This past week I decided to do lower impact workouts along with yoga.  My workouts this week were:

• Monday – Yoga – Light Up Practice from YJ magazine + 2 yoga ab moves – 20 min.
• Tuesday – off – rode bike to store for groceries
• Wednesday – Cathe – LIS – Turbo Barre + 2 yoga ab moves – 32 min.
• Thursday – Cathe-LIS- Slide n Glide Muscle Conditioning premix + 2 yoga ab moves – 32 min.
• Friday – Yoga with weights routine + 2 yoga ab moves – 20 min.
• Saturday – Yoga – Shine On Practice from YJ magazine – 20 min.

Turbo Barre is one of my favorites on the Low Impact Series dvd’s.  For a while I was trying to do this one once a week.  My cat loves this one as he gets to sit on that chair and jump around trying to get his tail when he is not watching me.

Slide n Glide is another great lower impact workout on this dvd collection from Cathe Friedrich. I chose to do the floor work – or muscle conditioning – portion of the dvd on this day.  Those slide discs give you an awesome workout.  This is another cat approved workout.

The other three days I worked out this week I did yoga.  I used some of my Yoga Journal magazine practices that I have clipped out from the magazines and I keep them in a three ring binder.

One of the reasons for the lighter schedule this week is because I decided to do a juicing diet of sorts this past week.  I didn’t do an entire cleanse or detox as I did eat something light for breakfast and lunch along with my juice I made.  I also ate dinner with my family as I usually cook every night anyhow and it is typically a healthy meal so I didn’t give up eating dinner for juicing.   

The photo above is of the new juicer I bought last week.  I am really liking my new appliance.  I am having fun trying different juices and enjoying the health benefits of the juice, too.  I really like juices that have carrots in them and they are so good for you.  I am amazed too at how full you feel after drinking one of these juices.  I guess you figure that it contains quite a bit of fruits and vegetables and you are getting all the good micro nutrients from them.  I also notice that I have a lot of energy and I am sleeping really well, although I don’t usually have sleep issues – I seem to be sleeping more deeply.

After watching the Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead dvd I checked out from the library last week I got much more interested in juicing and the benefits of it.  I know for many, like Joe in the documentary, it is to lose weight and get healthy.  I consider myself pretty healthy but I figured juicing might improve my health even more and give my body better nutrition.  Some days it is just really hard to eat five or six servings of fruits and vegetables each day.  When I look at all the things I have juiced this past week there is no way I would have been able to eat all of that.

Also, even though I was eating along with juicing I did notice some change in my waist and hips as in losing an inch or half an inch here and there.  I was impressed since I was not striving toward losing anything – just goes to show you this process works if you try it.  But, as Joe mentions in the dvd there seems to be a lot of people not even willing to try it for a few days.   I will say if you do decide to try it around the second day you may want to be close to home and near a restroom.  My body was for sure detoxing some things that day after having a juice in the morning and another for lunch – this was my second day doing that.  I didn’t feel terrible just a little fatigued for a couple of hours and was glad I was at home since it was a Sunday afternoon.

The juice in the above picture was one I made a couple of days ago and it was so good.  It had a sweet potato and carrots in it along with a couple of other things.  The recipe was from a book I checked out from the library last weekend called Joyful Juicing.  There are lots of great recipes in this book.  I tried another one today – a green variety and it was kind of tart with a whole lemon in it along with spinach and cucumber but I liked it.  It also makes you feel so healthy after drinking it and you have natural energy for hours.

One thing I have noticed about the juices is that I like them better cold so I put ice in them when I drink them.   I also have refrigerated them for a few hours before drinking them and then I don’t need any ice.  I know all the info I have read says to drink it immediately for the most benefits but I find that refrigerating them for several hours or even a day makes them tastes better to me.  I have even gotten my three sons to try some of them and they said they were okay – not all of them but a few.  Since I have been buying so much produce the kids seem to be eating more apples and oranges too, so that is good.

The other book I have checked out from the library on juicing is from Joe Cross, the creator and person behind the Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead documentary.  This book is excellent for explaining what a reboot is and how to do one step by step.  It also gives you recipes and shopping lists for what you need to be successful.  I mentioned before I am not interested in doing a complete reboot as I don’t feel the need to lose weight but I am reading the book and learning so much about the juicing process and all it has to offer.  There are also plans in the book for people like me who don’t want a full juice diet and will be eating along with juicing.  So far the recipes I have tried from his book are excellent.

When you juice your produce the juicer produces pulp from you fruits and vegetables.  The book the juicer came with and the Reboot with Joe book give you some recipes for using the pulp.  I decided to use my $2.50 book I got from Tuesday Morning a couple of weeks ago and make my own Whole Grain Carrot Bread using the carrot pulp.  This bread is so good.  The pulp from the juicer is so fine you can hardly tell it is in the bread.  This recipe from the book had lots of whole grains in it like whole wheat flour and flaxseed meal and only one tablespoon of honey for the sugar.  It is a yeast bread so I made the dough in my bread machine on the dough cycle and then baked it in the oven after letting it rise in the bread pan.  So far everyone likes it and it is great toasted.  I feel so healthy when I eat something like this that is made by me with whole grains and natural ingredients.

Weekly Fit Tip:  Eat right to see results      “You are what you eat”

Working out is important to overall health and so is eating correctly.  You can not expect good results from exercise if you are still eating and drinking things that are not healthy.

– Strive for at least 5 to 7 fruits and vegetable per day – get a juicer to help you achieve this or make green smoothies in a blender

– Eat whole grains

– Cut back on meat – especially red meat; eat fish at least once per week and more chicken   – try for at least one day per week of no meat – I try and do a meatless Monday (I just don’t tell my family)

– Cut back on caffeine and sugary coffee drinks and soda

– Cut back or eliminate all alcohol – you will feel much better and think more clearly

– Keep sugary foods to a minimum – I will eat dessert but only a couple of times a week and usually a smaller portion and something homemade so I know the ingredients in it

– Drink LOTS of water every day!

– Plan meals and fix and freeze things ahead of time when you can

– Keep processed or pre-packaged foods out of your house – if you have kids this is hard but I try and keep them to a minimum and buy things that are at least partially healthy (if that is at all possible with pre-packaged items I am not sure but I do read labels and look for fiber content and sugar amounts, etc)

– Read food labels and think before you buy

I hope everyone had a great first week of Fall.  I am glad it is starting to cool down here a little – although I hear it might be back to 90 in a few days.

-Kimberlee