I just finished my workout for today. It was killer. My neighbors probably think all kinds of crazy things are going on inside my house.
This week is abs and core week at bodyrock.tv. I'm really glad Zuzana is always keeping it fresh with the new workouts. I really love the rolling knee tuck push ups. My arms feel like spaghetti. It's great.
My time for the first part was just over 17 minutes. I don't feel too great about that, but that just means I'll have to push harder next time. Here's the link to the workout breakdown. I would love it more than anything if you'd do it with me. You'll blast off a million calories before you even know it and you'll get STROOOOONG.
Moving on......
The green olive tapenade was a success. It was really delicious actually. I used it like I would a pesto with my favorite mung bean fettuccine
I cooked some yellow squash, roma tomato, and button mushrooms in olive oil and crushed red pepper. Tossed in my fabulous mung bean pasta with some arugula until it got just a little bit wilt-y, stirred in a couple tablespoons of the tapenade, then topped that bad boy with some toasted pecans. Boom!
I eat a lot of these bean pastas. They're unbelievable and, from what I understand, are hard to come by. Here's a link for you to buy some online in case your local hippie store doesn't stock it. They also have a black bean spaghetti and a soy bean spaghetti, so search around. You'll be glad you made the switch from traditional. It's way tastier, organic, grain free, and has a mind blowing 20 grams of protein.
I bought some parsnips a few days ago. I've never used them before but I think I might mash them up with some carrots tonight. I'll let you folks know how it goes. Hopefully delicious-ly.
I'm off to shower now before I go sit on some kids. Don't be sticking any garbage in your mouth today. It doesn't matter how much you work out. If you're eating Twinkie and mayonnaise sandwiches then you're gonna look like one.
I just got through with a super brutal, fantastic workout. So sweaty. So great. Click right here and let cyberspace take you on a journey to fat blast heaven.
Zuzana is the best.
Follow that link above and do it with me. You're gonna die, and your legs are gonna fall off, and it'll be the best. My time for the first part was 4 minutes and 5 seconds using a 25 lb plate. My time for the third part was 5 minutes and 28 seconds. Friendly competition, anyone?
This is what I looked like when I finished. I put the sunglasses on so you people would think I am less unattractive.
Super Sweaty
I followed this workout up with 20 minutes of interval skipping. I was even more gnarly when that was over. I took some pictures, but I'll spare you. I need a photographer.....or a real camera at least. Thanks for putting up with my less than stellar, self portrait, cell phone photography.
This is what I ate for lunch today.
I was talking to someone a few days ago about what I usually eat and realized I don't utilize the good ole salad like you'd think I would. I whipped this thing up today and it was pretty good. It's just arugula, roma tomato, button mushrooms, seared yellow squash with rosemary, a shaved carrot, pecans,and chickpeas. I threw some crushed red pepper on there and a lemon and chive dressing and called it a day. Pretty good. Pretty easy.
I'm getting ready to make something with this green olive tapenade I bought last night. I've never had it before, so let's hope this experiment goes well.
I'm sure it will.
In the meantime; be sure you're avoiding high fructose corn syrup. That stuff's for the birds.
I'll tell you where they went. Right in my belly.
I made these grain-free vegan chocolate chip cookies a few days ago. They didn't even last long enough for any kind of photo evidence to be acquired. Delicious. Like, serious delicious. They stay super soft and chewy. I would say they are even tastier than your traditional in a lot of cases. I can only allow myself to bake delicious treats like this on infrequent occasions because I'll eat them all day long if they're around. I guess they're not really that bad for you anyway. They only thing that I would be concerned about is the sugar content in the agave nectar....... Meh.
That's me and my cookies...... if I were an ant and my cookies were a huge green M&M.
Despite gorging myself on health cookies; I got a pretty good workout in today. I felt like busting something out super quick so I went with this 4 minute workout and then added some stuff afterwards.
Don't let the length of this workout fool you. You'll be begging for mercy within the first 30 seconds. If Zuzana says it's effective then you should believe her.
I followed this up with 10 minutes of interval skipping, 30 leg lift star crunch butt lifts, 40 bicycle crunches, and some yoga to wind down, including my new favorite the headstand!
I can't stop doing headstands. I've been doing them everywhere. All the time. Challenging all the kids I babysit to headstand contest. I'm getting really good. My goal is to push up into a handstand from the headstand position. I'll get it soon enough.
I hope everyone is having the most super day ever and not eating anything tainted with high fructose corn syrup. Do that 4 minute workout and let me know how it treats you. It's gonna blast the L-B's right off of you. If you don't believe me just ask me.
Glad to be back. I was gone for the better part of a week working at the Wanee Music Festival helping sling smoothies for Hippie Dips. I was in need of an adventure of some sort, and this could not have been more perfect. It was probably the most relaxing week of my life. My phone was dead the entire time and, most of the time, I was clueless as to what day it was. I met so many awesome people and heard tons of great music. Most importantly; I was also able to keep up with my workouts, never strayed from my diet, and never touched a sip of alcohol. I even blasted off a few more L-B's! Wooooo!
I packed a good amount of food to bring along so I didn't have to worry about finding anything at the festival, but I ended up discovering a couple of healthy options anyway which I was really grateful for. I was wandering around and perusing some of the different vending stands when I came across Outback Kate's. They had the most delicious vegan black beans that damn near brought a tear to my eye. Mixed up with tomatoes, peppers, and onions, the beautiful blond woman running the stand was kind enough to barter with me on several different occasions in exchange for fresh fruit smoothies. This one incident goes to show that eating healthy and staying on track is possible in most all situations. It's easy to make good decisions if you plan ahead a little bit and survey your options carefully. Just because you're surrounded by deep fried carni food doesn't mean you need to succumb to any corn dogs.
I got tons of exercise throughout the week. I did lots of jump lunges, push ups, ninja jump tucks, interval skipping, yoga, and most of all dancing and hula hooping. It was great. I feel cleansed and refreshed. My brain is still a bit in hippie land but I'm glad I came home to several new workouts on bodyrock.tv so I can keep up the momentum and excitement while transitioning back into reality. I'm back on my 6:00 a.m. routine and feeling good.
I just finished this workout a few minutes ago. I'm glad it's full of new exercises so I can start back totally fresh. It was a lot of fun to do and only took a little over 20 minutes to complete. I followed it up with a bit of yoga. I've been practicing headstands a lot recently. I think they're a new favorite.
Watch Zuzana show you how it's done.
Click on the link above to get the workout breakdown so you can do it with me. You'll be glad you did.
I'm charging my crystal.
These are a few of the goodies I came home with. I found the meditation beads on the ground. Someone informed me that it must mean I have good karma :)
I hope everyone has a beautiful, peaceful, and productive day and remember to stay away from processed junk food. Thanks for reading.
Good morning (Unless it's not morning for you, then good afternoon, night, whatever...)
I've started a new morning routine as of recently. I've started waking up an hour earlier, at 6:00 a.m. I've began doing this so I can achieve more with my day and have a bit more time to spend with myself.
This is my schedule-
6:00 a.m.-wake up, put water on for coffee, start oil pulling, start an episode of Glee, stare at the internet
6:30 a.m.- spit oil out, brush my teeth, drink delicious coffee, keep watching Glee, continue staring at the internet
7:00 a.m.- do a short pilates or yoga exercise
7:30 a.m.- leave for my first job of the day, narcolepsy wake up service (Hi Erick!)
9:30 a.m.- get home, procrastinate, bodyrock, eat food, drink more coffee, shower
12:50 p.m.- leave for work
I feel way more alive and awake getting my day started like this. I've been needing to incorporate something else in with my regular workouts and the pilates and yoga are really doing the trick. I was not stretching nearly enough before, and I think I'll start seeing some great results from it soon.
If you've never heard of oil pulling before go ahead and check out that link up there. I started doing it a little over a year ago, went on a brief hiatus, and recently jumped back on the wagon. I can definitely see and feel the benefits from it.
Waking up early feels really great. I love not being rushed and having time to sit and think about everything I'm going to do that day. This post really sparked my decision to set my alarm clock back an hour, and for that I'm grateful.
It's morning time as I type here in Atlanta. I haven't gotten my workout in for the day, but Zuzana has a brand new one up that I'm excited to do later. Yesterday i did the Not Afraid workout. It was amazing. I was dripping halfway through.
Check out Zuzana being all awesome and stuff.
This was a great workout. I was glad she introduced some new moves. Especially the new variation of ninja jumps, which are a favorite of mine. I love when I can start off a workout in the morning being cold and wearing a sweatshirt then having to shed it 10 seconds later and be dripping sweat. I also love when it's through and I have to do laps around my house to cool down. That's when you know it's good.
Sundried Tomato and Artichoke Quinoa Rissoto
I made this a few days ago. I actually made it two days in a row because I loved it so much. It's a recipe from here.
1/2 and onion diced
2 or more fat cloves of garlic minced
1/4 cup artichokes chopped
5 sundried tomatoes sliced and diced
1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1/4 cup veg stock
1/4 cup plain soy milk or whatever you prefer
1 Tbs fresh chopped rosemary
5 or 6 portobella button mushrooms chopped
1/2 cup chopped almonds-toasted
optional-nutritional yeast
Cook your garlic, onion, and rosemary in a bit of olive oil for about two minutes on a medium setting. Add quinoa, soy milk, and stock and simmer for about 10 minutes.
In a separate pan cook your mushrooms on low medium for about 5 or 6 minutes.
When there's about a minute left on your quinoa stir in tomatoes, mushrooms, and artichokes. Let it all be happy together in the pan for a minute.
Plate and top with toasted almonds and nutritional yeast if you're into it. I'm just ok with the nutritional yeast so I just do a very light sprinkle on top. Some people are more serious about it. It's up to you.
The second time I made this I added asparagus and yellow squash which was excellent. You can pretty much do whatever you want and fix it accordingly to what you have in your kitchen.
I'm going to be gone all of next week to work at a music festival in Florida. Anyone else going to the Wanee Festival? I'll be working at the Hippie Dips smoothie stand. Come hang out with me if you're there.
I've been debating on what I'm going to eat while I'm there. I did some research on low glycemic fruit and am considering doing a combination of a smoothie and raw food fast. I'm going to be sure to bring lots of protein powder with me so I don't turn to mush. Any suggestions? I'm definitely not going to be eating carni food.
Alright. Time to shower and wash the goat smell off of me. Hippie deodorant is kind of pointless.
Hope everyone has a fabulous day and does their workout and avoids processed junk food.
It's been a few days. Good to see you again. I managed to get a fair amount accomplished this weekend. I got my backyard mowed with much effort. I got the lawn mower from someone off of Freecycle (thanks Libby) and both times I've used it, it's taken some serious string pulling action to get started. That's why my arm hurts.
The yard is looking splendid though. I even edged around the fire pit and such with a scuba diving knife I had acquired from some poor soul a few years ago. My yard partner and friend for life, Cassie, brought some plants over, so now we've got some actual progress going. Things are good.
Last night we went to a drum circle at Lake Claire Community Land Trust. It was a neat time. Brought our hula hoops and danced our little hearts out. We met a guy named Twinkie who gave us some leads on some events that sounded quite interesting. Always glad to have options. We didn't get there until after dark, so I'm looking forward to revisiting during daylight hours to check out the gardens. All in all it was a productive and good day.
Today I did this workout. It's one of the few workouts that are filmed in real time so you can follow along with Zuzana if you don't feel like setting your own interval timer or just plain don't have one. Check it out.
For those of you in need of a bit more motivation or an inspirational word I would suggest you click on that link up there and read what she's got to say. Reading what Zuzana posts' everyday and watching her videos absolutely helps me keep my eye on the prize. I see the changes I have made in myself this far and know that to keep on track I have to be aware of how I am treating myself, and the decisions I make at all times. You can't go do some crazy workout then binge out on fried chicken and jelly doughnuts and think you didn't just set yourself right back at square one.
This is one of the diet challenges featured on bodyrock.tv/ that sparked my grain-free movement. Going grain-free was a personal decision that I feel I am benefiting from immensely. That diet challenge link DOES NOT require you to give up grains completely, rather adjusts how you eat them. If you are not ready to make the leap into a grain free lifestyle or haven't even given it a thought, you should give this diet a whirl and see for yourself what kind of results you can achieve. 10 reasons to give up grains. <---- those should get your wheels turning.
NOW.
Let's move onto something tasty.
This here is mung bean fettuccine with arugula, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, toasted pecans, and everything else that is delicious.
I am in love with this pasta. It's only ingredients are organic mung beans and water. Perfect.
This stuff also has 20 grams of protein per serving. WHAT! Not to mention how delicious it is.
Grain free and ultra tasty. I'm getting the vapors.
For two servings I used half a package of mung bean fettuccine (That's a link to order some. You can probably find it cheaper at your local hippie store.)
5 or 6 sun dried tomatoes- sliced (I rehydrate the packaged kind. Oil packed will work too)
1 yellow squash - sliced and diced to your preferred shape and size
5 or 6 portabella button mushrooms- sliced
7 or 8 stalks of asparagus- chopped
1/2 cup raw pecans - chopped
3 or more Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs dried rosemary or chopped fresh
3 cloves garlic -minced
couple handfuls of arugula
salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flake to you liking
If you're re-hydrating your tomatoes go ahead and do that. You can start toasting your pecans in a separate dry pan over a low-medium setting. Tossing every so often. It's ok if they get a little burnt. They're gonna be good.
Get your pasta ready according to the package directions and set aside.
In your olive oil over medium low heat cook garlic first, then add rosemary and the rest of ingredients in order of how quickly they cook. So, asparagus, squash, mushrooms, tomatoes. Give them a little salt.
I like to keep my veggies a bit crisp and full of goodies, so don't overcook them.
Add arugula right before tossing in your pasta. Work it all together and add your crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper as you like.
Plate that stuff, top it with your pecans, and BOOM!
You can mix this recipe us as you like. Add in or take out according to what you've got in your kitchen.
I hope everyone is having a great Sunday night. Thanks for reading and remember to avoid processed junk food. No one wants to look like a brick of Velveeta.
