Tag: health

Health Documentaries I Have Recently Watched

March 16, 2017 kimberlee

Recently I have watched quite a few health documentaries. Good health is important to me and I like to be informed and keep up with the latest info on health.

Here is a list of the health documentaries I have seen – some are available on Netflix and others I checked out from my local library. The library is a great source for books and dvd’s on health and well being, in my opinion.

Hungry For Change – I have seen this before in the past but it was good to review it again
Food Matters
Food Choices
Cowspiracy
Plant Pure Nation
Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue
Carb Loaded – A Culture Dying to Eat
In Defense of Food

The above, Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue I found at my local library. It is about a Texas firefighter, Rip Esselstyn, who eats a plant based diet and he goes to two different families homes to convert their pantries and their eating habits. I found it interesting and a good health documentary for someone looking to convert to better eating habits. He has also written several books based on the Engine 2 Diet. I am on a wait list at the library for his newest book called The Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue Diet. If my library has the book then I like to check it out there first and see if it is something I am interested in buying.

In Defense of Food is the most recent health documentary I have watched. I also found this at the library. This health documentary is a fairly recent release – it says 2015 on the back of the dvd case. I like the philosophy behind this which is “Eat Food – Not Too Much – Mostly Plants” -Michael Pollan. I find the information in this documentary reasonable and an easy to follow plan compared to some of the other health documentaries I have recently viewed.

Overall, these health documentaries all have a common thread – too many people are not eating the right foods and the health of our children and society in general is suffering. If more people focused on eating a plant based diet, avoiding processed foods and excess sugar then there are many conditions and health problems that can be avoided, or even in some cases reversed, according to claims in many of the health documentaries I have recently watched.

One of the reasons I have watched so many of these health documentaries lately is because I have an interest in maintaining good health and teaching my children to be healthy and be conscious of what they eat. Today there are so many food choices and lets face it – a lot of them are just really not that good for you. If I can influence my kids to have some idea of what is a healthy food and what isn’t then I feel like they are more likely to make better choices in the future as they get older.

After watching the Plant Pure Nation documentary on Netflix I found out that there are several cookbooks that go along with the documentary. I found the one above, Plant Pure Kitchen, at Barnes and Noble a couple weeks ago. I have already made a few of the recipes and they are good. (As you can see I have several marked to try with sticky tabs) My kids even like the nacho cheese sauce which is actually made without any cheese or milk and tastes great. There is a page that explains how to build, or make, veggie burgers that is informative and there are a few veggie burger recipes in the book, too. I have been making my own veggie burgers for the last six months and really do not miss beef.

The Get Healthy Go Vegan Cookbook was one I had checked out from the library and liked so I found it at Half Price Books last week and decided to purchase it. There are a lot of good recipes in this book as well and I have tried a few and enjoyed them. They are all plant based and easy to follow.

So, as far as going Vegan – as it seems many of the health documentaries suggest as being the best diet – I am not there yet. I am trying to eat less meat each week and to be honest with you I don’t really miss it. I think going without any type of cheese or dairy is a little harder though. Also, my husband and my three sons are probably not going to be too thrilled if I totally quit cooking meat or buying cheese. It is hard to change habits of others – probably harder than changing your own habits. So for now we are focusing on eating more vegetables, fruits and whole grains and I am sneaking in vegan or vegetarian recipes when I can.

-Kimberlee

Categories: Health

Tags: health, health cookbooks, health documentaries, healthy eating, plant based eating

Working Out Week 29 of 2014

July 19, 2014 kimberlee 7 Comments

This past week seemed to go by so fast! I can not believe we are more than halfway through the month of July! It has also cooled down here in Texas quite a bit the last couple of days and we got some much needed rain all day on Thursday. July is normally really hot so it is strange to be in the low 80’s for the high temperature of the day.

This week my workouts were as follows:

Sunday – Walk + Swimming – 45 minutes
Monday – Cathe Xtrain; All Out Low Impact Hiit, Step & Disc Cardio – 25 minutes
Tuesday – Ride Bike + Yoga outdoors on patio – 32 minutes
Wednesday – Cathe LIS; Turbo Barre, Upper-Lower Muscle Endurance, Legs with Band, Planks & Abs segments – 50 minutes
Thursday – ~~Walking~~ + Yoga – 20 minutes
Friday – Cathe Xtrain; Supercuts – 46 minutes
Saturday – Ride Bike + Yoga outdoors on patio – 32 minutes

Normally I take Sunday’s off but this past Sunday I decided to go for a late morning walk and in the afternoon I swam some laps in our pool. It was really hot that day and a great day to go swimming.

I decided to do some Cathe Friedrich Xtrain dvd’s this week. This dvd series is a couple of years old. There are some great cardio and weight routines in this series.

All Out Low Impact Hiit workout

Monday I did All Out Low Impact Hiit. I only did a 25 minute premix of the step and disc cardio that day as I was having some issues with a pesky sinus headache that came on Sunday evening and carried over into Monday. I was determined not to let it interfere with my workout schedule though. My cat showed up at the end for the stretch – apparently he wasn’t into working out that day either.

Wednesday I did the Low Impact Series from Cathe Friedrich – the Turbo Barre workout again. I am going to try and keep including this in my schedule once a week as I really like this workout even though its kind of long. It really seems to lengthen your whole body and strengthen and tone everything. This week I did a couple of the segments of the workout that I didn’t do last week. As you see the cat really likes this workout – he began it by standing on the floor behind the chair and jumping up over the back to get to the seat. Then he continued to jump around and chase his tail for a while. I guess that was his workout for the day.

I am also continuing to enjoy the warmer weather and ride my bike or walk in the mornings. This past week on Thursday I was going to walk again but it rained – thankfully as we really needed it. So, I decided to get out an old workout that I bought years ago. It is the Caribbean Workout Yoga For the Core. The show used to be on Fit TV and they also put out dvd’s. I think I got this on sale at Walmart. The dvd has three 20 minute segments on it. Both of my cats joined me that day for some yoga.

The other Xtrain workout I did was called Supercuts. I did the entire dvd which is 46 minutes long. It is a fun, fast paced and challenging workout that has cardio, weights and lots of core exercises. There are also several exercise that use the band with handles that are really great for the upper body and the core.

I made more granola this week since my one son ate most of the first batch I made last week. You can look at my workout post from week 28 to get the link to the granola recipe.

I also read a post last week on another blog I follow called the 100lb Countdown. The post was on smoothies and it gave me an idea to create this smoothie with carrots, orange juice and a nectarine.

I guess this smoothie came out more like a drink but I thought it had an interesting and pleasant taste. To make this you will need the following ingredients:

handful baby carrots
1 nectarine, cut up, pit removed, skin left on
2 spoonfuls plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water – more if needed
1/2 cup crushed ice

Place all of the above ingredients in a high powered blender like a ninja blender and pulse a few times then blend for about 1 to 2 min. on speed 8. You could also add a little honey if you wanted it a bit sweeter.

I have found that I like nectarines in my smoothies and have used them in a couple of my green smoothies as well. I recently read in a book I got from the library called The Juicing Diet that nectarines are good for detoxing, heart and bone health and for your skin.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Health Recipes

Tags: at home workouts, exercise, fit mom, fitness, health, smoothie, Smoothie Recipe, working out, workout routine, yoga

Working Out Week 9 of 2014

March 1, 2014 kimberlee 4 Comments

This last week of February has gone by so fast! I can not believe it is now March. This past week I completed week 8 of P90X3 and I also did a few extra workouts after my 30 minutes of P90X3 using one of my Exhale Core Fusion dvd’s. I like those workouts because they are pilates-yoga based and are divided into 10 minute segments. I did one segment each day this week after P90X3. I really like how the Exhale Core Fusion tone your whole body – especially your abs and they give you a great stretch, too.

This week was transition week again for P90X3 so the workouts were as follows:

Monday – Isometrix
Tuesday – Dynamix
Wednesday – Accelerator
Thursday – Pilates X
Friday – Agility X
Saturday – Yoga

Isometrix and the Pilates are probably still my favorites for this week. Below are the photos from those workouts:

The Exhale Core Fusion dvd I used this past week was the Lean and Toned. I did the following sessions: Pretzel & Core – did this twice, Upper Body, Flat-Round Back (very hard ab and thigh workout) and Gluteal toner. I have decided to try and start incorporating my Exhale Core Fusion workouts – since I have all of them – into my daily workout just for a 10 minute session. These workouts really help tone your whole body. Below are photos from the upper body session which is done with light weights. Try doing the push ups with your hands forming a triangle underneath you – it is hard.

This past week was also the start of another fitness challenge for me called Power of Vitality. This challenge is through my husbands work and spouses are allowed to participate. You receive points for your daily workouts and at the end of the challenge, which I forgot to check the specific date on, you get to go shopping with your points and possibly get something really nice depending on how many points you have. I think it is great that his company is encouraging their employees and their families to get fit and lead a healthy life style. The Power of Vitality website also has a lot of great health information and even healthy recipes. I tried one this past week. It was a rice dish made with brown rice, turmeric, coriander and sundried tomatoes. I had it for lunch two different days and it was really good.

Brown Rice with Sundried Tomatoes — Brown Rice with turmeric, coriander and sundried tomatoes

I am also reading the new Tony Horton book The Big Picture – 11 Laws That Will Change Your Life. I am now on Law 5 – I guess that would be chapter 5. So far I really like the book and it has a lot of great advice.

I hope everyone had a great February and are looking forward to an even better March. I am going to continue on with the P90X3 program and also try to do my Exhale Core Fusion dvd’s as a bonus workout.

Have a great day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Books Exercise Health

Tags: books, exercise program, exercising, Exhale Core Fusion, fitness, health, P90X3, reading, working out, workouts

Working Out Week 6 of 2014

February 8, 2014 kimberlee 1 Comment

This week was my completion of week 5 of P90X3. The schedule was different from the previous weeks. I would say the intensity has increased with the addition of some of the new dvd’s. The schedule for the past week and the next two weeks are as follows:

Monday – Triometrics
Tuesday – The Warrior
Wednesday – X3 Yoga
Thursday – MMX
Friday – Incinerator
Saturday – CVX
Sunday – Rest or Dynamix

The workouts that were new: Triometrics, MMX and Incinerator. Below are my photos from those workouts:

I really liked Triometrics. It was challenging for sure. Each move progressed into a more intense version of the move. I was definitely feeling this in my legs all over when I was done and the next morning.

MMX is a martial arts – kickboxing type of workout. I really like kickboxing workouts and enjoyed this one a lot. The time flew by because you were so busy punching, kicking and sprawling. A great cardio and total body workout.

Incinerator was not what I thought it was going to be. Based on the name I thought it would be some high intensity cardio workout but it was more of an upper body and core workout. The workout uses dumbbells or resistance bands, a pull up bar, if you have one, or a resistance band attached over a door and you also do lots of variations of push ups. The reps are not that high so I am thinking I need to up my weight next week. This past week I used 8 and 12 pound dumbbells. Next week I am going to try 10 and 15 and see how I do. I may have to use 8 for some of the tricep exercises. This is a great strength training workout and I felt it in the back of my arms and shoulders the next day. Especially since the morning after doing Incinerator I had to do CVX – the cardio workout that uses a dumbbell.

I am also big on motivational quotes and this was mine for the week:

I will update again next week on the workout program. I really like all the positive changes I am seeing from doing P90X3 – not just physically but even mentally. I think a good exercise program and being healthy really does give you a positive mental outlook. It probably does not happen over night but after a month or two you begin to see all the benefits.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Health

Tags: exercise, fitness, health, P90X3, P90X3 workout week 5, workouts

Working Out Week 3 of 2014

January 18, 2014 kimberlee 5 Comments

This week is my second week of my P90X3 challenge with my facebook group. The exercises this week were the same schedule as last week. You can see this post on Working Out Week 2 of 2014 for the complete schedule list. The first 3 weeks of the program you do the same schedule. Each day you do a different workout for 30 minutes 6 days a week. There is an option to workout on Sunday or take a rest. I usually take the rest day.

I think CVX is still my favorite in this rotation so far. I love how you use a dumbbell throughout most of the workout. I use 5 pounds which sounds like nothing but when you are doing cardio with that in your hands it feels heavy. There is also an option to not use any weight or just use a basketball. Tony says you could even grab a cat but I don’t think my cat would like that. Although my one cat was present for most of this workout – he sat on the ottoman supervising my form. Tony is funny throughout this whole workout with his comments. I enjoy having a laugh or two while I am working out.

This week I switched Agility X and the Isometix workout days. I did the Agility X on Friday and the Isometrix on Saturday. I had a busy day Saturday with my one son and his schedule for Orchestra so I wanted a workout on Saturday morning that was not a hard cardio session where I get drenched in sweat. Isometrix is not easy by any means but I do not tend to work up a huge sweat doing that one.

Last week I did not care for Agility X but I liked it a little better this week. You have to have tape on the floor to mark where you stand, step, jump, etc. It is a hard workout in my opinion and takes some coordination with the footwork. You also really get the heart rate up and sweat a lot.

My other favorite workout in this three week rotation is called Isometrix. It is a yoga based workout where you hold each pose for 45 seconds. The poses are challenging and to hold them for almost a minute is very hard. It is a great total body workout that you can really feel in your core.

I was able to do one of the moves in Isometrix better this week called bound downdog split. You have one hand on the mat and the other on your opposite ankle and the leg that doesn’t have a hand on the ankle in the air. Last week my hand on the mat would sweat and slip a lot so this week I remembered that I had some yoga gloves that have grips on them. The gloves were a gift last year from my husband – they go with my yoga grip socks that I use in the winter. I had not ever used the gloves and decided today was the day to try them out. They worked really well for the bound downdog split and for doing the crane pose.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and keeping up with their workouts. I will post again next weekend on the results of week 3 of P90X3. Also, just to let you know I am not affiliated with the workout I am just posting my thoughts and sharing my own opinions.

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: exercise, fitness, fitness routine, health, working out

Proactive Health and Fitness Plan

July 9, 2013 kimberlee 3 Comments

First off, let me start this post by saying I am not a health or fitness expert. I am a mom of 3 boys, ages 15 and two 12 year olds, who has developed a plan for maintaining good health and working out regularly. I do this on my own, mostly, by reading books and magazines and using various fitness dvd’s to work out. I have never belonged to a gym or been on any type of diet plan.

The following is my guide to being proactive with health and fitness:

Exercise – 4 to 6 times per week for at least 20 to 45 minutes each workout.

plan your workouts in advance, for the week – see this workout schedule table by kimberlees korner – it is what I use – it is a blank table that you can fill in your schedule for the week
Do your workout at a convenient time – like before your kids get up – get up 30 to 45 minutes earlier each day. It will be hard at first but you get used to it and then your workout is done for the day.
Rotate your workouts for variety. I like to do a variety of different types of exercise. I do cardio one week then yoga the next week then maybe strength training alternating the strength workouts with biking outside or swimming laps. Variety keeps you from getting bored and it keeps the metabolism going strong. There are tons of different dvd’s available – check your local library. That is how I started with yoga and pilates 10 years ago by checking out books and dvd’s from my local library and then I started buying them.

Meal Planning – a must for anyone who has a busy family or a busy life

Plan meals at the beginning of each week so you will know what you need to buy to cook and you won’t have a last minute excuse of not having the right ingredients to cook a meal and have to go out to eat.
Find healthy recipes via books, blogs, pinterest or from friends. There are lots of blogs that feature easy to prepare meals that are healthy.
Try to eat only fresh food and not pre-packaged food that is filled with things that you don’t want to be eating – I know sometimes this is hard to do with a family and a busy schedule.

Keep a Food Journal

Keep track of what you eat throughout the day to see how many calories you consume – see what you need to adjust. Personally I don’t keep a journal but I think it is helpful if you are just starting a fitness and health plan to do this for a while.

Keep Healthy Snacks on Hand

Get rid of all junk foods items and pre-packaged snacks that may tempt you
Keep lots of fresh fruits and vegetable around for snacks
Look on pinterest or the internet for tips and ideas of healthy snack items
Do not drink any soda

Don’t Deprive Yourself of Things You Like

Have dessert 2 or 3 times a week – a reasonable portion! Personally I eat ice cream with my kids at least 2 or 3 nights per week for dessert after dinner – but only 1 or 1 1/2 scoops, not 3 or 4.

Don’t Eat Late at Night – I try to never eat anything past 7:30 pm at night.

Don’t Skip Breakfast or Any Other Meals

Drink a Protein Shake Every Morning for Breakfast

This is a great way to start your day right with some fruit and protein and some added fiber to keep you full. Personally I think this gives me a lot more energy each morning than eating a big breakfast.
Here are 2 of the shakes-drinks I have been making lately and really enjoy. Both recipes make a pretty large shake so I often save some to drink a couple hours later for a mid morning snack.
Chocolate Cherry Protein Smoothie from Kimberlees Korner blog

cina-cranberry protein drink from kimberlees korner blog

Drink Plenty of Water Throughout the Day

Add lemon slices to water for a little flavor and cleansing of your insides
Add a splash of cranberry juice or make cranberry ice cubes from the juice to detoxify the liver

Take a Quality Multi Vitamin Every Day

The above information are the things I do daily to take care of myself and be fit and healthy. I began my fitness and health journey over 10 years ago when my twin boys were about 2 years old. It really helped me with my energy and keeping up with 3 children when I started incorporating healthy habits with regular workouts.

Discipline is the key in making a fitness plan work. I discipline myself each week to write down my workout schedule and hold myself accountable to it each week. Most research and experts agree it takes 21 days to form a new habit but you have to get started and stick with it. Eventually it will just be part of who you are and part of your daily routine. My daily workout is one of the best parts of my day.

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Categories: Exercise Health

Tags: exercise plan, fitness, health