Getting Creative and Combing Health and Pizza!

One evening Wesley decided to make me a delicious dinner. Because I am allergic to yeast, and therefore cannot eat any type of bread, he decided to make several different types of pizza on tortillas!

The sauce was the most appetizing and guilt-free pizza sauce I've ever had! With kale, carrots, tomatoes, basil, marinara sauce, and a hint of garlic, I felt like I was eating a salad!

With fresh mozzerella, tomatoes, pesto, basil, a creative sauce, and parmesan all on tortillas makes a delicious, easy, quick, and way healthier version of America's current take on pizza. 

Get creative with your sauce, and see what kind of masterpiece you can come up with! 

Why Exercise?

We are told almost every day that exercise is something important that we should incorporate into our lifestyle. And then an entire list is rattled off to us about why we should move and be active. And we understand and even agree that these are legitimate reasons. So why don't we get off our butts and make it happen?

These are MY reasons why I'm active. And this is the actual truth.

-I sleep better at night

-I like fitting into my favorite pair of jeans

-It helps me not be as anxious, stressed out, or depressed

-It means I can have a treat now and then without feeling a bit guilty!
-Keeps me strong for activities of daily living

-Gives me self confidence

-Allows me to have some introverted time, or extroverted time when I hike with my friends or husband

-Keeps my back strong and decreases back pain

-Yoga gives me peaceful meditation

-Feelings of accomplishment

-Clears my head and gives me perspective

Why do YOU exercise?

Homemade No Bake Granola Bars!

I found this excellent recipe online, and it's delicious!!

For a sweet, savory treat with good protein and low in sugar, try this recipe out and feel better about what you're putting in your body!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, real butter can be substituted (where to buy)
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (homemade)
• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (where to buy)
• 1/8 cup flax seed, milled or whole (where to buy)
• 1/4 cup good-quality mini chocolate chips (where to buy)
• 1-2 TB fresh ground peanut butter (optional)
• handful dried fruit and/or nuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat your stove top to medium heat.
2. To a saucepan over medium heat, add your coconut oil and honey. Stir to melt and combine.
3. The oil and honey will start to bubble. When you see this, keep watch as it will soon take on a nice amber color, but do not let it get to dark or you will have made candy.
4. Once you get a nice rolling bubble, let it go for about 30 seconds to a minute and then turn off your heat and add your vanilla.
5. Add in the oats, flax seed, and optional peanut butter. Stir together until combined
6. Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper (be sure to have some extra hanging off both sides).
7. Pour in the oat mixture. Using the back of a spatula press down about 1/2 inch until mixture is smooth.
8. Sprinkle chocolate chips, nuts, and/or dried fruit over oat mixture. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to cool.
9. The cutting process: Remove the pan from the fridge. Use the extra parchment hanging off sides as handles to pull your entire granola out of the pan and place on counter. It will be a solid piece. Cut width-wise into one-inch sections. Then one long cut down the center of the pan. This will allow for 12 individual servings all equal size.
10. Note: This recipe can easily be doubled for 24 using a 9x13 pan.
11. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.     

Credit goes to Kristin at Live Simply!

Too busy to exercise?

We all have such busy lives. Family, work, friends, church, hobbies, children. Where does health, wellness, and fitness fit into our daily lives? It's easy to let the day get away from us. To say "I'm just too tired" or "I have too much work to do" or "just another 20 minutes of sleep". But what we don't realize is we're just cheating ourselves out of some legitimate and healthy benefits that would actually counteract those feelings! Exercise will wake you up. It will get those brain juices flowing and help you complete tasks in a more efficient way. And it will help you sleep better throughout the night, making you feel more rested!

It's easy for me to say all of these things. And sometimes life really does get complicated with legitimate stuff. Having a baby, a big presentation at work, the basement flooding, losing a loved one, or discovering that you yourself have some type of illness. 

But for those who use a lot of those excuses that I mentioned at the very top, then this post has your name written allllllllll over it! ;)

So to prove that you are NOT too busy to exercise, I've come up with some workouts and facts to help you get your booty into gear!

****According to ACSM, one continuous session or multiple shorter sessions (of at least 10 minutes) are both acceptable to accumulate the needed amount of daily exercise.

(click here to read the entire article)

****Exercising helps you fall asleep faster, and sleep deeper!

****Being active lowers your chances of feeling depressed, anxious, or overall edgy.

(click here for the article)

****Exercise has been shown to improve work productivity, from better time management, to increased work output, to even creating a friendlier workplace between coworkers.

(click here for the whole article)

So with just these four facts, I'm going to give you five (3 cardio, 2 strength) exercises that you can do in your office, at your desk, in the stairwell, or in your home. These exercises will get your entire body working which increases your heart rate, gets your lungs working hard, and activates those muscles!

#1 --- Squat jumps

(cardio: works glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, abdominals, back, and shoulders)

#2 --- Plank

(strength: works shoulders, chest, abdominals, back, and legs)

#3 --- High Knee Twists

(cardio: works glutes, quads, hamstrings, abdominals, and back)

#4 --- Pushups 

Pick your own level!

Wall Pushups

Pushups on knees (for the 2 methods below: shoulders over hands, back straight, abs contracted!)

Full pushups

(strength: works shoulders, chest, abdominals, back, and legs)

#5 --- Jumping jacks

(cardio: works quads, outer thighs, inner thighs, shoulders, abdominals, and back)

Be sure to do what is right for YOU. Use your discretion. If you have bad knees, maybe no jumping jacks, or just squat instead of doing jumping squats.

Do 1-3 sets of 8-15 repetitions. Feel free to repeat this quick and simple circuit however many times you would like! I would say repeat 4-6 times. But if you only have time for 1 circuit, then that's one more for that day!

Feel free to contact me for more information or if you have any questions. I do in home personal training, but I can also come to your work!

Now stand up and get moving!

Exercise Myths: Spot Training

In the world of fitness and exercise, there are several assumptions, lies, and myths that constantly circulate in our society. One of these that I would like to spotlight is the concept known as "spot training" or "spot reduction". Spot training is the idea that if a person performs several sets and reps on one specific area of the body (i.e. abdominals, biceps, or triceps), then they will not only tone that area more and lose fat in that specific area, but that it also won't affect other parts of the body. And unfortunately, this is absolutely not true. 

The way the body loses weight is through total body high intensity cardiovascular movement, such as running, swimming, biking, circuits, kickboxing, etc. Anything that gets that heart pumping and those lungs working. Strength training does help increase the metabolism, which in turns helps burn more calories. However, this doesn't mean that strength training a specific muscle group will help burn fat in just that area. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that everyone is different. Genetics plays a huge role in this. Everyone stores weight and loses weight in different areas of their bodies (legs, chest, arms, abdomen). Everyone's bodies burn calories at different rates (quick weight loss vs. long, slow weight loss). It is SO key for people to understand this concept. Especially my clients. This isn't negative or positive (well if you look at it negatively, then that's your prerogative). It just is what it is, and that's okay. It also means that you have to be intentional in your life.

Losing weight is very hard work. But more than that, making a healthy lifestyle change that involves healthy habits, such as daily exercise, a healthy diet using moderation, good sleep, low stress, and some indulgence now and then is even harder.....and more REWARDING!

Well, enough of my soapbox...and back to spot training. :)

According to ACSM, working to lose or maintain weight is an eventual circumstance. It is an on going, lifestyle change. For more information on spot training and other myths, check out these articles:

Exercising Caution on Fitness Machine Claims

Fitness Myths

For questions, comments, or concerns, I would love to hear from you!

Sweet Tooth Fix!

Since I have discovered this awesome cookie recipe, I cannot get enough of it! The main two ingredients are bananas and uncooked oats. Yep, that's it. The beauty of it is you can add anything, and I mean anything to the mix! 

Ingredients:

-2 bananas

-1 cup of uncooked oats

Obviously, if you want to make more, just add another 1 or 2 more bananas, and another 1/2 or 1 cup of oats. 

Other ingredients can also be added:

-chocolate chips

-cinnamon

-vanilla

-peanut, almond, or sunflower seed butter

-almonds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or any other nut or seed

-raisins or craisins

-protein powder

-for extra crunch, add rice krispies

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Mash the bananas until they are nice and gooey. Add in the oats, and all the other ingredients you desire. Using a spoon, plop your dough on a greased cookie sheet, and bake for 15-17 minutes.

Presto!

Compliments to the founder of these cookies at The Burlap Bag!

Enjoy!

Part II: Our house under construction....

From countertops to a new kitchen floor to putting up walls, we are always doing something on our house these days!

Here are some pictures of some things we (by we, I mean mainly Wesley ;) have done:

First we had to move everything off the walls and floor so we could tear up that awesome vinyl tile.

Then Wesley replaced the floor with new wooden boards as a base.

Then he walled up the shotgun room.

We finally got to put a coat of paint, some appliances, and an awesome farmhouse sink in. Since then we've painted the lower cabinets a greenish blue color, and we'll be putting the doors and drawers in soon. Then we'll have the countertops and kitchen floor. Yipee!

Stay tuned for Part III!