Category: Food

New Kitchen Gadget

Well, I finally decided to get with the spiralizing craze.  I know that spiralizers have been popular for a while now but I was reluctant to buy another gadget that I would have to find room for in my kitchen.  After picking up a book from the library about a month ago on spiralizing foods I got motivated to do some research on them and figure out which one would work for me and my needs.  The book I found and really liked a lot of the recipes in was called Inspiralized by Ali Maffucci.  Inspiralized book from library

So, the book (above) actually inspired me to get my spiralizer.  The one I choose to purchase was the attachment for my kitchen aid mixer.  I watched a couple of videos on YouTube about the attachment then went to Bed Bath and Beyond with my 20 percent off coupon and bought one.  I looked at a couple of other ones that were manual (and cheaper) but this one that operates with the mixer motor seemed like it would be much quicker and easier to spiral certain things like sweet potatoes that are kind of hard.  kitchen aid spiralizer attachment

Above is a photo of the attachment – it even has an optional peeler that will peel your fruit or vegetable as it spirals it.  The whole thing works really well in my opinion.  I have been using it at least 4 or 5 times a week since I bought it about a month ago.  This is a really great way to eat more fruits and vegetables.  I really like how it spirals everything very uniform and it is fun to cook with zucchini or yellow squash noodles.  It also makes fun curly fries – regular or sweet potato – that you can bake in the oven.  My husband and I love the sweet potato strings or fries.  I have made those a few times now.

kitchen aid spiralizer with apple

kitchen aid spiralizer with peeled apple

Above photos are of the attachment spiralizing an apple and it will peel it at the same time.  This is perfect for apple crisps or pies.  Once they are spiraled you just cut them into fourths and use them in your recipe.  I have also made a wonderful cranberry applesauce in my crock pot twice and these apple are great for that recipe.

There are lots of great recipes on pinterest using spiralizers and you can find several books as well.  I found a few books at my local library and have told my son I would like the book Inspiralize Everything by Ali Maffucci for Christmas.  I like the recipes in that book a lot and it explains how to spiralize fruits and vegetable from A to Z.  I am also taking some of my existing recipes and converting them to use spiraled fruits or veggies – it is a fun way to cook and increase the amount of nutrition in your diet.

So, overall I really love this new attachment.  If you are thinking of buying one I would recommend it.  It is easy to use, easy to clean – the 4 blades it comes with are dishwasher safe, the main attachment that goes on the mixer you just wipe off but it really does not even touch the food items that much.  Also, it comes in a very nice box that all the pieces fit in and can be stored in a cabinet or your pantry.

I hope everyone is having a great December and has a Merry Christmas!

-Kimberlee

 

Fitness for October 2015

The month of October is almost over…tomorrow is Halloween and the time will fall back this weekend.  This past month I followed a pretty intense workout schedule using my Cathe Friedrich programs – Xtrain and Ripped with Hiit and doing yoga.   I am trying to ramp up my workouts some and get ready for her new series that I have already pre-ordered called ICE which stands for Intermediate Conditioning Extreme.  The title itself makes it sound like the workouts will be a challenge.  The workouts are coming out the end of fall 2015.

Cathe workouts for my October schedule Kimberlees Korner

I alternated my weeks in October with one week Xtrain mixed with yoga a couple of days and then the next week Ripped with Hiit and yoga.  I averaged a 5 to 6 day a week workout schedule with 2 of my days being yoga.

crocheted yoga props and Yoga Journal magazine Kimberlees Korner

For my yoga routines I used this older Yoga Journal magazine I bought back in April 2013.  I also used my new crocheted yoga props that I made myself on many of my yoga days.  For more on the crochet pillow and strap see this post.

I love doing yoga on my non cardio days.  I really enjoy yoga on Saturday mornings, too – it is a great start to my weekend to get up early Saturday, before 7 am, and do 20 to 30 minutes of yoga.  Yoga also helps keep me flexible after the intense cardio and weight workouts I do.

I have also started juicing again this month.  I kind of put my juicer away a few months ago and got out of the habit of using it.  I decided it was time to start up again.  I love buying the produce and looking through my juicing books for interesting juice combinations.  I think the reason I don’t keep up with it on a daily basis is because of the clean up involved with the juicer parts – it doesn’t take that long but it is something else to have to do when you are done juicing.  I find it works better if I make two or three juices up and store them in mason jars in the refrigerator so I don’t have to drag the juicer out every day.

 

Juicing book

A benefit I notice with juicing is how good I feel and how much more focused I am.  I also think it helps influence better eating choices.  My goal is to have a fresh juice at least 4 to 5 times each week.

Fresh Kale from my garden Kimberlees Korner

The fresh kale, in the photo above, is from my garden.  This was something else to motivate my juicing.  I grew some last year and used it with my juicer and remembered how much better it tasted and juiced than the kind I buy.  I grew some again this year, from seed, and it is doing really well lately.  It tends to not grow so good in the hot Texas heat in the summer but does very well in the spring and fall weather.

So, what kind of workouts have you been doing lately?  Let me know in the comments below.

Have a great day!

-Kimberlee

EOM Fitness for June 2015

The end of June is now here – I can hardly believe it!  I continued this past month with a four day a week workout schedule mainly doing cardio, weights and yoga – not all on the same day though.  The workouts I used were mainly Cathe Friedrich and yoga sequences from my Yoga Journal magazine that I mentioned in my May post.

Cathe Ripped With Hiit

weight lifting cat

As you can see in the above photo my cat is present as usual and ready to lift some heavy  weights.  He was actually laying on the 20 pound dumbbells just before I got my camera and took this photo.  I guess that is his version of lifting the weights – to lay on them.

I have also been able to ride my bike a couple of times this past month and do some swimming in our pool now that the rainy weather has subsided for us.  We still get a shower about once a week but nothing like we had in May.

kitchen aid ice cream attachment

I have been making my own ice cream for the past couple of months and really like this new attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer that makes awesome ice cream with just a few ingredients.  I basically mix together 2 cups of half and half, 2 cups heavy cream, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon vanilla, chill it for a couple hours, then add it to the freezer bowl attachment while it is running and in 20 minutes you have made ice cream – or actually the attachment has made it for you – you do have to put it in a container and put it in the freezer and let it sit for a couple more hours to firm up.  It is the best ice cream ever and all three of my sons love it.

I realize ice cream is not really a health food but in my opinion all things in moderation are fine.  I have been enjoying my new homemade ice cream – in small portions – about three times a week this summer.

cherries and cherry pitter

Another thing I have been enjoying this summer is fresh cherries.  I really like them but hate pitting them.  I was doing the pitting by hand so I could use the cherries in recipes and then read about a cherry pit removing tool.  I decided to get one last week and I am so glad I did – it removes the cherry pits quickly and leaves the cherries basically whole.  The other way I was doing it was more or less by cutting them in half to get the pits out so I had cherry halves.

I hope your June was a successful month for exercising and making healthy choices.

Take care,

-Kimberlee

 

 

Baking Homemade Bread

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This past month I have been baking a lot of homemade bread.  While I have always made homemade breads I mainly used my bread machine with the dough cycle and then baked them in the oven.  After checking out a new book from the library, called Make Ahead Bread by Donna Currie I have decided I like using my Kitchen Aid Mixer (which is 21 years old by the way and a wedding gift from my aunt) to create some really great homemade bread that my whole family seems to love.

Oatmeal Honey Date Bread

The first recipe I tried from the Make Ahead Bread book was this Oatmeal Honey Date Loaf.  This bread is so good toasted in the morning for breakfast, especially with a homemade walnut butter or almond butter.  I also used some of the leftover slices that were getting a few days old to make french toast that was another great breakfast.

Oatmeal Honey Date Loaf

The concept of this book, Make Ahead Bread, is really simple and makes baking homemade bread manageable for anyone, even those who have a busy schedule.  Basically you make up the bread in your mixer with a dough hook the day or evening before, let it rise once for about an hour, then shape it into your loaf or place in a bread pan.  After those steps you then refrigerate the bread where it continues to slowly rise some more, take it out the next morning or approximately 24 hours later and then bake according to the directions.

There are lots of great recipes in this bread book that go beyond a normal loaf of bread.  The book has recipes for buns and rolls as well as flatbreads, pizza crust and pastries.  There are also some recipes for what to use the leftover bread for and some spreads and nut butters, too.  So far I have made the loaf above as well as Sourdough Rye Bread, White Wheat Loaf and the Hamburger Buns recipes.  All of them have turned out great.  I like the book so much and the recipes that I have tried that I decided to buy it so I now have my own copy.

I have also discovered that using good quality flours and other ingredients is crucial to having the bread turn out well.   A few weeks ago I decided to break down and pay the extra couple of dollars for the Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour instead of the other bread flour I was buying at the grocery store.  I love this bread flour!  If you go to the Bob’s Red Mill site you can get a coupon for a dollar off.

Artisan Bread Flour from Bob's Red Mill

There was a recipe on the label of it that I also tried and have made twice now called the Amish Country Loaf.  This bread is a basic white bread recipe and it makes two loaves but I decided to make some of the dough into sandwich buns that turned out good.

Amish Country Loaf Bread

Amish Country Loaf

 

Recipe for Amish Country Bread from Artisan Bread package

Above is the recipe from the package of the Artisan Bread.  It is a very simple recipe with just a few ingredients and it tastes wonderful.

21 year old Kitchen Aid Mixer

The above photo is of my Kitchen Aid mixer.  This mixer was one of the best wedding gifts and I am so thankful to my aunt who bought it for us 21 years ago.  It is still a workhorse (with a few scratches) and it is trying some new things now that we have bought the meat grinder attachment and the ice cream attachment – both work well.  I have not bought ice cream in a few months now and it is very easy to make your own with the kitchen aid attachment – the key to it is to make sure you keep the mixer bowl for the ice cream in the freezer all the time and to make sure you add cold ingredients to it when making the ice cream.  I find that it is still soft, kind of like soft serve ice cream, after 20 minutes of churning but once you freeze it for couple of hours it firms up.

I have recently checked out another bread baking book out from the library called The Big Book of Bread from Betty Crocker.  I tried the french bread recipe from there today and we will be having it with dinner tonight.  This book has a lot of various yeast bread recipes as well as quick breads, coffee cakes and muffins and gluten free recipes, too.  I foresee another book purchase in my future since I really like a lot of the interesting recipes in this book.  There are also recipes for using your bread machine.

I am so glad I have gotten more use out of my Kitchen Aid dough hook.  I use the mixer all the time with the regular mixer attachment or the whisk attachment but have not used the dough hook much at all in the past 20 years.  The dough hook is now making up for lost time in the past few weeks.

Do you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer and if so what are your favorite things to make with it?  Also, if you have a good bread recipe let me know about it in the comments.

Have a great day!

-Kimberlee

 

EOM Fitness for March 2015

Well, I have taken a couple of weeks off blogging but I have still been working out in the mornings.    I am finding that as the weather is getting nicer here I have so many other things that are taking up my time as well as three kids, a husband and a household to run so I am just not finding the time to get all the blogging posts in I had planned for the past month.  Well, there is always another month to get those in.

For the past month I have stuck to a workout schedule of doing cardio or weights one day and then yoga the next – pretty much five or six days a week.  I used some of my older and newer Cathe Friedrich workout dvd’s for cardio or weights and then yoga books, dvd’s or magazines that I have for my yoga routines.  Below are a couple of photos from the Cathe Cross Fire workout that the cat and I really like.

Cathe Cross Fire workout

Working out to Cathe Cross Fire workout

As always the cat is ready and waiting to workout.  Even this morning when I did a different Cathe workout with weights he was sitting by the weights.

Cat waiting to do Cathe Cross Fire workout

In addition to working out regularly I have still continued to do my juicing or smoothies daily.  I have been doing one or the other.  I like my juices but getting that juicer out and doing all the juicing takes a lot of time so I have gone to doing that once or twice a week.  I usually make up a few and store them in mason jars and label them.  They keep well for at least two or three days.

I have bought a couple of new juicing books in the last couple of months and have been using them for some of my juicing recipes.  One of them is the book below – The Big Book of Juices.  I think I got this at Sams Club.  There are lots of great recipes in this book and even some smoothies and refreshing fruit and tea drinks for summer.  I really like this book and the format of it.

Juicing Book

I have been using some of the juice recipes and incorporating them into my smoothies.  This is a good way to use up any of the juice before it goes bad since I tend to make up a few ahead of time.   One of my creations is this awesome Apricot Orange Smoothie.  I have made it a few times and love it.

Apricot Orange Smoothie

 

Apricot Orange Smoothie Recipe

  • 5 dried apricots soaked in water for about 20 minutes
  • half of a peeled orange – seeds removed
  • 1 Tbls chia gel – this is chia seeds soaked in water
  • 1/2 c. orange carrot juice – from juicer
  • 1/2 tsp maca powder – good for energy and hormones
  • 1 nectarine cut up, stone removed

Blend all of the above ingredients in a high speed blender for about 1 to 2 minutes.  Serves one.

Well, I hope everyone is doing well and starting to enjoy the nicer spring weather.  I have gotten my gardens ready and ordered some plants so I will probably be spending more time outside and less time on the computer for a while.  I am finding that to get things done I have to unplug more and start doing – like right now I am off to make some healthy chocolate chip muffins for my family.

Have a great week!

-Kimberlee

 

Healthy Smoothies with Goji Berries

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A year or so ago I learned of a new berry called goji berries.  Apparently they are poplular in Chinese medicine and considered to be a fruit of longevity.  These little dried berries are a real superfood that can aid the immune system.

Blueberry Goji Smoothie
Blueberry Smoothie with Goji berries

The little bright red dried berries – pictured in the photo above – can be eaten by themselves, kind of like dried cranberries, or you can add them to other foods like a smoothie.  That is how I prefer to have my goji berries – in a refreshing fruit smoothie.

Chia Seed Gel

The other superfood ingredient I have recently rediscovered and am using in my smoothies is chia seed gel.  Chia seed gel is really simple to make.  To make the gel you take about 2 Tbls of chia seeds or I use Spectrums ground chia seeds and then add about 3/4 to 1 cup of filtered water and stir, allow it to sit for 20 to 30 minutes and stir again – it should be a gel.  I put mine in a mason jar and label it and date it – I usually use it within a week in my smoothies or even yogurt or oatmeal.  I like adding this gel to my smoothies to thicken them a little and to provide extra fiber and antioxidants plus omega-3’s.

Today I am going to share a couple of my recent smoothie creations using goji berries and chia gel.  To make these smoothies it is best to have a high speed, good quality blender, like a Ninja blender which is what I use.

The first one is Blueberry Goji – this one is super healthy with the blueberries and rhubarb plus the goji berries and the chia gel.  This is great for breakfast or for a snack.

Blueberry Goji Smoothie Recipe

 

The other smoothie I recently made and love the taste of is Peaches n Cream Smoothie.  This one is also great for breakfast or a snack – the frozen peaches make it really creamy along with the peaches n cream greek yogurt.

peaches n cream smoothie

 

What kinds of smoothies do you like to make?  Let me know in the comments – I am always looking for new smoothies to try.

Have a great day!

-Kimberlee

Working Out Week 46 of 2014

The workouts I chose to do this week focused on weights and then yoga on non weight days.  Workouts were as follows:

  • Monday – Cathe High Reps Upper Body Premix – 39 min.
  • Tuesday – off
  • Wednesday – Cathe – Drill Max Total Body Mix – 52 min.
  • Thursday – Shiva Rea AM Daily Energy – 28 min.
  • Friday – Cathe – High Reps Lower Body Premix – 35 min.
  • Saturday – Shiva Rea AM Daily Energy – 28 min.

Cathe High Reps Workout

The Cathe High Reps workout dvd is a total body workout with weights and you do a lot of reps of the same exercise but with some count variations or holding.  The workout has several premixes and I did the upper body premix on Monday and the lower body premix on Friday, so I used this dvd twice this week.  You definitely feel this workout the following day – excellent for muscle conditioning.

Cathe Drill Max

Drill Max is an older Cathe dvd and is another total body conditioning workout.  It actually has cardio mixed with various drills of weights but there is a premix that is called Total Body that I used which is just the weights and no cardio.  You can see my personal trainer – the cat – cheering me on while sitting on my workout step in the one photo above.

ShivaRea AM Daily Energy Yoga

I used the same yoga dvd twice this past week – the Shiva Rea AM Daily Energy.  I did different sequences on the dvd – on Thursday I did the Core Awakening and Body Mandala and had both of my cats join me for that one – they were both waiting for me on either end of the mat before I started.  On Saturday I did the Vira and Shavasana sequences.  I love starting my Saturday morning with a little yoga early in the morning.

Oatmeal with Cranberry Sauce and honey

I have been buying fresh cranberries in large quantities lately from Aldi since they are so inexpensive there.  Anyhow.  I made some cranberry sauce the other day and have enjoyed it a couple of times this past week in my morning oatmeal with a little honey.  It is a great way to start the day and the oatmeal keeps me full for hours.  Also, it has been quite chilly here in Texas this past week and having something warm for breakfast is important on chilly days, in my opinion.

CranApple Juice with cider spice and honey
Fresh Cranberry Apple Juice with 1/2 tsp cider spice mix and 1 tsp manuka honey

I have been using my juicer but not quite as much this week – probably due to the colder weather.  I did decide to heat up a juice I made with fresh cranberries and apples and then add some cider spices and a teaspoon of manuka honey – it was a delicious warm drink on a cold day.  Also, the whole combination made me feel very healthy.

As the holiday are quickly approaching I am going to try my best to workout at least four or five days per week.  I am thinking of cutting back to four for the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas just because there is so much going on between family, church, friends, baking, cooking and shopping.  I have decided that I can’t do it all, all of the time.  Therefore I may even skip a week of my weekly workout post if I am just too busy – I am sure everyone can relate.

Weekly Fitness Tip:  Change your schedule or routine as needed

– This is a busy time of year – don’t completely quit working out but adjust your schedule to fit in at least a few workouts per week or maybe two 10 minute workouts per day – one in the morning and one in the evening

– Do circuit training or Hiit – high intensity interval training – to get the most out of your workouts in a short amount of time

– Working out will help you deal with the stress of the holidays better and keep you focused on being healthy during this time of year

– Remember to include some yoga or stretching workouts to de-stress and balance you

I hope everyone had a great week and is staying warm – winter seems to have come early in most parts of the United States this past week.  Let me know what your workout plans are for the next week or for the Thanksgiving holiday week coming up.

– Kimberlee

 

Working Out Week 45 of 2014

The first full week of November has gone by – hard to believe it will be Thanksgiving soon.  My workouts this week were cardio and yoga workouts.  The workouts I did are listed below:

  • Monday – Cathe Friedrich Party Rockin Step 2 – Step Mix – 46 min.
  • Tuesday – off
  • Wednesday – Cathe Intensity Timesaver #6 Step + Hiit Lo – 47 min.
  • Thursday – Shiva Rea Yogini – Backbend sequence – 30 min.
  • Friday – Cathe Party Rockin Step 2 Timesaver 1 – 33 min.
  • Saturday – Shiva Rea Yogini – 19 min.

Cathe Intensity workout

Cat watching exercise dvd

Intensity is a Cathe workout that I have had for several years but had not used in a while.  I really like this dvd and there are lots of premix options so you don’t have to do the entire dvd.  The workouts are fast paced and fun and as you can see even my cat likes to watch them – he sat there right on the TV stand and watched the video for at least 5 minutes.  After I was done using the step and doing the stretch at the end he decided to jump on and off and try to go under the step – which was too low.  I guess that was his version of the step workout.

Shiva Rea Yogini

The yoga dvd I used this week was the same for both days but different sequences.  The dvd was Shiva Rea Yogini.  This was another dvd I had not used in a while and was so glad I pulled it out this week.  It is more of a female yoga routine and I love all the backbending sequences – I really felt this in my core on Friday.

Cathe Party Rockin Step 2

The Party Rockin Step 2 dvd is a little over a year old and I have used in the past.  I chose to do this one twice this week.  This is another dvd that offers a lot of variety and different premixes so both of the mixes I did were different.  Lots of sweating with this step dvd.  As you can see the cat is once again photo bombing in the one picture.

Oatmeal with Jif Whips Pumpkin Spice and manuka honey

I created a new oatmeal recipe for breakfast and ate it a couple of mornings this past week.  The weather is cooler now – especially in the morning – and it is nice to eat a warm bowl of oatmeal.  I found this Jif Whips Pumpkin Pie Spice at the store the other day and decided it would be good stirred into a bowl of plain oatmeal and I also added a teaspoon of Manuka honey for added health benefits.  This was really good and I will be making more in the weeks to follow.

Cranberry Orange Juice

I am still using my juicer but not as much in the past week.  I guess with the weather cooling down I am looking for warmer things to eat and drink in the morning.  I have found a few juice recipes though that taste good warmed.  One of my favorite recipes lately is cranberry orange juice which is pictured above.  I drink this one cold, not warm.  Now that cranberries are in season I have been buying them frequently and using them in my juice recipes.  Cranberries are so good for you.

Weekly Fitness Tip:     Eat More Fiber

– Fiber makes you feel full longer and helps you maintain a healthy weight

– Fiber is good for your digestive system and keeps you regular

– Fiber is very healthy and good for lowering your cholesterol

– Fiber controls your blood sugar levels

I hope everyone had a great week.

– Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Food Health

Working Out Week 44 of 2014

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The first day of November has arrived along with much cooler temperatures here in Texas.  I am glad though – I am ready for a seasonal change.  It seems like the weather was cooler for a few days here and there in October but for the most part it still seemed like summer.

Workouts this week were all from my Cathe Friedrich X-train dvd set.  They were as follows:

  • Monday – Cathe – Hard Strikes – 46 min.
  • Tuesday – off
  • Wednesday – Cathe Supercuts premix 10 – 39 min.
  • Thursday – Cathe – Legs – Barre, Ball and Chair and Floorwork – 48 min.
  • Friday – Cathe – Tabatacise – premix 2 – 37 min.
  • Saturday – Cathe – Bi’s and Tri’s –  premix 6 – 32 min.

I once again changed my pace of workouts from the past week.  The X-train dvd’s are all great and provide a challenging workout for your body.  I also like how these dvd’s have so many premixes on them so you can do a longer or a shorter workout.

Cathe Hard Strikes workouts

Hard Strikes is a super fun kickboxing workout that uses weighted gloves or actual boxing gloves.  I don’t have any boxing gloves so I just use the weighted gloves.  As you can see the cat likes this workout and is making sure I get it done.

Supercuts Workout

The Supercuts workout is a total body workout using weights and the slide and glide discs.  Another cat approved workout.

Cathe Legs Workout

The Cathe Legs workout was one I had not used in a while.  I chose to do the Barre (uses a chair), Chair and Ball and Floor portions of this dvd.   This was certainly an excellent workout for all parts of the legs and rear.  I was feeling it well into the next day.  The cat loves the chair and has to sit on it whenever I have it out.

Cathe Bis and Tris workout

I usually do yoga on Saturdays but decided to stick with the X-train workout dvd’s and chose a heavy weight workout called Bi’s and Tri’s.   As the name implies it is a bicep and tricep workout.  You alternate and do a bicep exercise and then a tricep.  There were a couple that used the band with the handles and also a 5 pound weight with the band – those were pretty tough.  Once again my faithful workout cat is there to cheer me on.

Fruits for Juicing

I am so glad fresh cranberries are in the stores again.  I use the above combination of apples, cranberries and a lemon to create a really tasty juice in my juicer this past week.  I juiced 2 apples, one granny and one gala, 1 lemon, and about a cup of cranberries.  I also tried this recipe heated and it was really good for a warm and healthy drink on a chilly morning.  To make it even more healthy I stirred in a teaspoon of manuka honey that I recently bought at Trader Joes.  The manuka honey has lots of health benefits and is also suppose to strengthen your immune system.

Weekly Fitness Tip:  Don’t Weigh Yourself So Frequently

– Quit obsessing over how much you weigh – everyone fluctuates a little for various reasons

– Consider getting rid of the scale  -mine broke years ago in moving and I never replaced it, one less things to have in the bathroom

– Measure your progress in how you feel, how your clothes fit and in measuring inches lost not a number on a scale

I hope everyone had a great final week of October and you were able to find some time to workout and create some healthy meals.  Remember it is important to plan meals and stay on track especially during the holiday season – which is now here since all the stores are stocked with Christmas decorations!

Take care,

– Kimberlee

Working Out Week 39 of 2014

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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.

Cathe Turbo Barre workout

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.

Cathe Slide n Glide workout

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.   Breville Juicer

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.

Sweet Earth Juice

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.

Joyful Juicing book and alkalizing greens juice

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.

Reboot with Joe book from library

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.

Healthy Baking - Whole Grain Carrot Bread

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

Categories: Books Exercise Food