Tag Archives: health

Wednesday Workout: Two Things to Remember

Well hidey ho there blogosphere neighbors! Yesterday I led another great workout class. It was a 12-minute workout, just like last week but I remembered to tell the class about my Two Basic Rules.

Rule #1- BREATH. I learned this from lots of weight training and lots of yoga. Make sure you establish a breathing rhythm right along with your perfect form. If an exercise is a huge challenge for you, focus on (imagining) that you’re breathing into that part of you body. Better breathing means more oxygenated blood and muscles=better workout.

Rule #2-BRACE. Ok, put your hand on your lower belly, now flex it. Flex it so that you feel like it’s reaching back to your lower back. It should sorta feel like you’re (excuse my language) pooping. If you can hold this position throughout your exercises, especially when they get really difficult, then it will support and strengthen your back, belly, and the entire rest of your core.

Now that we have those out of the way. Here was the workout we did yesterday.

– 20 seconds on/20 seconds rest

– each exercise 3 times

– total of 12 minutes

– if you don’t push yourself, this doesn’t work. if you do, holy cow it’s amazing!

1) Side Hop – jump over something, or just step side to side as fast as you can.

2) Good Mornings – do it without a barbell, just with your hand on your head

3) Push Ups – plank position or on your knees or even on the wall if you have shoulder problems

4) Crunches – don’t bend your neck! Just lift your head and shoulders towards the ceiling

5) Plank – with speed kicks if you’re extra awesome

6) Frog Squat

‘Twas another great workout with so many people! I beginning to love teaching this class.

What workout will you do today?

🙂

Thankful Tuesday: My Material Things

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All of us “righteous hippies” out there tend to shrug off our material blessings. We focus all our energy into ignoring our urges to buy silly things that don’t have any real value. But sometimes, just sometimes, isn’t it wonderful to sit amongst all your “stuff” and relish in the life you have made for yourself?

Everything you surround yourself with is there for a reason. Either by your own choice or the fact that someone else thought you might like/need it. Whatever the case, be thankful for what you have!

^ Just watch it, it’s only 1 minute long. Maybe it will change your day.

So today, 3 things I’m thankful for:

1) Our awesomely large 2 bedroom apartment. It has a bedroom just for our bikes and working out. And a deck! And a pool! It’s just large enough for all our things but small enough that it doesn’t take forever to clean.

2) My computer. I bring this thing everywhere with me. I toss it around and then bring it out and expect it to work like clockwork. And it does. I’m very thankful that I had the money to buy a Mac so that I don’t have to worry about viruses or what to do if it breaks.

3) Our double recliner couch. We got it at Habitat for Humanity for $50 but it’s one of my favorite pieces of furniture. It means that we can relax in front of our awesome TV and snuggle up together.

There is so much more but if I just pick 3 then I get to focus on them. Yay!

What are your three things this week?

And please, just don’t forget to smile. Who knows if you will smile at the right person, at the right time, and change their day.

Motivational Monday: Your Personal Victories?

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Well good Monday to you my friends. I woke up about a half hour ago. Mike had already left for work and it was still dark out. GROSS. However, sitting here writing this post, I’ve realized that when you wake up in the dark, you get to watch the sunrise. PRETTY.

Yesterday was a very emotionally balanced and content day for me. I had a few personal triumphs and learned some new things about myself. I hope to carry this feeling with me throughout the week. If I can, I know my confidence and happiness will radiate off me and maybe help make someone else’s day. So here’s a list of what I’m happy about:

1. My 5 year old hardy favorite leather belt is officially TOO BIG! I hate scales so I never step on one. I just try to eat and live as healthy as I can and hope that maybe my body will follow. Well it is! I have lost some significant weight since I moved to Peoria and started living right. I’m stoked 🙂

2. I closed out one of my three credit cards today! YES! I have some major credit card debt and have been plugging away at it since I entered the working world. Today I finally got to see some of the fruits of my labor. 1 down, 2 more to go.

3. On Friday, I got my haircut altered a bit. It was feeling very 90’s soccer mom so I went in and asked for something edgy and fun, but also classy. She gave me a faux hawk! I love it so much and it’s helping me overcome my insecurity of having short hair. Only a really awesome, really fun chick can have a haircut like this so I’m just trying to embrace it. And it’s working!

Anyway, those are my personal victories to carry through the week. What are some of yours?

Recipe Sunday: Healthy Fried Rice

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Hey All. Sorry about the late post but Mike and I have had such a busy and relaxing (awesome combo) kind of day. Earlier this week I tried my own healthy fried rice and it didn’t come out so well. I only post delicious recipes so I retried it last night and it ended up being so good!

Healthy Fried Rice

Ingredients:

brown rice (cooked)

3 or 4 eggs (beaten)

veggies (I used red pepper, spinach, and broccoli)

liquid aminos (the healthy soy sauce, I use Bragg brand)

meat (optional)

little bit of sunflower oil for cooking

Instructions:

^ Saute all the veggies on low heat. If you are using meat, cook with the veggies. When it’s all cooked through, add the beaten eggs. Stir as it cooks to coat everything in egg. When egg is cooked, empty it into a bowl.

^ Add the rice to the empty pan and spray some liquid aminos on there (it has a very salty taste so make sure not to use too much). Just until it has the “fried” brown look. Cook until heated.

Add the veggie/egg/meat and mix it all together. Enjoy!

Ashley life Update: Last week, Mike and I decided that we were starting to settle into a very sedentary life. Unacceptable. So today, our day off together, we went for an awesome pancake breakfast and then to a GIANT antique market about 40 minutes away. We didn’t have long at the market but we saw some really beautiful stuff and I bought a cast iron skillet, yay! I’ve been wanting one for a while because they’re such a healthy, non toxic way to cook and they last forever. Got an 8″ pan for $14 (I’m a great haggler). It was a wonderful day with my man 🙂

I hope your Sunday was as great as mine! If not, tomorrow is a new day, so smile 🙂

Fabulous Friday: Bargain Beauty

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From time to time, I may have to post about some incredible deals I find for lady stuff. Today, I’ll be sharing some sweet knowledge nuggets with you fellow females.

Last month, for my birthday, I really wanted to treat myself to some pamper time. I get a monthly wax of my nether regions (SO much easier than shaving and much less red and bumpy) and thought maybe I could add in a facial or manicure or something equally awesome. I had not yet found a salon in Peoria so I started the search!

Where to look, where to look…I must have checked out 20 salons in a 10 mile radius and couldn’t find anything even close to affordable. Then I remembered how cheap massage schools are and decided to just get a massage, delay the search, and postpone my wax until next month (poor Mike).

As I drove to work, I mulled over my tense shoulders and the forest growing in that pretty triangle between my legs, and I spotted it! A beauty school! I got to work and immediately looked up their price menu. $12 for a wax and $20 for a body salt scrub (wth is that?).

I went in for my appointment later that week and had vague memories of my mom bringing me to these fun places when I was young (man, that woman is full of great ideas!) . The wax was painful as usual but the body salt scrub was incredible. I was in a giant, humongous shower and instead of faucets in the wall, there were 6 of them attached to a long arm that extended over the bed I was laying in. It looked like a scene from the Saw movies. I disrobed and laid down. They (2 people!) laid a “modesty towel” over my lady bits and proceeded to scrub me down with a glorious smelling salt scrub. They showered me down with the Arm O’ Faucets (oh my gosh) and then dried and mosturized my body. I died and went to heaven. It was so intensely relaxing.

^Yes, please tell me more about your wonderful body treatments.

Anyway, all that was MORE than worth the $32 and teacher poking her head in every once in a while to make sure everything was going ok. Treat yourself to something nice and don’t feel guilty about it. Just Google “beauty school” in your home town.

**If you are one of my 55 wonderful followers, I received a very interesting comment on yesterday’s post and have since edited the content a bit. Please check it out quickly if you read yesterday. Thanks!

And have a WONDERFUL day! WOOOHOOOO, it’s Friday.

🙂

Produce: To Buy Organic or Not?

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I had a realization last night that I really want this blog to be about staying healthy with no time OR money. I think I’ve done pretty well with the no time but where’s the money guidance Ashley!? Where is it?

Organic produce: SUPER expensive but sometimes it’s really worth it. Here’s an easy to follow list of rules when buying produce. Or anything really.

Rule #1: If it’s available, buy LOCAL – this is because the closer you can get to where your food is produced, the more you can be comfortable that it’s not grown with any pesticides or other crappy chemicals. Also, the shorter the shipping distance, the more nutrients left when it hits your mouth. And you’re supporting your local economy! Here’s a guide to see if your community offers the best thing for local produce, farmer’s markets.

Rule #2: If it’s available, buy ORGANIC – again, chemicals (such as pesticides) are bad in food and very bad in your body. Get that stuff out of there! ~~Also, non organic produce is often genetically modified and much lower in nutrients.~~ [According to a study done by Stanford, link here, there are no more nutrients in organic food than conventionally grown. However, there is a strong but so far unstudied likelihood that the presence of pesticides affects your body so much that it is not able to absorb all the nutrients in the produce.] If you’re gonna eat an apple, might as well get all the good you can out of it, right?

Rule #3: If organic is too expensive or there’s a limited selection, follow the list of the CLEAN FIFTEEN and DIRTY DOZEN. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts out this awesome list every year of the cleanest and dirtiest produce on the market that year. If it’s on the clean fifteen, it has very few pesticides and isn’t a huge harm to your body. If it’s on the dirty dozen, only buy it organic because conventional farmers basically bathe it in a chemical bath.

^This is a great pocket guide you can download from the website but you should definitely check it out in all it’s glory. Here’s the link. I am signed up for the newsletter (they don’t bombard your inbox like I do) and I got the app for my phone so I can have it whenever I’m at the market.

How is your market’s selection of organic produce? What has been your organic buying practice up to now?

Don’t forget to smile 🙂

Workout Wednesday: 12 minutes and done! I swear.

Thankful Tuesday: Health

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What are you thankful for? Yes, there may be a few negatives floating around in your head but the more you force the good stuff to the front, the happier you will be. I don’t do this as much as I should but today is a day to focus on the positives!

I am thankful for:

1. My innate understanding of health. My parents (especially my Mom) raised me in an incredibly healthy household. I have found that I can teach people about health mostly from what I already know. That’s pretty awesome.

2. My body’s ability to fight the flu! It took over a week but I am 99% back to normal health. Yay! < and that without ANY medication, not even ibuprofen.

3. The happiness and health of my loved ones. I have had so little illness or loss in my life. I am SO SO thankful for that.

Ashley Life Updates: Shout out to my Gran! She was feeling really sick too last week. Get better Gran, love you.

So seriously, what are you thankful for on this fine day?

Sunday Recipe: Carolyn’s Squash Bowl

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My friend and fellow blogger posted this recipe on Friday and I made my own version that night for dinner. Here is her original post. She is an incredibly healthy and fit woman and I learn a ton of new stuff from her. Check out her blog!

I don’t really love the format of “reblogging” so I’m just going to copy/paste the recipe here.

“Roasted Stuffed Squash

This is a great fall meal and its easy to make, and lasts a while in the fridge. You’ll need:

Ingredients:

Acorn Squash (as many as you want to cook)

Quinoa (or any other easy-to-cook grain like brown rice, kamut, wheat berries, etc.)

Veggies (I usually use spinach and mushrooms, but you can add anything you want!)

Chickpeas (or black beans, or lentils, etc as you can see this recipe is really what you make of it)

Tiny bit of butter

Paprika

Sea Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Instructions:

1. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds (save these to cook later)

2. Put squash halves on a baking sheet and cook at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes (or until the squash is soft)

3. You can coat the seeds in olive oil and any spices you want and toss them in there on a baking sheet with parchment paper for about 10-15 minutes for a super tasty snack!

4. Cook up the quinoa (or whatever grain you’re using accordingly)

5. Saute those veggies

6. In a large bowl, mix the veggies, cooked quinoa, chickpeas, a tiny bit of butter and the paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste

7. When the squash is done, fill the centers with the veggie-quinoa mix and BOOM you’re done.

8. Grab a fork and get after it.

These things are small but very filling and nutritious so I usually just have one half at a time. Throw some plastic wrap over any of the extra squash halves and you’ve got yourself a delicious lunch for tomorrow, or easily reheatable dinner for another night this week. Enjoy!”

I filled our squash with veggies, kidney beans, and these egg noodles I’ve been wanting to try. I think it would be better with chickpeas and quinoa though. I’m also out of paprika so I used Jamaican All Spice.

There was a photo but it was lost in my recent phone disassembly. BOOO. I definitely plan on cooking it again though and will post photos when I do.

Thank you Carolyn! It was delicious.

Ashley Life Update: Mike and I are holed up in our apartment this weekend trying to get over the last of our flu/cold/strep throat. It’s times like these that make it very tough not taking any kind of medication (including ibuprofen). I’m relying on sleep and my body’s ability to heal itself. Man it takes some self-control though! Hopefully we can end today well and wake up tomorrow morning fresh as the day we were born! Hah. We shall see. I hope you’re all having wonderful Sundays.

SMILE 🙂

Friday Design: Me!

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Alright so yesterday I said I changed a big thing in my life. Well here it is, I got a hair cut! Haha. To some people, men especially, it may not seem like a huge deal but, to me, it’s huge. I chopped off about 6 inches of hair and now have a cut comparable to that of Justin Beiber. And I love it!

Here’s a short story for you: When I was in kindergarten, my mom was having my three siblings and my stress levels were through the roof (anxiety from a young age!). I never wanted to leave her side and when I did, I would pull my hair out. Literally. I would twirl it around my finger and pull it out. Eventually my parents had to cut it very short and everyone in my class called me a boy. It was awful. Every Christmas and birthday all I would ask for was “long hair like a princess.” My hair grows VERY slowly and, needless to say, when it finally hit mermaid length (long enough to cover the ta-tas) I was very attached to it.

I have had a couple of chops since my senior year of high school but nothing like this. The first one was to shoulder length and truly a terrible haircut so it scared me away from hairdressers for several years. Now, as a working adult, I realized that my hair was thin and straggly and it was an effort for me to look at all professional and put-together.

^ This is the “before.” I was just a little nervous.

So 5 days ago I decided to cut it all off. Thankfully, my mom has a pixie-like cut and looks beautiful and sexy in it so I had high hopes I could pull it off too. My main fears were that a)I would look like a boy, b) I would no longer be sexy, c) it takes a spunky and fun kind of person to pull off a haircut like that and d) I would look like a boy.

^ That’s a lot of hair.

Well check it out for yourself. I think that, yes, people could mistake me for a boy, until their eyes travel down and they see the curves I have going on. And yes, some people may not find a cut like this sexy, but who cares because Mike loves it! And yes, I AM a spunky, fun person and I CAN pull it off. It’s pretty crazy how a new cut has absolutely changed my perception of myself. I keep getting startled by my reflection, then eyeing myself and thinking, “dang, that’s actually kinda cool.”

^ And here it is! According to Mike it looks much better in person than in the photos. But I love it! ps. I did not color it, all natural baby!

BIG shout out to my Dad today. One year ago he started his own big redesign when he signed up for the Challenged Athletes Foundation Million Dollar Challenge. Together, he and his awesome friend Steve have raised $20,000 to help physically challenged athletes get back on their game. But that’s not all. Starting tomorrow and over the next 7 days, they will be riding 620 miles from San Francisco to San Diego. 620 MILES! I have no doubt that training and raising money for this ride has changed my dad’s life. He has been touched by so many athletes that he’s met along the way, and I’m pretty sure he’s been amazed at what he can still make his body do. I can say that I am in awe of his drive and enthusiasm for the cause. He has, once again, proven himself to be an incredible role model and wonderfully giving man. Go dad! I love you.

I hope you’re all having wonderful days. And don’t every be afraid to take the plunge and do something crazy.

🙂

GO DAD!!

A Happy Lass

One woman's journey to her healthiest body and mind.