass farmer and an even more than that an orchestra conductor as he is doing the movement and organization but the animals are doing the work. He will not ship his meats instead he truly practices and believes that burning all that fossil fuel to ship his products is not sustainable. He sells directly to consumers, local restaurants and at farmer's markets. And this is what led Pollan to him in the first place. Because Salatin won't ship a steak to Pollan's home in California, Pollan instead visits, stays and works on the farm in Virginia experiencing it all first hand including processing (a nicer way to say killing) a chicken.

When it gets to the fourth meal, I am wondering really what is next. What kind of farm could he possibly visit to finish this book. But he doesn't visit a farm, instead, he chooses to create a meal from things he has hunted and gathered. Who does that now? Being a Western PA girl I am used to meals made with deer meat but not an entire meal that is foraged. Pollan stays true to the course and learns to hunt wild pig,  how to hunt mushrooms and even gather yeast from the air to make bread (again mind blown. Yeast from the air? Crazy business.) He even attempts to try and gather his own salt from the bay.

After being present at all of Pollan's meals through his writing, I was happy to find him encouraging his readers to think about what we are eating. With the obesity epidemic, we are so conditioned to think of food in terms of calories in and calories out but it is so much more than that. This book was a great way to begin to address that rumbling in our tummy in a much kinder way than just shoving whatever we can grab in our mouths to shut it up (and stay under our recommended calories for the day.)

I am eager to read the adult version of this book (and just ordered it in paper form so I can highlight and make notes in the margin and flip back and forth between chapters when I need to. Sometimes there are things an ebook can't provide. Like the lovely smell of an old book. Mmmmm.)

For more information on Micheal Pollan and his work please visit  http://michaelpollan.com/

The Shakeo Cleanse (and how I kept my inner fat kid out of the candy jar for 3 days)

We traveled. Across the country. And we hooked up with a bunch of family and friends. It was awesome. And filled with lots of food and beers. So after a big old five day party and back to my temporary Pacific Northwest (West Coast sounds so much more glamourous and warm than it really is) residence, this Pittsburgh girl felt like poo. I was tired and bloated and gross from the air travel, the airport food, and all the eating out we did when we were "visiting" our real home and the beer thirty celebrations. So I woke up to a pretty empty fridge and decided to just do it and try the three day Shakeology cleanse.

I have been drinking Shakeology as a meal replacement for about two months now and I dig it. It has done right by me in ways other protein powders and meal replacements have not (think along the lines of helping a lot of my stomach problems.) To do the cleanse, two meals are replaced by Shakeology, for three days. Plus, one of my big time goals is to quit refined sugar. (And keep my fat girl hands out of the candy jar.) I was hoping *fingers crossed* that this would be a great way to get me started on that so hard it makes me want to cry challenging path.

So the layout is this:

2-3 shakes a day made with water and 1/2 cup fruit (this is optional) and ice (as much as you want. Go crazy here folks, cause the unlimited anything is hard to find during the three days).

2 pieces of fruit a day as snacks in between your shakes

Tons and tons of water (again. Be wild. Go crazy. Drink 100 oz of water. Whatever you need to do.)

A big old salad (ok a salad with 3 servings of veggies and a 4 oz serving of protein. Yay protein!)

As I perused the internet I found this cleanse as a 3 day and a 5 day and with 2 shakes a day and with 3 shakes a day. Since I started day one with the 2 shakes/2 fruits for 3 days mindset, that is what I stuck to. If you want to try out something different. Rock it and let me know how it worked. (Because seriously by the time it was over I was ready to stab someone for a piece of bread.)


Below are my day by day frustrations challenges and successes. Go me!

Day One:

Since I am not rushing out the door at the crack of dawn as much as I am running up and down stairs, taking out dog 1, feeding dog 2, feeding dog 1, taking out dog 2, getting B her milk and breakfast, making coffee and taking care of yucky household stuff such as emptying the dishwasher (it is so easy and mindless but I really have a deep seeded hate for this chore.) I like to eat a non-liquid breakfast. It might be an indulgence, since it was something I loved doing on the weekends when I was working M-F, but it is what I do. Plus I dig my coffee and adding a shake to that makes it way too much liquid for me at once. Either my coffee is too cold by the time I am done with my shake or my shake is too warm by the time I am done with my coffee. I just can't find a good balance. My shake usually finds its happy spot as my mid morning snack.

Today, I am jet lagged from traveling over the holiday weekend and crossing time zones for just long enough to get adjusted only to leave again. I cheated and had one (giant mug) of coffee this morning instead of tea. I also had my snack (an apple which B ate probably half of) for breakfast and my shake as my morning snack. This is the first time I used water and not almond milk. Although I did put in 4 frozen strawberries and a ton of ice. It tastes more like a fruit sorbet freezy drink than my normal shake. Which I kind of like. I was dreading using water and afraid the grassy grainy taste (all I could taste the first week I started using Shakeology) would be overpowering again. But it is tasty.

I started counting down to my one real meal (a salad) at around lunchtime. I had my strawberries and found myself watching the clock. Trying to time my next shake to last me to dinner and counting down until when I could have that and my salad. I was hungry and headache-y. I don't know if it was from just the cleanse or from being jet lagged too.

My salad was pretty much the best salad ever. I marinated some tofu and dumped it on top. (I didn't really know how to measure 4 oz of tofu so I kind of guessed based on hand size portioning.) I also probably wasn't allowed the avocado I put on there or the sunflower seeds. But if the only thing I am allowed is a salad, I am having a rockin' salad. I topped it off with some yummy ginger dressing. Yum!

I did cheat a little and shove a banana in my face around 8 o'clock. It could've been a lot worse. Evening time after we put B to bed is my witching hour and when I am most likely to cave and have a big old hunk of chocolate.

Day Two:

Down 2.2 pounds! Whoot! Now I know most of this was probably water from flying etc. (flying always makes me puffy) but I feel better. Less bloated and gross. More "back to normal" and a lot better than yesterday. I have some energy this morning. I didn't have to drag myself out of bed (even though B climbed into our bed sometime in the middle of the night. At one point I found myself clinging to the mattress for dear life. Why do the smallest kids take up the most space. Baby starfish.)

But I was able to do a Turbo Fire workout (yay! I seriously am obsessed with this program.) Since I haven't officially started to follow the schedule yet I just did the 30 minute Fire and the 20 minute Core dvd's (the core dvd is kind of awesome!) I eagerly awaited all my shakes and snacks (like a crazy person pacing in the kitchen watching the clock on the stove) but feel so much better than yesterday until about late afternoon. By then I was tired, something I didn't experience on Day one so much. Maybe it was the workout that did me in? (Light exercise is recommended but since Turbofire is high energy dancy kickboxing fun-ness it may have been the culprit.) But I was hungry all afternoon and evening. (I may have cheated and had some air popped popcorn but I ate it plain so it was like 30 calories. And it kind of gave me that feeling that I cheated and was bad without really doing anything crazy--like taking a bag of M & M's to the face.)

My salad was awesome! (But I do feel like any "real" meal I get to eat at this point would be, in fact, the most awesome tastiest meal ever so I may be a little biased. You have been warned.) I roasted up a big old portobello mushroom cap stuffed with the leftover most amazing to-feta ever (the recipe for it is here) and it rocked. That to-feta is amazing hot. And again with the avocado but I had the willpower to skip the seeds tonight. It might have been the big old hot steaming mushroom just wilting the lettuce right that made it look just right without too many add ons. And the steamy juicy goodness dribbled all over the leaves (mainly from the marinated tofu. I didn't add anything extra to the mushroom) so I used minimal dressing. The dressing was a tart and tangy (no sugar added! And no fake sugar -- no cheating with any of those chemical laden gems in this house) berry vinaigrette. Great stuff.

No cheating after dinner either. I kind of had a headache despite the 6 giant Camelback water bottles full of water I drank so I curled up in bed early. (and by early I mean I passed the reigns onto my hubby and went to bed before my two-year-old.)

Day Three:

I woke up and eagerly jumped on the scale. And it was the same. Not much for a motivator there but I knew I wanted to write about this mini cleanse that everyone loves to hate so I plodded along. I savored my banana breakfast and felt good enough to work out again. So I rocked some Turbofire goodness. (I shot for the 45 minute class and rocked it. The music is so good I could feel like a zombie and it would still light a fire under my ass! love.) Day Three was pretty similar to Day Two. I felt good all morning and then around mid afternoon (I call this my witching hour because all I ever want to do is snack) I started to get really hungry and tired. And again cheated with the air popped popcorn (plain, I swear!) 

And I made this super crazy good Tilapia for protein on top of my salad. Now it was breaded (healthfully breaded) but that probably wasn't allowed either. But it was seriously fantastic. And I was craving something hot and crunchy and this fit the bill perfectly. I am now obsessed with this recipe (read about that here.) I can't wait to make it again. I still added my avocado and some strawberries to change it up a bit. I used the same ginger dressing as I did the first day. 

I went to bed early again. Not quite as early as Day Two (I at least waited until B was in bed this time!) and I laid there are read for a while. No headache tonight either which was good.

Day Four:

Okay so there is no Day Four unless you are following the Five Day Cleanse if there is such a thing. (Sometimes the internet has too much information and it is too easy for everyone to post whatever.)

But for me today was RESULTS DAY! Eeeek! and I was down another 1.6 lbs! Yay! So for me on this cleanse it meant I lost a total of 3.8 lbs. Throw me a parade! And I know most of it was guck I accumulated from travel and that it wasn't real true weight (fat) loss but it put me back where I was before I had my mini vaca -- and then some. In reality, this was the goal. 

I also really felt like it got me back on track much faster than I have ever gotten back on track after traveling in the past. It is hard to get my taste buds away from craving cake and fatty foods even though my body was screaming for salads. Even John was happy with the lighter fare for dinner each night. (Yes I made him eat the same thing. We live by the if you don't like it make your own dinner rule around here.) 

Amazingly enough doing this cleanse has also helped me with my own personal sugar war. I have always had a crazy bad sweet tooth and when my friend Katy told me that Shakeology helped her with cravings I kind of blew her off. I mean, what a sales pitch. It really makes it sound like a gimick or some get skinny fast nonsense. I was already sold on trying Shakeology based on my own research so she really didn't need to try that hard. After almost two months of one a day Shakeo, I did notice that I wasn't thinking about the leftover chocolate buried in the back of the cupboard (where I would have to work really hard to get it) quite so often. There were days and times that I did and I had to fight those urges off (or drag a chair over the baby gate and remove all the pots and pans to reach it.) But after this

two a day Shakeo stuff, I honestly have very little desire for anything crazy and sugary. I also feel like if there was a giant piece of cake with that really good icing (you know the kind I am talking about) I wouldn't have to sit on my hands to keep from shoving the entire thing in my face. Progress! Hooray! 

I am not making any promises that I can keep from eating cake but June is kicking off my 30 days of no  refined added sugar (meaning fruit is still okay and in small amounts so is honey and pure maple syrup--these are my own personal rules for no reason other than I don't want be a sugar addict anymore.) I am really feeling like this may have gotten me off to the right start. Here's to the next 29 days! 

**If you are interested in Shakeology or have any questions please don't hesitate to ask! Message me on Facebook or leave a comment below.

Insanity: the good, the bad and the ugly (and why I am so ready to break up with Shawn T)

When I ordered Insanity, I had just done a month of bootcamp (with a Groupon) and was in love. I was getting up at 5 and busting my hump 5 days a week. My month with my Groupon was almost over (and I couldn't afford to stay without the discount) and I didn't want to lose the incentive or the good habits I had started. The infomercial for Insanity came on and I thought why not? I proved I could do more than I thought by taking a bootcamp class for a month, maybe this was step 2. Go big or go home. And really how much harder could it be?

Ummm....so much harder. So much harder that I couldn't even get through the warm up without
pausing the dvd to catch my breath. Yes. The warmup. I was all wait a minute this is the warm up? I thought I just did the workout. This whole your workout is my warm-up thing I see floating around on the internet. Totally true. Jillian Michaels so did not prepare me for this. Neither did my beloved bootcamp.

Despite the difficulty, I was pumped. And that adrenalin and excitement got me through the first two weeks. Granted, week 1 I spent a lot more time watching than participating. I focused on what I could do and had to base my progress off of that, because if I didn't I would just quit. (Or go crazy because sometimes I just wanted to punch those people on the video in the face. Cheering and smiling while I was trying not to puke. Dude, I don't know if you know what type of activity constitutes cheering and smiling, but I assure you, this is not it. Go get drunk in a bar and dance on a table. Ride a roller coaster. Something.)


And then week 3 hit. I was tired. I didn't want to do it. When I was lacing up my sneakers, it seemed like every part of my body was whining, please don't make me! But I had joined a challenge group (something that was so not me.) And I had to post every. single. day. to strangers if I had worked out. Sure, I could lie. But I wasn't going to let strangers beat me by getting better results than me. (I have just a teeny tiny competitive streak.) I mean they were people I didn't even know. I could totally crush them. That is what kept me going. And as much as I didn't want to admit it, the challenge group was worth it. I had always scoffed at the idea of online support in the past. I mean talking to strangers on the internet was so 1994. I was envisioning something like a chat room (cue the dial up internet humming to life in the background) where people whined about how someone brought cake to the office. And that cake is the devil and that person is just so mean to sabotage your diet like that. They must be jealous. Or hate you. But it was just people posting about how well they worked out or ate. Some motivational stuff thrown in there by my coach. Just that little thing, posting in there every day about how well I did, gave me enough to push through the horrible third week.

By week 4 the end of month 1 was in sight! Whoo hoo! But at the end of week 4, I didn't feel ready to move on. What if it's harder? What if I can't even do anything? So I repeated week 4. Then I temporarily relocated across the country, dealt with packing and travel and jet lag. Did the recovery week. But by that point it had been a week and a half since I had done a death by cardio workout. So I was afraid. And I repeated week 4. Again. Ugh. Talk about being sick of Shawn T. Totaling up the weeks, I should have been almost done with this program. At this point, I was only halfway through. I had also finally broken down and told people (besides my online pretend friends) that I had bought the program and was doing it. So real people would know if I didn't do it. Grrrr....

I was pleased to find that month 2 was a little less death by cardio and a little more strength. I was so excited for it to be different. Yay variety! There is still crazy cardio in there but it didn't feel like a form of torture. It was good. I was good. Don't get me wrong I was still super excited for all the leg kicking but the cardio didn't make me feel like I wanted to die. Or just lay on the ground until John came home from work to physically pry my body off of the floor. Month 2 was good. I got through it. I had some pains toward the end, in my back and my wrists. But it was all downhill. If it wasn't for the finish line being right there, I may have thrown in the towel the last week. I was so ready to be done. And now I am so glad I didn't quit.


So here is the good:

The workouts are all pretty much under an hour. The first month they are 30-45 minutes. The second month they jump to 45-60 and the one or two days a week you ad the cardio abs maybe a smidge longer.

Despite all of my setbacks, I saw results. I didn't follow the meal plan. I wasn't a crazy person about my food intake. We did a temporary relocation across the country. We ate pizza and take out around that time. More often than I should have. On average I still ate pizza once a week. I still drank beer. And I still had successes.

The month one warm-up is the same on every dvd. Month 2's warm up is very similar on all the month 2 dvd's. I liked this because I knew what to expect.

I feel so much stronger. I can do things now, at the end of the program, I couldn't do at the beginning.

You stretch. A lot for a home fitness dvd. I was impressed with the amount of stretching he did in each video.

My flexibility has also increased. I've always been pretty flexible, but nothing compared to when I cheered and used and stretched those muscles all the time. Thanks to all the stretching built in, I am way more flexible than when I started.

My core is so much stronger. As a result, my balance is even better. (I've always had pretty good balance.)

The bad:

It does get a little bit repetitive. (Or maybe because I added the extra weeks I was annoyed by this and ready to break up with my new exercise boyfriend.)

The month one warm-up is the same on every DVD. Month 2's warm up is very similar on all the month 2 DVD's. (Both good & bad in my opinion. It depended on the day and what kind of mood I was in.)

The stretching is almost always the same.

I never was able to come close to competing with the people on the video who can jump like ninjas. Ugh. Maybe next time.

And there is so much jumping. If you have any problems in your back or your knees, this is not the workout to try.

The ugly:

By the end my lower back was starting to hurt - especially when doing things like power jumps. I modified those the last 2 weeks.

My wrists also started hurting. There are more push up and plank based exercises (sometimes those are combined) in month 2. For someone who has weak wrists (this girl right here) it was extremely difficult and I had to modify.


Total, I lost 9 lbs, 9.5 inches overall including 2 inches off my waist! Those are some pretty good results, all things considered. I'm not going to be recruited for an Insanity infomercial anytime soon, but I am pleased with where I am. 

In reality, Insanity was way out of my league. I am now compeltely comfortable admiting that. Despite my best efforts, I could never really do push up jacks followed by ab push ups followed by in and out abs. When I started I couldn't even do a push up off my knees! I may not be able to do the crazy combination above for a minute strait but I can do a push up now (on my toes!) My core is so much stronger. My cardio endurance is so much better. I started running again. Despite not having run so much as a mile since before my daughter was born, I was able to go out there and actually run a mile.  Better than I ever had before, even when I was making an attempt at running daily. (I really am a terrible runner, despite my best efforts.)

Had I been in better shape when I started, I think my results would have been better. But I am still so happy with what Insanity has given me. It gave me a schedule. I am now in the habit of working out 6 days a week without pause. It's just what I do. Completing Insanity was something I needed more for my mental state than my physical. Finishing has given me such a feeling of accomplishment. That I can do anything. That I will get there, even if I'm not there yet.

Last Insanity Workout Done! Yay!

I am excited to try Insanity again, although not anytime soon. My boyfriend, Shawn T, and I just need a break. I mean it was good while it lasted. Great, some days. But I just need some time. I learned a lot in the time we spent together and emerged a much stronger person, maybe even a better person. I learned to push my limits and what I am really capable of. But I am ready to move on and find someone I am a little more compatible with every day.

Hello Gorgeous (some thoughts on Kris Carr & her book Crazy Sexy Diet)

From the first pages of this book, I so wanted to be friends with Kris Carr. And not just the veggie loving, juice drinking, chilled out meditating pillar of awesomeness that she is now but also the party girl who used to run around Manhattan drinking until the sun came up. Despite the fact that she has completely changed her life and how she looks at food and nutrition, she still has the party girl spark that draws others to her. She just uses it now to talk to us about how we can change our lives and possibly what we thought was our medical destiny. Reading this book felt like a conversation between friends over cocktails. That she was spilling all her juicy secrets and discoveries to me because we are the best of friends and she can't imagine something terrible happening to me. This is a powerful way to write a book. It either appeals or is a turn off. For me, it works. I mean anyone who calls me gorgeous on the first page has my attention.

Kris Carr decided to change her life when, at 31, she was told she had cancer in her liver and in her lungs. She went through a slew of doctors who had various recommendations. She finally found a doctor she jived with and the decided to wait it out and see what happened. She completely changed her life. She went back to school to study nutrition. She learned how to sleep and meditate. Today her cancer lays dormant. She has a documentary that focuses more on her medical stuff than this book does (Crazy Sexy Cancer) so if this is something that interests you, by all means pick it up.

After a brief introduction to her start down this path to wellness, she talks about the PH of the body. Acidic vs alkaline and how the right balance in our diet is the key. Animal products, processed foods, sugars, alcohol and even some legumes (black beans, soybeans & chickpeas) are the acidic and veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds and legumes are the alkaline. For drastic change we should strive for a 80/20 ratio and for maintenance a 60/40.

There is a lot of information about the benefits of going vegan in this book, but very little pressure. Her point is that if you can't give up all animal products or don't want to give up all animal products, strive to keep them to a minimum rather than the main. And if you are going to add in dairy or meat (in small amounts) make sure it is good quality. She keeps in mind the big picture and if not being able to eat a little bit of cheese is going to keep people from eating this way, giving into that little bit of cheese is better than going back to the Standard American Diet (SAD - every time I abbreviate this I giggle at the irony....)

There is a lot of info in this book from information about food, our digestive system (a whole chapter so if potty talk makes you uncomfortable you may want to skip or skim this chapter) juicing, meditating and more. It is light, conversational and has lots of pretty charts to help break down all the scary number stuff for people like me - especially when all the acidic balance chemistry talk started to make me a little dizzy. There is also a 21 day cleanse outlined day by day at the end of the book along with some recipes. And if those intrigue you there is a follow up cookbook (which I am going to try and pick up to review.)

Kris Carr is a remarkable woman who could have given up. Instead she empowered herself and is really living each and every day. I love the idea that we have the ability to create our strongest, sexiest selves based on what we pick up and put in our mouths. I love the strength in this way of thinking. It is up to us to do the research, try out the different recommendations for food and see what gives us the most energy.

The decision on how to live your life is up to you.  How's that for empowerment? It makes me want to go grab some kale.

To nab a copy of Crazy Sexy Diet click here.

For more info please visit her website at http://kriscarr.com

The Salad IS the Main Course

I love to read and I read a lot. (Can someone just pay me to read? please?) I never really cared for nonfiction. (I think all the terrible nonfiction we were made to read in school was a complete turnoff.) Typically, YA lit is my jam and what I pick up from the library. Almost a year ago, I watched a documentary on Netflix called Forks over Knives. It really changed my thinking about food and made me want to learn more. Like any good former English major, I started to do some research and since then have read as many books as I can on plant based nutrition. And have gained a new appreciation for nonfiction. (It is not all as boring as the nonfiction we were forced to read in school!)


I just finished up Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Furhman. He believes in reversing (and preventing) disease through nutrition and other natural methods. Basically following what good old Hippocrates (you know the guy the some consider to be the father of Western medicine, they Hippocratic Oath and all that?) told us even before baby Jesus was born.

So if he knew this then, how did we manage to screw it up so royally? Clearly the way we eat now is not working. Look at the stats on Americans. Obesity. Blood Pressure. Heart Disease. Diabetes. We are in a serious mess. So Dr. Fuhrman recommends that we just try what he believes for six little weeks.  Compared to a year (or a lifetime) giving six weeks to something isn't that long.



Anyway...for six weeks the goal is to eat:

raw veggies
steamed veggies (green and non-green nutrient rich)
beans, legumes, bean sprouts and tofu
fresh fruits

And to limit:

Cooked starchy veggies
whole grains
raw nuts/seeds
avocado
dried fruit
flaxseeed

Completely off limits:

diary
animal products
snacks between meals
fruit juice
oil

Of course his book goes into the details of this including the serving size and the method behind his madness.

In addition to describing this six week trial, his book addresses the reasoning behind his philosophy which I can totally appreciate. There is a huge focus on nutrient per calorie and getting the most bang for your caloric buck. He is a doctor so his book is full of lots of medical jargon and numbers. Statistics, blood pressure readings, patient labs, blah. I kind of skimmed through all of this as I am not a numbers girl (but if you are a numbers junkie this book is right up your alley.)   He is basically a groupie for green leafy veggies and beans. Raw veggies are rockstars and steamed veggies come a close second. The buzz words in this book are nutrient rich, plant based and real foods. He devotes a lot of space in his book to talking about heart disease and diabetes. He also addresses how his plan will address these medical concerns while also cautioning to talk to your own doctor about these things. (Again stuff I kind of skimmed since that is not my main concern right now.)

My overal takeaway from this book. Eat more veggies. Lots and lots of veggies. And really think about how many nutrients are in each calorie you eat. Food is nutrition. We should be getting our nutrients from food not supplements. His book supports my belief that real plant based food is best.

My favorite thing in this book -

I may have to post that in my dining room on a pretty canvas or something. Yay modge podge!

To learn more about Dr. Fuhrman please visit his website at www.drfuhrman.com