Tag: green smoothie

Working Out Week 43 of 2014

October 25, 2014 kimberlee 3 Comments

This week I switched up my workouts and chose to do my Exhale Core Fusion dvd’s and some Shiva Rea yoga. This was also a really busy week with a lot going on so I feel like the workouts I chose to do worked well with my schedule.

Monday – Exhale Core Fusion – Abs & Arms – 40 min,
Tuesday – yoga in evening – 15 min.
Wednesday – Exhale Core Fusion – Lean and Toned – 20 min.
Thursday – Shiva Rea Surf Yoga Soul – 30 min.
Friday – Exhale Core Fusion – Body Sculpt – 40 min.
Saturday – Shiva Rea Surf Yoga Soul – 20 min.

Here is the cat – all ready to workout on Wednesday morning. He was scared to get on the new rug I bought in the past but he seems to be okay with it now.

I had not done the Lean and Toned dvd in a while. I really like this workout. I only had a few minutes to workout that morning but 20 minutes of this dvd was awesome! The core pretzel part that I did really worked deep into some core and glute muscles that had me feeling it well into the next day.

The yoga dvd I used this week was Shiva Rea’s Surf Yoga Soul. I think this was actually one of the first of her yoga dvd’s I ever bought. I have not used it in a while and forgot what great yoga sequences are on this program. As you can see my cat really likes her dvd, too. He didn’t even want to move off the mat at the beginning as seen in the one photo of me bending over him.

I also created a new smoothie this week. It is a “green” smoothie and I thought it had a really good flavor to it. I also felt quite energized after drinking it. Below is the smoothie and the recipe:

I am also continuing to make juices in my juicer and try to drink one or two per day. I have found that the juices or the green smoothies are a perfect mid afternoon snack that give me energy. One of my knitting friends has also now pulled out her old juicer and bought the same juicing book I bought and mentioned in my post last week – Juicing. You can read more about that book and a few of the recipes I have made from it in my Week 42 workout post.

This week I am not going to do my Fitness Tips. To be honest with you I have not prepared anything for that part of my post that I have been doing lately and I am too tired to think of something right now. We spent half the day over in Fort Worth at the Alliance Air show that my husband wanted to attend. It was nice and we saw some neat planes and planes flying and doing tricks. Today was very hot here though for October and the heat made the whole event less pleasant – and there was not a cloud in the sky today (which is good for an air show) or a speck of shade to stand in at the air field. I am glad we got to go though and spend time together as a family.

Have a great weekend!

– Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Health Recipes

Tags: core fusion, exercise, fitness, green smoothie, green smoothie recipe, smoothie, working out, workout cat, workouts, yoga

Working Out Week 21 of 2014

May 24, 2014 kimberlee 6 Comments

Another week has come and gone. The past two weeks have gone by really fast for me for some reason. Maybe it is all the end of the year activities with my kids and their schools or something. This week was week 3 and the beginning of week 4 of the Betty Rocker Spring Challenge and I also decided to use another one of my exercise books on the days I was not doing the Betty Rocker workouts.

Monday 5-19 – Betty Rocker week 3 workout + foam roller stretches – 40 minutes
Tuesday 5-20 – CORE book – Global Workout – 30 minutes
Wednesday 5-21 – Betty Rocker week 3 workout + foam roller stretches – 40 minutes
Thursday 5-22 – CORE book – Warrior Workout – 30 minutes
Friday 5-23 – Betty Rocker week 4 workout + foam roller stretches – 40 minutes
Saturday 5-24 – CORE book – Lower Ab workout – 20 minutes

The Betty Rocker workouts were tough body weight workouts this past week. I actually thought week 3 was a little easier than week 2 – but not much. I really liked the Hindu Push Ups – (top left photo) and the Grasshoppers (lower right photo). As you can see I had my personal trainer monitoring my moves once again. He has a new scarf on for the Memorial Day holiday – it is red with baseballs on the fabric. My kids thought he needed a new scarf. He has now learned how to remove it so he is constantly taking it off and we find it various places around the house.

This past week I choose once again to use one of my workout books that I own instead of my dvd’s. The one I used this time was CORE by Hollis Lance Liebman. I got this book last summer from Half Price Books. I used it quite a bit last summer and really like the routines in the book. The photos in the book are all color and each exercise is explained in detail along with photos. The back of the book contains various routines that are anywhere from 8 to 20 exercises per routine. You can see the book and one of the routines in the above photos. All of the exercises concentrate on the core and use either no equipment, an exercise ball, medicine ball and some dumbbells for a few exercises. I also really like how each of the exercises lists the areas of your body it benefits and what areas it is working and it gives you a skill level like beginner, intermediate or advanced. Once again my cat is present to make sure I am doing everything correctly.

I also decided to start drinking my green drinks and smoothies again. The one I made this week and drank a few times for lunch was a recipe I found in my Ninja blender book. I actually changed a few things in the recipe like the ginger and the amount of agave or honey. They said to use fresh ginger and I only had some crystallized and I added less agave than what it called for. I think their recipe said 1 to 2 tablespoons of agave or honey and I only use 1 or 2 teaspoons to cut back on the sugar as the crystallized ginger also has sugar in it.

I did a green smoothie challenge back in January of 2014 where I drank one per day for the whole month. I think I have only made a few since then. I think one of the reasons is it was cold out (winter time) and I don’t care for really cold drinks in the winter. I forgot how great drinking these juices or smoothies can make you feel and look. I will say they are kind of an acquired taste but once you get past the look of it and realize the health benefits it is worth the effort to make it and drink it regularly. I plan to make it a goal to have at least three per week.

Next week I will be finishing up the Betty Rocker Challenge with week 4. I have not decide yet if I will be using another workout book or go back to some yoga dvd’s in between the BR workouts. What workouts are you currently doing? I would love to hear about them – click on Leave a Reply to let me know.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Recipes

Tags: Betty Rocker Challenge, betty rocker spring challenge, CORE book, Core workout, exercise, exercise books, exercising, fitness, green drink, green drink recipe, green smoothie, weekly workouts, working out, workout routine

Green Smoothie Challenge January 2014

January 14, 2014 kimberlee

This is day fourteen of my green smoothie challenge for January. I believe I mentioned in one of my fitness posts a couple of weeks ago how I was participating in a challenge with my green smoothie group on facebook. The challenge is to have at least one green smoothie per day the whole month of January. I actually started mine on the 31st of December so I guess today would be my fifteenth day.

I will say that since we are now about half way through the challenge I am in a habit of having a green smoothie every morning. The green smoothies have not always been good – as I have tried out some of my own creative recipes and some were a success and others not so great. There was one I made with a cooked beet that looked so pretty and I just knew it was going to be awesome but it was hard to get that one down. It didn’t taste as good as it looked. It was a very large smoothie, too, and I was able to choke down about half and dumped the rest. I decided to cross that recipe off my list.

One of the recipes I created is very good. The smoothie is a pretty green color and it has a pleasant taste to it. I am calling it Tropical Green Smoothie. Here is the recipe:

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Another recipe that is sort of a stand by for me is to just blend the following ingredients for a simple green smoothie:

handful of spinach
1 Tblsp peanut butter
1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
1 Tblsp Spectrum Decadent Blend (optional)
3/4 c. regular almond milk
1/2 c. crushed ice

The recipe above is one I usually have at least once or twice a week. Adding the greens makes it a little more healthy but it does not have a pretty color – it tastes good to me though. Like a peanut butter and chocolate smoothie.

The benefits of having a green smoothie every day are noticeable to me. I seem to have more energy, brighter eyes and better skin tone. These are just some of the physical benefits I have noticed. I know that it is also doing great things internally as well.

What healthy changes are you trying to make this new year? Please click on Leave a Reply and tell me about them.

Have a great day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Health Recipes

Tags: green smoothie, healthy smoothies, morning smoothie, Smoothie Recipe, smoothie with greens

Working Out Week 1 of 2014

January 4, 2014 kimberlee 2 Comments

Happy New Year! It is now the end of the first week of 2014. My workouts this past week were a combination of my new P90X3 dvd’s and my Cathe Friedrich dvd’s. Workout’s this week were as follows:

Monday 12-30-2013 – P90X3 Isometrix – 30 minutes
Tuesday 12-31-2013 – Cathe X10, premix 37, cardio blast & hi-lo – 37 minutes
Wednesday 1-1-2014 – P90X3 Dynamix – 30 minutes
Thursday 1-2-2014 – Cathe Flex Train, warm up, legs & shoulders, legs & biceps, disc lunges, core-abs, stretch – 40 minutes
Friday 1-3-2014 – P90X3 Pilates – 30 minutes
Saturday 1-4-2014 – Cathe Great Glutes, warm up, bonus chair-band, floorwork, stretch – 35 minutes

This is my 3rd week of alternating the cardio and the yoga or pilates and I really like this routine. Starting next week I will be doing the P90X3 for the next 90 days. I am starting the workout plan with my workout group on facebook. The past couple of weeks since receiving the workouts I have just been trying a few of them out. I didn’t want to start all of them yet since I will be using them for the next 3 months.

Below are some photos of the P90X3 workouts I did this past week.

The Isometrix workout looks easy when you just watch it but it is a challenge. You have to hold each pose for 45 seconds. That may sound easy until you try it. It was very different from any workout I have done or the type of yoga I normally do. I really liked it. As you can see from the photos my cat liked it too. He is my little workout buddy every day.

The Dynamix workout was another great dvd in the P90X3 series. There were some exercises that were very different to me and some that I have done before, too. This was another excellent workout, in my opinion, that I will really enjoy doing in my P90X3 rotation. I told my husband he should do it to help him improve his flexibility for his golf game – not sure if he is going to try it or not though.

I have also decided to do a green smoothie challenge the month of January with my friend Joanna’s green smoothie group on facebook. Here is the link if you are interested in joining: https://www.facebook.com/groups/117834925060273/ The challenge is to have one green smoothie a day for the month. I started doing this on the 31st of December and so far I have had one per day. This is a really great way to get back into a healthier diet for the new year. There are recipes on the page and I have tried a couple of them as well as my own.

The smoothie I made in the photo above was my own concoction. I am calling it Green Citrus Smoothie since it has a citrus flavor. Here is what was in it:

half a grapefruit, peeled & seeded
juice of one lemon
half a banana
2 dates soaked in 1/4 c. of water for 10 minutes (also add water to smoothie)
2 pineapple ice cubes – made from pineapple juice
1/4 c. plain greek yogurt
handful of spinach
1/4 to 1/2 c. crushed ice
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

Blend all the ingredients until smooth in a high speed blender.

This smoothie was pretty good but next time I think I will leave out the banana. I was trying to add them in my smoothies this week thinking I would like them but I just do not care for bananas. I will have to stick with other ingredients I like.

I am looking forward to the start of next week and my next fitness challenge of P90X3. Changing my workout routine and program is always a great way to keep me motivated and on track with my fitness goals. What workouts are you planning to do this year? Let me know by clicking on Leave a Reply. I would love to hear about them.

Categories: Exercise Health

Tags: exercise dvd's, exercise plan, fitness routine, green smoothie, Smoothie Recipe, Workout program, workout schedule

Green Goddess Smoothie

November 7, 2013 kimberlee

This smoothie is a creation I developed with ingredients that are good for you and good for your skin, too. I have been trying to make one in the afternoons several days a week and drinking them as a pick me up energy drink – that I know is loaded with fresh ingredients and healthy vitamins. It is super quick and easy to make, too.

Here is the recipe:

handful of spinach
1/2 c. frozen chopped mango & pineapple blend (I got mine at Sam’s)
1 or 2 pieces of crystallized dried ginger (I got this from Sprouts)
1/2 to 3/4 c. filtered water

Blend all of the above ingredients until it is smooth – 1 to 2 minutes. I use my Nutribullet with the smaller size blending cup to make this. It blends up really well in there.

Some info in the ingredients in this green drink:

Spinach – vital for looking and feeling young and fit, keeps your skin healthy, has B-vitamins, vitamin C, carotenoids, calcium, fiber, lipoic acid, magnesium and zinc
Mango – high in beta-carotene needed for healthy, clear, skin and overall immunity, protects the brain from memory loss, contains vitamin C, vitamin E and fiber
Pineapple – contains vitamin C to defend against premature aging, also contains enzymes that have antioxidants and help produce energy, rich in bromelain to help reduce inflammation
Ginger – also good for inflammation in the body due to joint problems, protects your digestive system from premature aging, regulates blood sugar and boosts circulation

Green smoothies are a great way to get extra healthy nutrients into your body each day. I will admit it takes a little getting use to drinking them. They usually taste better than they look, in my opinion. I have tried some that I do not like at all but this one has a very pleasant taste to me, with the ginger in it, and I always feel very healthy and energized after drinking one.

I would love to hear about your experience with trying green smoothies – or any good smoothie recipes you have to share. You can let me know by leaving a reply.

Have a great day!

Categories: Health Recipes

Tags: ginger, green drink, green smoothie, healthy recipes, healthy smoothie, mango, nutribullet, pineapple, Smoothie Recipe, spinach, spinach smoothie